Why arent repairs scrutinised?
With regards to the high profile problems with fire risk and cladding, which is ongoing, should repairs be scrutinised and legislated for? It seems that The amount of oxygen available will affect the rate of burning. A low concentration of oxygen will slow the burning right down.
An example of dangerous fire behaviour that can occur in a situation where there is a low concentration of oxygen is called backdraught. This is when an enclosed fire has used up most of the oxygen and is just smouldering. If there is a sudden influx of oxygen (like someone opening a door or window), the fire will immediately explode into flame.
Now take a cladding panel that has been filled and resprayed, a fire could smoulder and gain heat to the point of the filler "popping" revealing a breathe hole, would this not theoretically create a flashpoint or even explosion?
We have numerous so called cladding repair specialists travelling the country bidding for work on perforated/punctured cladding panels and they are purely chosen on lowest cost, with no questions being asked on quality of materials and fire resistant qualities. So you have great products out there that go a long way towards making a building safer, but what is the point if the repairs or not up to standard and could potentially create a life threatening situation?
The In Situ Repair Federation (IRF) are trying to raise the profile of this issue, which should be recognised far more than the present situation of keep it cheap and sweep it under the carpet.