London inferno: alarm raised for Aussie buildings

The horror inferno that engulfed a London apartment block serves as a ‘wake-up call’ for the local building industry.

Lacrosse Tower in Docklands, after a blaze swept through it in 2014. Picture: Aaron Francis

Senator Nick Xenophon has called for an urgent audit of all buildings across Australia suspected of containing non-compliant building materials, following the London tower block fire that claimed multiple lives and injured dozens.

“This is a critical wake-up call,” he said.

Senator Xenophon is on the Senate committee to hand down a report this year on nonconforming building products, similar to those thought to have contributed to the fire at the Lacrosse tower in ­Melbourne’s Docklands that raced up the side of the building in less than 11 minutes.

The Senate inquiry formed in June 2015, seven months after the tower fire.

“This is a much more serious version of Lacrosse,” said Senator Xenophon.

A report by the Metropolitan Fire Brigade into the blaze, which was started by a cigarette on a ­cluttered balcony, was scathing of the use of the illegal cladding imported cheaply from China and installed in breach of Australia’s building code and fire and safety regulations.

The brand of cladding on the Lacrosse building was Aluco­best — aluminium on the outside and a polyethylene fibre inside.

The Senate inquiry heard how the Lacrosse fire could have claimed “hundreds of lives if things had turned out a little differently”, with senior firefighters stressing the dangers associated with non-compliant building products.

“We were probably really lucky that did not happen on that ­occasion,” Metropolitan Fire Brigade fire safety director Adam Dalrymple told the committee

“It has been a valid assumption ... that newer buildings are relatively safe, probably safer than old ones. From a fire services perspective, right now, I cannot guarantee that and I cannot, categorically, state that that is a true fact.”

Yesterday Metropolitan Fire Brigade Commander Mark Carter said the MFB was saddened to learn of the London fire.

“Our thoughts are with residents, their families and our first- responder colleagues at this time,” he said. “MFB has been a staunch advocate for building reforms, particularly with regards to the use of non-compliant cladding and the risks it poses to both firefighters and the community.

“We are determined to learn from incidents that occur not only in Australia but internationally.”

For several Melbourne buildings identified as having non-­compliant cladding, the MFB would send extra firefighters to callouts, he said.

Fire Protection Association spokesman John Rees said the London blaze was a reminder for everyone who lived or worked in a high-rise building to have a fire evacuation plan and to practise it.

The Australian previously revealed agenda papers for a September 2015 meeting of NSW Planning and Environment officials that estimated as many as 2500 high-rise buildings in Sydney could contain the same type of non-compliant and ­deadly cladding that has cost overseas deaths.

A 2016 audit of Melbourne buildings by the Victorian Building Authority showed more than half of the city’s towers contained the highly flammable cladding.

In its interim report in May, the Senate inquiry found there had been a “serious breakdown” in the regulation and oversight of nonconforming and non-compliant building products that warranted “determined” action.

The Senate committee is due to report by the end of October.