London – May 2023:  Having launched the UK’s first National Cladding Dataset in February 2023 (See initial launch release here), WhenFresh has announced that the dataset has now more than doubled in size to provide the current cladding status of 1,122,004 individual properties within tall multi-dwelling units (MDUs) across the UK.

The National Cladding Dataset was launched in February, initially providing the cladding status of 485,234 individual dwellings within MDUs of 18m or more in height – but this has now been expanded to the current total of 1,122,004 dwellings with the addition of MDUs of less than 18m and, in particular, those of 11m-18m in height, which fall into the Government’s ‘Mid-Rise Scheme’ for remediation.

WhenFresh also stresses that this is a LIVE dataset, with monthly updates from the rolling program of property inspections that are carried out by the team of over 600 RICS qualified surveyors – employing both physical property visits and expert, remote/data-driven assessments.

This means that the cladding status of each of dwelling is constantly updated with additional dwellings also being added as inspections continue to be undertaken. The surveyor team has allocated each dwelling a cladding status, based on the following classification:

GREEN – Building has no cladding. (Specifically: EWS1 form recorded in Cladding Database with classification A1, A2 or B1 or considered to be out of scope as per RICS’s Cladding Guidance Note).

AMBER – Building potentially has cladding, merits EWS1 inspection. (Identified as potentially in scope, as per the RICS’s Cladding Guidance Note, no EWS1 form held currently).

RED – Building has cladding. (EWS1 form recorded in Cladding Database with classification A3 or B2, or other known adverse factors from alternative sources).   

Due to the nature of the dataset and the rolling program of surveyor inspections, the cladding status of each dwelling is subject to change over time.

For example:  A dwelling may originally have been categorised as AMBER, where the surveyor’s original inspection using a range of remote tools (e.g. satellite images, drone footage etc…) and data sources (e.g. building records) was not fully conclusive.  

The cladding status of this dwelling may subsequently be updated to RED, following a surveyor visit as part of the rolling, physical property inspection program.

Then, once remediation work has been carried out and confirmed on the building in which this dwelling is located, the cladding status can be changed to GREEN.

In the brief time since the launch of the original National Cladding Dataset in February 2023, and the subsequent dataset expansion, driven mainly by the inclusion of MDUs of 11-18m in height, there have already been significant cladding status movements due to physical inspections or remediations, namely:

> 40047 dwellings have been updated from AMBER to GREEN cladding status

> 23933 dwellings have been updated from AMBER to RED cladding status

> 10019 dwellings have been updated from RED to GREEN cladding status

In addition to the RED/AMBER/GREEN cladding status classification, The WhenFresh National Cladding Dataset can also supply the following where available:

> The date on which the EWS1 was signed.
> The EWS1 classification: A1, A2, A3, B1 or B2.
> Any expert notes/covering letter provided by the RICS surveyors pertaining to each inspection.

The WhenFresh UK National Cladding Dataset can be appended at individual dwelling level, to any file of addresses (or UPRNs, UDPRNs, Title numbers etc…) for flat-file delivery, or can be accessed via the WhenFresh API, either in isolation, or in combinations with any of the 100s of other property data items WhenFresh holds.

Mark Cunningham, WhenFresh CEO & co-Founder states: “We expected the original cladding dataset launch to be well received, but we’ve been staggered by the level of interest from mortgage lenders, insurers, reinsurers and other parties.  We’re therefore fully confident that the investments made in expanding the reach, breadth and depth of the dataset as it continues to evolve, will bring significant further benefits and risk insights for those who need to properly understand property cladding risk.”  

News Release – 22 February 2023: WhenFresh has teamed up with an army of 600 RICS-qualified surveyors to create the first property-level cladding dataset, providing current cladding status for each of the 485,234 residential properties within tall Multi-Dwelling Units (MDUs) across the UK.

Since the tragic Grenfell fire on 14th June 2017 and the ‘cladding crisis’ that has since developed, the owners, mortgage lenders, insurers, and developers of properties in tall Multi-Dwelling Units (MDUs) throughout the UK with some form of cladding have found themselves facing massive, unforeseen financial exposure.

Whilst the news frequently reminds us how the affected homeowners find themselves as ‘mortgage hostages’, unable to sell and struggling to secure viable insurance, the exposure faced by the financial services sector has, until now, been much less well-documented or understood. However, the fact is that lenders, insurers, and institutional property investors have largely been ‘flying blind’ as they have not had the means to accurately assess their potential risk/exposure to this hugely significant issue.

Key property risk factors, such as flood and subsidence, have routinely been assessed when deciding whether to offer mortgages or how to price insurance premiums. However, prior to June 2017, cladding simply wasn’t something that anyone considered. This is why little or no information about cladded buildings had been captured, until now.

WhenFresh’s unique cladding dataset is the result of a major project started in 2020 (during the first pandemic lockdown) which initially involved a wide range of remote inspection tools and data sources (such as satellite imagery, drone footage, building and planning records, etc…), and has subsequently been enhanced on an ongoing basis by physical surveys and other inputs – all meticulously scrutinised by an army of over 600 RICS-qualified surveyors.

Now, following six months of in-market testing with a group of existing clients, WhenFresh has launched the unique dataset to the wider market, providing property-level cladding data for each of the 485,234 properties within MDUs of 18 metres or more in height throughout the UK. The surveyor team use their expertise to assign each property within these MDUs to one of three categories:

GREEN – Building has no cladding. (Specifically: EWS1 form recorded in Cladding Database with classification A1, A2 or B1 or considered to be out of scope as per RICS’s Cladding Guidance Note)

AMBER – Building potentially has cladding, merits EWS1 inspection. (Identified as potentially in scope, as per the RICS’s Cladding Guidance Note, no EWS1 form held currently)

RED – Building has cladding. (EWS1 form recorded in Cladding Database with classification A3 or B2, or other known adverse factors from alternative sources)

This means that mortgage lenders, insurers, local authorities, central government, housing associations, asset managers, and other parties are now able to readily access this unique cladding data alongside any other property data attributes they may need from WhenFresh, either in flat file format or via API in real time.

For example, a lender can now match their whole existing mortgage book to this new cladding dataset via WhenFresh, to carry out detailed analysis at individual property level.

Max Griffiths, Group Head of Quantitative Risk at Together Money states: “WhenFresh’s wall cladding dataset enabled Together to truly assess our limited exposure to external wall cladding risk across the full book. Working with the WhenFresh analytics team has enabled us to establish a clear set of actionable data points that support our prudent approach to lending, and their data enrichment has helped us in preparing data for securitisation issuances where additional reporting requirements around ESG has been required.”

WhenFresh co-founder and CEO Mark Cunningham adds: “We’re delighted to be able to bring this cladding dataset to market alongside our existing property data assets, not least as it provides key risk insights into these 485,234 properties which are jointly worth in excess of £50 billion. There are obvious applications for mortgage lenders and insurers of course, but we’re already seeing interest from local authorities, central government, housing associations, asset managers, and other sectors too.

“This new dataset provides lenders with the means to fully understand how their mortgage books are affected by cladding issues, down to individual property level, so they can identify where risks lie and make better decisions moving forward. New mortgage applications can also be pre-screened against this cladding dataset, and it has now become a key component of our WRAP service, where a wide range of data variables are applied to packages of mortgages being prepared for securitisation, to give surety to the buy-side.

“It is obviously a big deal for insurers too, as they can now better understand property risk across their existing policy portfolios and can access this cladding dataset, along with all the other data we make available via API, to drive more accurately priced, instant quotes for new insurance applications.”

To find out more about this National Cladding Dataset and/or to book a demo, please contact us today.