RELEASE OF INTERIM SENATE REPORT INTO NON CONFORMING CLADDING On 6 September 2017 the Senate Economics References Committee released its long awaited interim report following an extended inquiry on Non Conforming Building Products -aluminium composite cladding.
The inquiry was initially established in June 2015 as a review of the impact of non conforming building products on the Australian building and construction industry. As part of a broader enquiry the Committee resolved on 13 October 2016 to inquire into the illegal products containing asbestos. The scope of the enquiry was expanded again as a result of the fire at the Grenfell Tower in London in June 2017 to include a review of the implications of the use of non compliant external cladding materials in Australia. The Inquiry consulted with industry and received 162 submissions from government departments and agencies, peak industry bodies, unions, individuals and consumer. Public inquiries were also held at various times from November 2015 to July 2017. The interim report has recommended that the Federal Government implement “a total ban” on the importation, sale and use of the polyethylene panels “as a matter of urgency”.
THE LACROSSE FIRE – DOCKLANDS MELBOURNE The inquiry was first established by the Senate following the 2014 Lacrosse apartment fire in Melbourne's Docklands. The Docklands fire started on an eighth floor balcony from an errant cigarette butt and travelled upward to all floors in the building to the roof.1 As noted in the Interim Report: ● The Metropolitan Fire and Emergency Services Board (MFB) found that the use of Aluminium Composite Panels [ACP cladding] was a contributing factor to the rapid vertical spread of the fire.2 ● The CSIRO tests found the cladding to be combustible and non-compliant with National Construction Code (NCC) standards for use in buildings of three or more storeys.3 ● 'the imported combustible cladding installed at the Lacrosse building tested by the CSIRO and found to be so combustible that the tests were abandoned after 93 seconds due to the potential of the equipment to be damaged'4