Cladding Audit Australia-Wide

As a follow-up to the Grenfell tower disaster in the UK in 2017, Australian states and territories have been taking up the responsibility of risk mitigation to prevent similar disaster locally by addressing the issue of combustible cladding in buildings.

The Victorian Statewide Cladding Audit has been headed up by the Victorian Building Authority (VBA) since its commencement in December 2017, and it has been targeting combustible cladding, such as expanded polystyrene or aluminium composite panels with a polyethylene core.

One group of Melbourne apartment owners, Lacrosse, are still dealing with a problem which arose in November 2014 where combustible cladding on their building contributed to the spread of a fire which has cost them up to $25 million in total, with $10.7 million worth of recladding costs.

According to 9News, in Victoria, 1400 planning permits were flagged for further assessment with suspicion of possible cladding. 200 buildings were recognised to have cladding, with up to 50 being discerned as high risk.

Victorian Planning Minister, Richard Wynne, established legislation to initiate Cladding Rectification Agreements between building owners, local councils and lenders, providing low-interest, long-term loans to building owners to replace the combustible polyethylene-core aluminium cladding.

Since the process of replacing cladding is very costly and lengthy, the head of the statewide cladding audit for Victoria, Matt Vincent, advised that building owners seeking alternatives to removing dangerous cladding immediately should be looking at fire hazard-reducing measures.

Asbestos In Cladding

Unlike combustible cladding, asbestos-contaminated cladding is heat resistant and fireproof, which was part of its popular appeal in the past. Although it was seen as hazard-reducing, it has since become common knowledge that asbestos fibres are detrimental to health.

At A&B Asrem, we provide professional asbestos removal services in Melbourne and its surrounding areas such as McKinnon, Bentleigh, Caulfield and Carnegie. At A&B Asrem we are fully licensed and are able to conduct asbestos testing, inspection and removal in a safe and timely manner. Asbestos is a highly dangerous material, so contact us today if you even suspect that you may have asbestos in your home.