One of the country’s largest social landlords, Hyde has reported that it spent almost £17 million in its last full year on fixing faults identified during fire safety checks.

The association owns 50,000 homes, many of them in London and in its latest annual report, it says it carried out the most invasive fire risk assessments on every one of its buildings over 18 metres in height.

These involved entering residents’ flats and checking inside the walls. Hyde said it removed dangerous cladding from nine buildings and published building safety information on its website for all buildings of 30 metres or taller. It is now in the process of rectifying defects identified both in communal areas and within individual homes.

Hyde’s post-tax surplus rose to £110.2m from £28m in the previous year, on the back of increasing property sales. Turnover in the year to March 2019 jumped to £450.2m, a 33 per cent rise on last year’s £339.6m.

By Patrick Mooney, Editor