Representatives from US firm Arconic Architectural Products, which manufactured the cladding used on Grenfell Tower, did not attend industry discussions with government officials on the future of remediation held earlier this year, Construction News can reveal. In the run up to an industry agreement announced in April, the supplier was…
Vinci’s facilities and refurbishment division is training its staff to be fully qualified in fire safety and remediation, while half will be retrofit experts. In partnership with the Retrofit Academy Community Interest Company (CIC), the French-owned company will see its employees carry out various levels of training in centres in…
A Liverpool man has been charged with fraud, following an investigation into the misuse of forms designed to identify cladding fire risk. Merseyside Police said Thomas Michael Clarke, 33, of Knowsley Lane, Prescot, would appear in court on 3 August. A 19-month probe was triggered after residents of high-rise apartment…
A block of flats that caught fire close to Grenfell Tower in West London was clad with unsafe materials identified by Kier earlier this year and due for removal, Construction News can reveal. Eight fire engines and about 60 firefighters were called out to a fire at a high-rise block…
A high-rise apartment building remains covered with dangerous cladding as the involved parties argue over liability. Birmingham’s Islington Gates apartment block remains covered in unsafe cladding, which was discovered after the Grenfell Tower fire in 2017, when 72 people died. The 141-apartment block is not covered in aluminium composite material…
The 18-metre threshold used to ban the use of flammable materials on high-rise buildings is “completely arbitrary” and driven by public fear, a Conservative MP has warned. Following the Grenfell Tower tragedy, the government changed fire and building rules to prohibit the use of combustible materials on the external walls…
An accelerated cladding installation qualification is being piloted to help ease the critical shortage of trained professionals that threatens vital remediation work. Awarding body ProQual and digital-first training platform provider Tequ have joined forces to pilot a job-specific rainscreen-cladding installation qualification, which aims to train 100 professionals by the autumn.…
Vital remediation work to improve UK building safety after the Grenfell Tower tragedy is being affected by a lack of rainscreen-cladding trainers, a report warns. The Competence Framework – Installer Pilots report, compiled by the WG2 steering group formed on the back of the Hackitt review into building safety, found…
Privatising the Building Research Establishment (BRE) was a “disastrous decision”, which should be reversed, the Fire Brigades Union (FBU) has said. The building research and standards organisation, which was privatised in 1997, is responsible for testing building materials for safety features. But the union claims the move to privatise the…
“This is just the start,” says Peter Baker, chief inspector of buildings at the Health & Safety Executive (HSE), on the Building Safety Act’s recent Royal Assent. “The act is very complex and very comprehensive,” he explains. “But it is primarily an enabling piece of legislation […] It will have…
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