By Anna Whittaker, Local Democracy Reporter
Problems are being found in three quarters of high-rise Nottinghamshire buildings being assessed for safety in light of the Grenfell Tower Disaster.
Last week firefighters also attended a “high risk” incident in the city which led to a further inspection.
The figures were discussed during the Nottinghamshire and City of Nottingham Fire and Rescue Authority meeting on July 23.
Craig Parkin, Deputy Chief Fire Officer at Nottinghamshire Fire and Rescue Service, said the service has a “detailed action plan” on making changes and improvements to help prevent a repeat of the 2017 disaster.
He said: “It seems quite amazing that it’s four years since 72 people lost their lives and many more people’s lives have been devastated.
“Three quarters of the buildings we’ve inspected so far [following the disaster] have had some kind of deficiency found. That could be something minor or something significant.
“We’ve had an incident in the last couple of weeks in the city which we would class as high risk and we had a joint inspection and audit of the site.
“It’s a site that was known to us already but there are some amendments to the building which have taken place since operational crews were gone about the use of the building which we weren’t aware of.”
Further details of the incident were not discussed.
Mr Parkin added there are a number of buildings in the city identified through risk analysis which are due to be visited.
He added: “We’ve had a number of buildings in the city that have been remediated.
“Where there are issues, we then make a determination about whether it’s the fire service that enforce or the local authorities.
“In light of Covid, are we going to see less office space in cities because of home working? That is a concern for me.”
The Grenfell Tower fire broke out on June 14 2017, in the 24-storey block of flats in North Kensington, West London.
The disaster prompted widespread changes and reviews of fire safety in high-rise buildings across Britain.
Councillor Michael Payne, Chair of the Nottinghamshire and City of Nottingham Fire Authority, added: “If you talk to the Chief Fire Officer, his view is that incidents like that could still happen.
“I wonder when we’re going to get a grip on this and deal with it.”
