It has been revealed that the cladding on the unfinished Royal Liverpool Hospital does not meet the current fire safety standards.
The hospital trust had sought assurances from the contractor Carillion, prior to the company’s collapse, that the cladding on the new hospital met fire safety standards, and were told it did. However an independent review of the hospital found that at least some of the cladding did not meet safety standards and also exposed structural deficits regarding the concrete beams.
This is not the first time that a new hospital has been found to be fitted with flammable cladding. In July it was revealed that the Papworth Hospital in Cambridge being built by Skanska had to be delayed, as the cladding did not pass safety standards.
After last years Grenfell fire the government ordered safety checks of cladding on residential buildings, NHS properties and schools.
Unite, the UK’s construction union, is urging building owners to undertake thorough checks on workplaces which have cladding.
Work on the hospital stalled in January after the collapse of Carillon and the project is now running 18 months late. It will not be completed by the scheduled date of 30 September 2018, which means that the trust is entitled to cancel the Private Finance Initiative (PFI) funding scheme, under which the hospital is being built.
Last month the government agreed to directly finance the completion of the Midland Metropolitan Hospital in Smethwick, West Midlands, which has also been stalled since Carillion’s collapse.
