Dangerous cladding to be removed from town centre hotels

The 14-storey Ibis and Novotel hotels on Friar Street have cladding which is “unsafe in the event of fire”.

Building owner Accor Invest has applied to the council to address the issue, seeking to replace metal panel cladding.

READ MORE: Council to push forward with town centre regeneration after delays

LMA Architects, which submitted the proposals on behalf of Accor Invest, said: “The flammability and the proximity of the insulated metal panels to the fire escape route and neighbouring buildings, renders the cladding unsafe in the event of a fire.”

The flammable cladding will be replaced on all elevations from the ground to 14th floor.

The building façade primarily consists of brick masonry, glazed curtain wall, insulated metal curtain wall panel, insulated metal rainscreen panel and composite metal rainscreen panel.

All cladding materials other than the insulated metal curtain wall panel and the insulated metal rainscreen panel are fire safety compliant.

A solid aluminium cladding alternative, which will have the same look, is proposed to replace the metal panel cladding.

Potentially combustible cladding is being removed from sites across the town, which are mostly tall apartment blocks.

There are also four buildings in Reading which were found to have Grenfell-type cladding.

READ MORE: Grenfell-style cladding removed from third Reading building

Hanover House. Photo by Mike Swift

The cladding has been replaced at three of these buildings with works only still needed at Hanover House, where planning permission was granted in October 2020.