Cladding Matters – Friday 30th May at 1pm

Hosted by Gareth Wax, along with Hamish Mclay.
Guests - Stephen Day, RAQ Resident and Wendy Gibson of The First Time Buyers Club.


When it comes to buildings that don’t meet expectations, how a council responds can make or break residents’ faith in the system. On Friday 30th May at 1pm, Cladding Matters returns to explore a striking contrast in the Royal Borough of Greenwich’s approach to two different developments: Mast Quay and Royal Artillery Quays (RAQ).

At Mast Quay, Greenwich Council took bold, public steps. Comer Homes Group had veered from the approved plans in 26 different ways – from missing roof gardens to removing promised communal and commercial spaces. The response? A formal enforcement notice demanding either full demolition or rectification within three years. And, following a planning appeal, the council secured a £7.82 million settlement for community improvements and carbon offsetting. Strong words, firm action, and real financial consequence.

Yet down the river at RAQ, things feel very different.

Residents at RAQ, including this week’s guest Stephen Day, have faced years of uncertainty, partial remediation, and a troubling lack of transparency. Despite known safety concerns and confusion over what materials will actually be removed or replaced, Greenwich Council has been notably quiet. There’s no enforcement action. No headline-grabbing fines. Just silence – and residents left in the dark, even while they shoulder the costs of a situation they didn’t create.

So why the double standard?

It would be interesting to know why Greenwich chose to act with such determination in one case, yet appears so passive in another. Is it down to planning law versus building safety regulation? Different departments? Political pressure? Or is it, as some residents have said, just a question of which development gets the headlines?
We’ll talk through these differences, with Stephen giving the resident’s view from RAQ and sharing what’s changed (and what hasn’t) since remediation began. Gareth Wax returns in the chair, and I’ll be adding my thoughts from the conveyancing. Also joining today we have Spilling The Proper-Tea regular guest, Wendy Gibson, of the First Time Buyers Club. Wendy will be bringing to the conversation her own views and wealth of knowledge around the problems that cladding brings to first time home owners and the issues that she has had to encounter.

Expect a grounded conversation – no bluster, just lived experience and hard truths. It will be interesting to find out why some buildings get the attention from the council, while others are endlessly waiting for updates.

And as always, we’ll be asking: what’s next for residents still waiting on answers?

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PS:
For content enquiries: hm@searchandconveysolutions.co.uk
For podcast/media info: gareth@mphats.com