The latest on cladding: is your building fire proof?

It’s 2019 and two years have passed since a fire destroyed the Grenfell Tower in London, sparking widespread concern about faulty building materials and industry regulation.

While change has been slow, laws and regulations have shifted around the world including Australia.

As the cladding saga continues, here are the latest updates across Victoria, New South Wales and Queensland:

1. New South Wales
2. Queensland
3. Victoria

New South Wales Strata Community Association (SCA) met with Minister for Better Regulation and Innovation, Kevin Anderson. On 31 July, the SCA delivered a seven-point plan to the minister on building standard failures and flammable cladding problems.

Queensland government has imposed a three-part compliance process:

1. Part 1: Buildings to be registered and for building owners to complete the combustible cladding checklist by 29 March 2019.
2. Part 2: The building industry professional statement completed by 31 July 2019.
3. Part 3A: Engage fire engineers and register by 31 October 2019.
   Part 3B: Complete the building fire safety risk assessment, the fire engineer statement and the combustible cladding checklist by 3 May 2021.

Victoria cladding crisis updates

The Victorian government has named Dan O’Brien as the new CEO of Cladding Safety Victoria.

It follows news of a $600 million-dollar cladding rectification fund to amend faulty cladding on 500 high risk buildings. The 16 July announcement this year is a first for Australia and a win for property owners facing huge rectification costs. The funds will go towards:

• Project management support.
• Professional design services.
• Building surveying.
• Permits and approvals.
• Building materials and rectification works.

A state-wide cladding audit was carried out by the Victorian Cladding Taskforce, involving over 2,200 inspections. The findings were: 1070 buildings identified as having cladding with 500 of those classified as high risk.

If you’d like to find out more on building compliance for your strata property, click here to download your free Community Living guide.