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29 April 2015

Fire exposes 'dirty secret' of cheap cladding



Builders in the multi-billion-dollar apartment sector are bracing for a potential wave of legal action amid fears that a cheaply imported, combustible aluminium cladding found to have fuelled a disastrous fire in Melbourne has been used in tens of thousands of complexes nationwide.

A Metropolitan Fire Brigade investigation into the fire at the ­23-storey Lacrosse apartment block in Docklands revealed that the external cladding used by the builders, L U Simon, breached combustibility requirements for high-rise buildings.

The cause of the $5 million blaze was an unextinguished cigarette on the eighth-floor balcony, but the report found that once the cladding caught fire it took less than 11 minutes for the blaze to spread up the side of the apartment complex to the 21st floor.

The MFB report said the burn pattern of the blaze was unusual and “not a scenario commonly ­encountered” by crews attending high-rise fires.

“Rapid vertical fire spread up the building appeared to be directly associated with the external facade of the building, rather than associated with the internal parts or extensive fuel loads stored on many of the balconies,” it says.

The aluminium composite panel cladding, called Alucobest, commonly used in high-rise apartment buildings in the past 10 years, is imported from China and is significantly cheaper than the more fire-retardant and non-combustible Australian-made Alucobond, which complies with safety and fire standards.

Testing of the Alucobest cladding from the Lacrosse building found it was in breach of the combustibility requirements under the Building Code of Australia.

Industry experts claim only an invasive test can reveal the difference between the cheaper Aluco­best and Alucobond cladding because they look, feel and smell exactly the same.

It is not known how many buildings across Australia have used the dangerous alternative. One expert described Alucobest as the industry’s “dirty little secret”.

Fire Protection Association chief executive Scott Williams said tens of thousands of apartment buildings across the country could be at higher risk of fire because of the widespread use of Alucobest. “It’s a time bomb,” he said.

L U Simon could face deregistration after the Victorian Building Authority said yest­er­day that it had launched an investigation into the builder and surveyor who had approved the apartment complex for occupancy.

VBA director of technical and regulation, Jarrod Edwards, said the authority had started to contact all relevant building practitioners in Victoria to determine how many apartment buildings had used Alucobest.

L U Simon managing director Peter Devitt said the use of an ­aluminium composite panel was documented on the planning and building permits for the Lacrosse building and that a sample of ­Alucobest had been submitted and was approved for use.

“It is a decades-long established industry standard to install aluminium composite panels with a polyethylene core to building interiors and facades,” Mr Devitt said.

Ben Hardwick of Slater and Gordon said more than 100 residents and owners of the Lacrosse tower were considering a class ­action against the builder after being told they were likely to be ­issued building notices requiring them to replace their apartment’s exterior. “Owners and residents of this building are rightly asking how an occupancy permit was ever issued for this building,” he said.

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