The Cladding Crisis - A Time for truth and reckoning

Fires throughout the world over the past 10 years have led fire engineering experts to conclude there are unsafe combustible cladding products on the exterior of many buildings in Australia, and indeed elsewhere in the world, that have caused the loss of life and will likely do so again if not removed.

The type of combustible cladding that caused the death of 72 people in the Grenfell Tower fire in London in 2017 has been used on buildings in Australia since the late 1980s. This material has caused two fires in Australia, both in Melbourne, and both caused by unextinguished cigarette butts, Lacrosse in 2014 and Neo200 earlier this year. These events have happened despite Australian authorities having concerns about combustibility as early as the 1990s.

Even though this crisis has been decades in the making, it is an emerging one in that experts legislators and judges are only now coming to grips with the widespread extent of the problem and the full impact of the likely economic, personal, and social damage of this colossal regulatory and industry failure.

Alarmingly, affected buildings have been approved by local authorities and private certifiers as safe for occupation. Worse still, there are insufficient plans and records of buildings as they have in fact been built to know where buildings most ‘at risk’ are situated. 

Australian governments at all levels have responded differently but it is common ground that the product must be replaced or otherwise treated (if possible) to eliminate the risk of harm.

Laws have been passed banning combustible cladding and, in some places, requiring owners to self-assess their buildings for combustible cladding and register the results with government online. This information will be given to local authorities and fire services for further investigation and remedial enforcement action. The cost of remedial action will fall to the owners who then may or may not recover damages from their wrongdoers, depending on the circumstances of each case.

The first legal case, concerning Lacrosse, has been decided and the builder’s design consultants including the building surveyor, architect and fire engineers were held responsible with the builder remarkably escaping liability for all but a small fraction of the damages awarded. There will be an appeal but the decision somewhat sounds the death knell on a dark practice and heralds a new time for truth and reckoning.

How could this happen in Australia ! Coming soon