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Posted 16 June 2017
Category: Residential Building Works
Following the devastating fire that destroyed the Grenfell Tower in London last week, the topic of aluminium cladding has risen across the globe.
Unfortunately, the London Fire is not the first of its kind involving aluminium cladding, however, it was the first of its kind where significant loss of life has occurred.
Following a significant fire in a 23 storey apartment building in Melbourne’s Docklands area on 25 November 2014 (the Lacross Apartments Fire), the rapid spread of which was attributable to composite aluminium cladding on the building’s façade[1], the Victorian Building Authority completed an audit of some 170 high rise buildings in central Melbourne and surrounds with a finding that 51% of the audited buildings contained non-compliant cladding[2].
While the Victorian authorities have taken a lead in compliance activities to ensure that accredited cladding materials are used in the building industry, NSW Fair Trading on 18 June 2017 announced that it will set up a special task force to deal with this issue and it is likely that the owners of buildings with non-compliant cladding will be ordered to remove the cladding and these products will not be permitted to be sold in NSW.
There is a broad range of parties who could be liable for the costs and damages associated with the removal and replacement of these non-complying products, including, designers, developers, builders, subcontractors, manufacturers, importers, private certifiers and Council.
The following emerged from the investigation of the Lacross Apartments Fire by the MFESB:
The MFESB’s investigation sparked an audit by the VSB which delivered its findings on 17 February 2016, including the following:
The action items arising from the audit by the VSB included:
There are a lot of buildings under construction involving aluminium cladding and many may have non-complying products and in that regard:
[1] Metropolitan Fire and Emergency Services Board, Post Incident Analysis Report, 25 November 2014, page 36
[2] Victorian Building Authority External Wall Cladding Audit Report, issued 17 February 2016, page 6
[3] Metropolitan Fire and Emergency Services Board, Post Incident Analysis Report, 25 November 2014, page 4
[4] Metropolitan Fire and Emergency Services Board, Post Incident Analysis Report, 25 November 2014, page 36
[5] Metropolitan Fire and Emergency Services Board, Post Incident Analysis Report, 25 November 2014, page 57
[6] Victorian Building Authority External Wall Cladding Audit Report, page 6
[7] Victorian Building Authority External Wall Cladding Audit Report, page 6
[8] Victorian Building Authority External Wall Cladding Audit Report, page 6
[9] Victorian Building Authority External Wall Cladding Audit Report, page 7
[10] Victorian Building Authority External Wall Cladding Audit Report, page 7
***The information contained in this article is general information only and not legal advice. The currency, accuracy and completeness of this article (and its contents) should be checked by obtaining independent legal advice before you take any action or otherwise rely upon its contents in any way.