In the wake of June’s Grenfell tower disaster in London, which claimed the lives of around 80 people, a special Victorian Taskforce interim report has identified 1,400 buildings with flammable cladding, including eight hospitals. From The ABC:
The Victorian Cladding Taskforce identified 1,400 buildings “as most likely” having aluminium composite panels (ACP) with a polyethylene (PE) core or expanded polystyrene (EPS)…
The taskforce called on the Victorian Building Authority to examine those buildings and give them a danger rating of low to extreme.
It also recommended that materials be restricted for future use on buildings above two storeys…
Planning Minister Richard Wynne said the report painted a picture of industry non-compliance with a “culture of cutting corners.”
“We’ll crack down on those who flout the rules,” he said.
“Everybody needs to lift their game”…
The taskforce, chaired by former premier Ted Baillieu and deputy premier John Thwaites, identified three main reasons for the use of dangerous cladding:
The supply and marketing of inappropriate products
Poor compliance in industry
Failure of regulation…
The panel is encouraging building owners to carry out their own checks to ensure their buildings are safe.
Mr Baillieu said the entire sector needed to improve.
“Everyone from builders to suppliers and the regulator need to lift their game,” Mr Baillieu said.
“We want to see maximum levels of compliance and more of an effort for the industry to accept responsibility and ensure everyone is safe”…
The state wants tougher import rules on building products.
Even if Australia can avoid a disaster like the Grenfell fire, Australians are likely to face a hefty remediation bill to bring these structures up to code.
Meanwhile, greedy developers and builders will have make out like bandits selling potentially thousands of dodgy apartments and other structures to feed the population ponzi.
As a point of comparison, New Zealand experienced a systemic problem of leaky homes built in the mid-late 1990s, affecting between 22,000 to 89,000 dwellings, which has cost the New Zealand economy an estimated $11.3 billion (in 2008 dollars) in repair and transaction costs.
Given the magnitude of Australia’s apartment boom, and the shoddiness of construction, Australia’s remediation bill could also be expensive.
