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seems like this not the first time polystyrene and ply cladding has caused a major fire.
how the hell did building control allow it?
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6 years ago
Ot: Or not. tower fire...
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6 years ago
oh: it's ECO cladding.
well that's all right then....
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6 years ago
There were some tower blocks in Southampton built in the 1960's that a decorative feature which was large panels up the sides made from the ends broken of thousands of brown beer bottles set in cement, a decade or two later they started to fall out regulary which was a bit alarming for people walking near. In the end all the panels had to be removed. One of the blocks had its own fire tragedy a few years though not on the scale of last nights, slightly on topic but building regs not DIY the incident lead to a change in some wiring regulations.
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G.Harman
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6 years ago
Cache of article behind paywall
It would be bad enough if was PIR foam which seems to manage to 'support' a fire while there's a source of ignition, but polystyrene seems like madness. Recent gas works in the street and the building have been mentioned.
Obviously BC docs aren't online, but PP docs are online, some may have details
PP/12/04097
Some of the discharge of conditions documents show the cladding (mainly from an appearance, rather than construction PoV) Some appear to show rockwool slab behind aluminium cladding, but no actual mention of type of insulation, other docs on there may have details.
Streetview appear to have snapped it (on referendum day judging by polling station signs) last year
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6 years ago
never liked rain overcladding when I was in building control and I attended many fires in blocks before overcladding became all the rage and the fires NEVER went further than the flat involved.......
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6 years ago
Would they have caused the fire or just caused it to spread, Isn't that block in the constituency where labour won by 20 votes?
Perhaps it was started by a nutter Tory determined that if there is another election soon they would do something to avoid that result again.
G.Harman
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6 years ago
Probably did not help either that some gas piping was outside the building under the insulative cladding. Note also that gas work is going on just a few feet from the building which must be a worry. Brian
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6 years ago
And basically this is what you get when nobody actually 'owns' the task who has knowledge of the pros and cons of materials and possible scenarios. I remember a particular piece of writing by one Frank Muir for Peter sellers. In his political speech bit of satire the phrase I do not consider existing conditions, likely. was used. The same tendency that led to the loss of a new alloy based warship in the Falklands that was wired with insulated wire that promoted the spread of fire. Brian
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6 years ago
There's mention on twitter of a fridge exploding as causing the fire.
Speculation aside, I did notice that the small fridge I bought for work last year has butane as the refrigerant. It did not seem like a good idea.
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6 years ago
In this case though, back in 2007, the design of the refurbishment was changed to try to stop fire spreading it obviously did not work. Also the advice to the residents was stay in your flats. its a bloody good job that those on the fourth floor where it started ina faulty fridge freezer decided to knock everyone up and evacuate then and there. as for the rest we are still waiting to hear at this time. Brian
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6 years ago
..it would appear fighting the fire from the "bridgehead" fire lobby off the one escape stair from the riser would appear not to be an option in this case.....god help my old colleagues in Building Standards this morning trying to figure out which of the different types of rain cladding used about here is similar to the London system .....always the same witch hunt when there is a disaster ......guarantee there has been dozens of fatalities ....bet it had plastic windows as well.....
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6 years ago
Not in this case, aluminium tilt & turn.
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6 years ago
...rain screening....the new Ronan point .....don't think it will collapse though ........
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6 years ago
Sometimes the planning docs show the consultation responses from e.g. highways, fire, environment agencies, apparently not in this case. ]
You would hope that buildings (such as this) which are out of the reach of Aerial Ladder Platforms get special attention ...
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6 years ago
they are going on about "did it have sprinklers now"....can you imagine sprinklers in X kooncil flats? .....
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6 years ago
Good question! The other is how many more blocks have the same fault?
If true it would seem that they have learned absolutely nothing from the spectacular domestic fires back when interior polystyrene tiles were all the rage in the 1970's. Could be phenolic resin panels though.
I had previously thought they used rockwool board but the way it burnt so quickly around the outside of the building suggests it wasn't.
Basically it looks like they made a potential towering inferno out of what was previously an intrinsically safe concrete building.
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6 years ago
yes but almost all of the tower block designs from the various building companies that the councils adopted in the 50's and 60's were flawed with regard to water ingress and this is why rain screening had to be carried out or demolish them.......we had a few cases where the existing alternative escape route around balconies back to the stair enclosues were deleted due to the cladding.....but the alterations still complied with the regs....
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6 years ago
The building doesn't appear to even have had fire alarms
Only last November residents were still concerned.
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Owain
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6 years ago
I don't think any high flats had fire alarms just mains powered smoke alarms ....
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6 years ago
think lobbies with smoke mechanical fan extraction was part of the solution to compliance........wouldn't have helped in the London fire .......
check this one out...the reason the windows are so far recessed was because of the balconies that ran around the building.......
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