COMBUSTABLE cladding has been removed from four more ACT government owned buildings, including a high school.

Sixteen private buildings in Canberra are also being assessed for the removal of potentially deadly cladding as part of an ACT government scheme which helps cover the cost of having cladding tested.

Minister for Sustainable Building and Construction, Rebecca Vassarotti today (February 24) announced that work to remove the flammable cladding at Canberra High School, Howard Florey House, Civic Youth Centre and the ACT Magistrates Court was complete.

Remediation work for a remaining nine ACT government owned buildings found to have flammable cladding hasn’t been completed, but is expected to be finished later this year.

“While our work on ACT government building is ongoing, we continue to support eligible owners corporations to replace potentially combustible cladding with our first phase of the private buildings cladding scheme, which was launched in July 2021,” Ms Vassarotti said.

The remediation work comes after an audit identified 23 buildings needed immediate works to reduce a fire risk.

The audit followed a deadly fire in the Grenfell Tower building in London, a council housing block which had been fitted with flammable cladding.

“CityNews” columnist Michael More suggested in a column in 2019, that the ACT government had known about the flammable cladding problem for the best part of a decade.

The ACT government’s private buildings cladding scheme, launched last year, offers a rebate of half the costs of having cladding tested and assessed, up to a maximum of $20,000 excluding GST.

The second phase of the scheme, to launch soon, will offer concessional loans to apartment building owners who need the combustable cladding removed.

Remediation work has already been completed at the Gungahlin Oval grandstand, the National Convention Centre, the Tuggeranong Child and Family Centre, two public housing sites, Arawang Primary School, Erindale College, Lyneham Primary School, Melrose High School and the Yarralumla Primary School.