London Tower Fire

[Ph64]

Cladding fire tests failed by 34 blocks in 17 areas

http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-40391395

Cladding on 34 tower blocks in 17 council areas in England has failed fire safety tests, the government says.

The results mean every sample has failed the tests so far. The government plans to test up to 600 blocks.

The updated figures came as Camden became the first authority to evacuate residents over concerns, asking those living in four buildings to leave.

The council said it had no option but to move residents of 650 flats on the Chalcots estate while work takes place.

Communities Secretary Sajid Javid said the residents had shown "calm and stoicism".

But he said cladding itself is not dangerous and a test failure does not necessarily mean a building will have to be evacuated.

Perfectly safe.

Why Greenfell Towers burned: regulators put cost before safety

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/06/24/worl ... -fire.html

In 2014, the Fire Protection Research Foundation, an organization in the United States, counted 20 major high-rise fires involving cladding. In at least a half-dozen — in France, Dubai, South Korea, the United States and elsewhere — the same type of panels installed at Grenfell Tower caught fire. A 2014 fire in Melbourne, Australia, resulted in multiple investigations into the dangers of combustible cladding. Another fire broke out in Dubai, around a 60-story skyscraper, on New Year’s Eve of 2015, and yet another, around a 70-story skyscraper there, this April.

But in Britain, still no changes were made. “The construction industry appears to be stronger and more powerful than the safety lobby,” said Ronnie King, a former fire chief who advises the parliamentary fire safety group. “Their voice is louder.”

[Montegriffo]

The same cladding or cladding with similar properties has been found on Hotels, schools and even hospitals. This is going to cost billions to put right.....

[SuburbanFarmer]

The same cladding or cladding with similar properties has been found on Hotels, schools and even hospitals. This is going to cost billions to put right.....

Or just a couple of months to sweep under the rug.

[Montegriffo]

The same cladding or cladding with similar properties has been found on Hotels, schools and even hospitals. This is going to cost billions to put right.....

Or just a couple of months to sweep under the rug.

Or they will get the money from further cuts to public spending. We don't need all these firemen or health and safety inspectors do we?

[SuburbanFarmer]

The same cladding or cladding with similar properties has been found on Hotels, schools and even hospitals. This is going to cost billions to put right.....

Or just a couple of months to sweep under the rug.

Or they will get the money from further cuts to public spending. We don't need all these firemen or health and safety inspectors do we?

Somewhere, a beaurocrat has already suggested that they won't have these problems if they stop inspecting so much.

[Montegriffo]

Kensington council leader resigns over Grenfell tower block fire
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/ho ... 17396.html

The Tory leader of Kensington and Chelsea council, Nick Paget-Brown, has resigned in the wake of the Grenfell Tower fire, saying he accepts a "share of responsibility" for the "perceived failings".

The move came as two other senior officials involved in the Grenfell tragedy also said they were standing down, following criticism of the council’s response to the disaster, which claimed the lives of around 80 people.

All this on the same day it is revealed that the originally planned zinc cladding was changed to aluminium composite to save money.

Cladding fitted to Grenfell Tower during its refurbishment was changed to a cheaper version, documents obtained by the BBC suggest.

Documents show the zinc cladding originally proposed was replaced with an aluminium type, which was less fire resistant, saving nearly £300,000.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-40453054
The cladding is thought to have contributed to the spread of the fire that killed at least 80 people.

[TheReal_ND]

Aluminum will burn like a mother fuck and good luck putting it out with a fire hose. Who the fuck even uses this as insulation?

[Speaker to Animals]

What kind of aluminum? Aircraft aluminum isn't going to burn for shit.

[Montegriffo]

Aluminum will burn like a mother fuck and good luck putting it out with a fire hose. Who the fuck even uses this as insulation?

It's a covering for the insulation not the insulation itself.
So far 75 of the 600 tower blocks thought to use similar cladding have been fire tested. 100% of the tests have failed fire safety requirements although doubts are now being raised about the validity of those tests.
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/201 ... ay-experts

Building safety experts have warned that government tests on tower block cladding in the wake of the Grenfell Tower disaster lack transparency and are too simplistic to be used to condemn blocks as unsafe.

Fire risk consultants and architects have suggested the government should reveal what tests were being conducted on the material after it was revealed every single cladding sample sent for analysis had failed the new assessment.

The communities secretary, Sajid Javid, announced on Monday that samples of aluminium panels from all 75 buildings that had been sent for fire retardancy testing had so far “failed”.

But he did not reveal what testing was undertaken apart from to say they determine whether the materials meet “the requirement for limited combustibility in building regulations”.

[Montegriffo]

What kind of aluminum? Aircraft aluminum isn't going to burn for shit.

It's a sandwich of two sheets of aluminium with a filling of plastic, it's the filling which has proved to be flammable.