Question reference: S6W-00917
- Asked by: Kaukab Stewart, MSP for Glasgow Kelvin, Scottish National Party
- Date lodged: 18 June 2021
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Current status: Initiated by the Scottish Government. Answered by Shona Robison on 18 June 2021
Question
To ask the Scottish Government what progress has been made with introducing the Single Building Assessment, which was announced in a ministerial statement on 19 March 2021.
Answer
Following the publication of the recommendations from the Ministerial Working Group on Mortgage Lending and Cladding, we invited property owners living in buildings where safety concerns had been determined to submit an Expression of Interest in participating in the first phase of the Single Building Assessment. Over 300 Expressions of Interest were submitted. The selection of the buildings to be included in the first phase has been completed and building owners will be notified of the outcome this week.
The Single Building Assessment is a safety assessment on buildings with flatted properties with external wall cladding and will provide us with the clear evidence on the total need for remediation. All flatted properties will be covered; that’s around 770 high-rise buildings and many more at lower heights.
This approach will allow us to identify buildings that are at risk and if there are no problems identified, it will release people from safety and mortgage lending concerns. It will also save homeowners the hundreds of pounds they may otherwise have faced through paying for an individual EWS1. The costs of Single Building Assessment will be met by the Scottish Government.
Once the Single Building Assessment programme has been established we will target remediation at the buildings at most risk.