England 'has 600 buildings with similar cladding to London blaze tower'

(FILES) This file photo taken on June 15, 2017 shows The remains of residential tower block Grenfell Tower are pictured, in west London on June 15, 2017, a day after it was gutted by fire. Combustible cladding has been found in "a number" of publicly-owned tower blocks in Britain following emergency checks after a devastating fire in London, British Prime Minister Theresa May said June 22, 2017. The cladding on the 24-storey Grenfell Tower block in London has been widely blamed for the quick spread of the flames in the 120-apartment building. / AFP PHOTO / Tolga AKMENShow less

LONDON // An estimated 600 buildings in England have cladding similar to that used at the Grenfell Tower block where a devastating blaze killed at least 79 people, a spokeswoman for prime minister Theresa May said on Thursday.

"The estimate provided to us by councils is that there are approximately 600 high rise buildings with similar cladding," the spokeswoman said.

"We are obviously in touch with all the local authorities to encourage them to urgently send us the samples and then we will carry out the checks that we need," she said.

She added that cladding on three buildings has so far tested positive as combustible. The estimate does not include buildings in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.