Government safety experts last year warned that many tower blocks built from concrete panels that may pose a risk of collapse had not been fixed.
Leaked minutes of the government’s structural stability working group revealed that experts warned Whitehall officials in 2022 that buildings “have not been remediated”, and there were “consequential safety implications for such buildings”.
They also warned in December 2021: “Many structural defects are hidden from view,” and the “market is not responding in the way we would wish, prioritising profit over safety”.
The warnings emerged as hundreds of families were evacuated from Barton House, a 15-storey tower block in Bristol, over fears an explosion could pose “risk to the structure”, which is made from a large panel system.
