After London fire, PM says other tower blocks have combustible cladding

[snoop1130]

After London fire, PM says other tower blocks have combustible cladding

 

Britain's Prime Minister, Theresa May, leaves after speaking outside 10 Downing Street, following the attack at Finsury Park Mosque, in central London, Britain June 19, 2017. REUTERS/Stefan Wermuth

 

LONDON (Reuters) - A number of British tower blocks have combustible cladding, Prime Minister Theresa May said on Thursday, citing the results of tests conducted after a fire killed at least 79 people in London.

 

Flames spread rapidly up the 24-storey residential tower block last week, trapping people inside, in what was Britain's worst blaze since World War Two. Exterior cladding added during a refurbishment may have played a part, residents have said.

 

The disaster heaped pressure on Prime Minister Theresa May, already fighting for her political survival after a snap election saw her party lose its parliamentary majority. It has acted as a focal point for anger at government cuts to local authority funding and drawn accusations of criminal negligence.

 

"(We) should of course be careful on speculating what caused this fire, but as a precaution the government has arranged to test cladding on all relevant tower blocks," May told parliament.

 

"Shortly before I came to the chamber, I was informed that a number of these tests have come back as combustible."

 

She said local authorities and fire services had been informed and were taking steps to make affected buildings safe and to inform residents.

 

May has launched a public inquiry into the fire and police have announced a criminal investigation.

 

May said tests on the cladding of Grenfell Tower where the fire blazed would be made public in the next 48 hours.

 

"This has been a wake-up call for the whole country," said Jeremy Corbyn, leader of the opposition Labour Party.

 

"Residents of tower blocks all over the country are concerned, worried and frightened for their own safety. What we need is a step change in our attitude towards housing in this country."

 

After apologising for a slow state response to the fire, May said it was right that the head of the local council had resigned. Nicholas Holgate, chief executive of Kensington and Chelsea council, said he was forced out by the government.

 

(Reporting by William James and James Davey; Editing by Janet Lawrence)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2017-6-22

[Grouse]

About bloody time too!

 

What does it take for the CONs to do THE RIGHT THING

 

Civilisation can be measured by how the disadvantaged are taken care off!

 

Is noblesse oblige dead?

 

Certainly, this crop of CONs don't have an ounce of true blue British aristocracy amongst them.

 

Embarrassing! Not British!

Edited June 22, 2017 by Grouse

[natway09]

I hope it is a wake up call for the whole world . Sadly it is in Thailand in 1,000s of houses & commercial buildings.

This was reported as PE a close cousin to PU, which is designed to be used in sandwich panels for commercial freezers.

Illegal to use exposed in NZ or Oz.

Santika fire was a result of exposed PU ... A lot of people lost their lives to the fumes (highly toxic)

Stadium in Chiang Mai for ASEAN games lost a 2,600m2 roof in 7 minutes. Luckily no one inside

 

[connda]

No kidding.  Really!  Now let see what they do.  Will they fix the problems, or dance and prance and say the fix the problem.  And people think Thailand is corrupt and incompetent.  

[George FmplesdaCosteedback]

This hasn't just happened in the last 7 years or so. I would expect when it is looked into in depth it will be seen that many Labour led councils have allowed this to happen, while paying councilors and the council CEOs huge salaries and expenses.

To blame  the Tory and coalition governments in the last 7+ years is leaping on the Corbyn  Marxist bandwagon.

Councils are responsible to see money is spent wisely, not on junkets to exotic destinations on "fact finding missions".

(*Note: Councils often appoint people from other parties to positions of responsibility, as in this case)

Who ignored the recommendations of the Fire Inspectors, how could the architects be allowed to specify combustible materials when it could compromise the "sealed unit" specification, and Health and Safety didn't recognise any problem with materials already banned in other countries?

All these things are supposed to be controlled by the local council officials responsible (*see above) not central government.

The difference in cost between safe and not safe cladding at Grenfell Tower is tiny compared to the overall cost, but nobody took notice of the fire risk?

 

How the tragedy has come about will take some investigation, but how to stop more needs to be the priority. One faulty fridge/freezer, but behind it a multitude of long term neglect and abuse of budgets seems a likely conclusion (but way to early to make that call). And with many more buildings with the same  cladding it is a huge problem.

We will see what can be done.

 

Mud slinging is not going to help, just score some very sadly gained political points when it is important to stand together.

The EU regulations certainly don't seem to have played a part in stopping this from happening anyway.

 

 

Edited June 23, 2017 by George FmplesdaCosteedback

[Stargeezr]

Other places have this cheap cladding as well.  I guess the people should all sleep good tonight knowing about that.  Glad I watched my house get built and use good materials throughout.

Geezer

[George FmplesdaCosteedback]

19 minutes ago, Stargrazer9889 said:

Other places have this cheap cladding as well.  I guess the people should all sleep good

tonight knowing about that.  Glad I watched my house get built and use good materials throughout.

Geezer

Not much cheaper than the good stuff?

World run by accountants...

[IMA_FARANG]

Just  read an article on this in the Guardian, and there may be over 60 tower blocks that use or used the same type of cladding.

This is a developing story and there most certainly will be more buildings around England that use this type of cladding material improperly because the cladding was cheaper than other certified fire  retardant cladding.

This story will not just "go away",  or so I hope,  as it shows the actual value of human lives to builders  who place cost first over safety.

 

 

[Gulfsailor]

16 hours ago, natway09 said:

I hope it is a wake up call for the whole world . Sadly it is in Thailand in 1,000s of houses & commercial buildings.

This was reported as PE a close cousin to PU, which is designed to be used in sandwich panels for commercial freezers.

Illegal to use exposed in NZ or Oz.

Santika fire was a result of exposed PU ... A lot of people lost their lives to the fumes (highly toxic)

Stadium in Chiang Mai for ASEAN games lost a 2,600m2 roof in 7 minutes. Luckily no one inside

 

Polyethylene is nothing like polyurethane and chemically totally unrelated.  Polyethylene is actually one of the very few plastics that is totally harmless in most conditions. But it does burn at relatively low temperatures (340c), so special treatment is required when used in building cladding, or areas with open fire. That's what was lacking in this case. The smoke from burning PE is no more toxic or irritating than smoke from burned wood. 

[Richard W]

The BBC is reporting that "More than 800 homes in tower blocks on a council estate in Camden, north London, have been evacuated because of fire safety concerns".  The process sounds extreme, but I suppose there are all sorts of possible problems with sketchily occupied flats full of belongings, ranging from looting to tardily detected fires.