Eastbourne junior school could soon be rid of ‘non-fire compliant’ cladding

Stafford Junior School in Ringwood Road is part of the Cavendish Education Trust and caters to children aged seven-11. The application is for the existing timber cladding to be removed and replaced with a new Hardie Plank Cladding panel and fire improvement system. Plans say the current cladding is ‘defective and non-fire compliant’ and the new cladding will be ‘durable, fire compliant and thermally efficient’.

According to the plans submitted to Eastbourne Borough Council: “This system is designed to improve the fire safety, thermal performance, and safety to the building users generally. The existing cladding is defective and aged leading to many loose panels and exposed screws. Replacing the panels will improve the building users.”

Members of the public can comment on the plans until March 5 (reference 230037).

Elsewhere in Eastbourne, millions of pounds of government money is being used to replace ‘unsafe’ cladding on homes.

This comes six years after the Grenfell Tower fire in London in 2017 in which 72 people died, including two who later died in hospital. The fire was started by a malfunctioning fridge-freezer on the fourth floor and spread rapidly up the building's exterior due to the building's cladding and the external insulation.

Midway Quay, a development of 260 flats, received £6.3 million from the Building Safety Fund in May 2022 to make sure unsafe cladding is removed from the building.

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