LONDON: The UK government is urgently conducting safety checks on an estimated 600 high-rise buildings in England which have exterior cladding panels after at least 79 people died when fire consumed a London tower block last week, officials said on Thursday.

Cladding, added during a refurbishment of Grenfell Tower, may have played a part in the June 14 disaster when flames sped through the 24-storey residential building, trapping people inside, residents have said.

The blaze in the London borough of Kensington and Chelsea, Britain’s worst since World War Two, has heaped pressure on Prime Minister Theresa May, already fighting for her political survival after her party lost its parliamentary majority in a snap election.

The Grenfell tragedy has acted as a focal point for anger at local authority funding cuts. There have been accusations of criminal negligence and, if more buildings are deemed unsafe, the government faces the task of rehoming people within existing social housing facilities which are stretched.

“The estimate provided to us by councils is that there are approximately 600 high-rise buildings with similar cladding,” May’s spokeswoman told reporters. Government had no estimates yet for Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland, she said.

Cladding panels are often added to the exterior of buildings to insulate them and, particularly in the case of ageing tower blocks, to improve their external appearance. The panels vary in terms of their fire resistance depending on their intended use.

“In terms of the people who are living in those buildings, we will do a further test to make sure the buildings are safe — obviously nobody will be living in buildings that are unsafe,” May’s spokeswoman said, adding that people would be rehoused if necessary.

Published in Dawn, June 23rd, 2017