Acceptability of UPVC cladding?

It's a fire hazard. It might be okay for a gable wall if there are no windows in that wall, but it's quite likely to make the building harder to insure.

You can get non-flammable cladding that looks very good, but I can't remember the name, I'm afraid. It's probably longer lasting than UPVC, too.

Maybe https://www.cedral.world/en-gb/cladding/our-products/?

Give them a call and ask - IME the planners are generally helpful if approached the right way ... but why do you want to waterproof it? Water shouldn't be a problem unless there are bridges in the cavity - in which case the "correct" answer is to fix the bridging. A simpler solution: have you tried "painting" with a silicone sealer?

Thanks! Fibre cement based. Some of that has been up a few years now near us, and it looks like new.

It's my fondest hope when the pointing is done. The committee's feet are cooling already though at the 8K quotes for pointing. I though originally, that if we bought our own tower and got a jobber in to do the pointing we might be able to reduce the cost. But that was wisely advised against in an earlier post.

You might as well go the whole hog and get the gable end insulated with external wall insulation, then overclad or over- rendered. if it is a cavity wall then the cavity will also need to be filled to stop cold air leakage on the warm side of the insulated external leaf.

The scaffolding cost will be the same.

Why bother with re-pointing at all ?. Get a quote for external wall insulation. This will create a new rain skin and save you money (eventually).

Sounds wonderfully ideal. Just a matter of getting 27 households to agree.

The main beneficiaries are those flats that have this gable wall as one of their walls, so these people should share all the extra cost of external insulation, while all 27 flats should pay an equal share of the scaffolding and final external render coat, since the latter is taking the place of the need to repoint the whole thing.

What grounds for objection could anyone raise ?. except for the additional insulation, the work HAS to be done.

The cost of externally insulating the *entire* building would be recovered (and some) by the increase in value and saleability of the individual properties.

I see more and more detached 50's, 60's and 70's houses having external wall insulation applied even though these houses have wall cavities.