Kingston Council has set aside an extra £2.9million to complete high-priority fire safety works identified after the Grenfell fire. The authority has 935 out of more than 4,100 actions left to carry out, which it expects to have finished next year.

The council has agreed to award construction firm Quinn London a new 12-month contract to complete the outstanding works as quickly as possible. The maximum value of the contract is £2.2m, which covers the cost of Quinn's share of the 935 works to be completed, with the total budget set at £2.9m.

The authority assessed its entire housing stock to identify fire hazards after the Government's overhaul of building safety laws in response to the Grenfell fire in 2017. These surveys found more than 4,100 actions it needed to complete, including fire door replacements, installation of fire alarms, building repairs and improvements to emergency lighting.

Quinn is one of the contractors responsible for carrying out these works, after entering into an agreement with the council in 2023.

A new report by council officers said that while "excellent progress" had been made in completing these works to date, including all critical works, 935 items out of 4,139 actions overall were still outstanding.

It said the new contract would "allow for the quickest completion of the outstanding remedial actions, reflecting the council's organisational priority to ensure residents have a safe and well-maintained home".

The report added: "The selection of Quinn London reflects the benefit of continuing to work with a contractor that has developed a deep understanding of our housing stock and the works required to ensure compliance and who has consistently demonstrated a capable approach to delivering a fully managed, end-to-end fire safety service".

The council's Corporate and Resources Committee agreed to award the new 12-month contract to Quinn on Thursday (March 19).

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Lib Dem Council Leader Andreas Kirsch said: "I'm really glad that we are doing this work… given the tragic events in Grenfell, obviously fire safety has improved since then and we are upgrading our fire safety to the highest standard, so I'm really happy that we are doing this."

The council expects to have completed all high-priority fire safety works by the end of the contract next year, which will allow it to return to routine monitoring and inspection.