MANCHESTER residents living in unsafe high rise-buildings are banding together to form a new housing action group called the “Cladiators.”

The move comes nearly two years after the Grenfell Tower disaster exposed the problem of flammable cladding and other fire risks on residential buildings across Britain.

In Manchester, the scandal has seen freeholders battling to get developers to remove dangerous building materials used in the construction of apartments.

Residents from the city’s Green Quarter have now joined forces with dwellers at City Gate, Skyline Central 1 and Burton Place, who faced bills of up to £80,000 to make their homes fire safe.

Alex Di Giuseppe, a resident of City Gate in Manchester’s Castlefields district and a co-founder of Manchester Cladiators, said: “We have chosen this name because we literally feel like we are fighting for our lives, as well as our financial futures.

“We go to bed and wake up every day with the threat of paying much more than we can afford to make our homes safe hanging over us.

“Manchester Cladiators is here to support any Manchester resident groups facing fire safety issues, not just Grenfell-style cladding.”

Labour MP Emma Dent Coad, whose Kensington constituency includes Grenfell Tower, told the Star that she thought the group’s name was “amazing” and supported their strategy of “linking up with other groups to build a movement.”

Manchester City Council executive member for housing and regeneration Suzanne Richards said the authority “welcomes the launch of Manchester Cladiators and will continue to provide them and all affected Manchester resident groups with our full support until government takes steps to end this cladding scandal.”