Another high-rise apartment building only just avoided a fire tragedy last week when a smoldering cigarette ignited the combustible cladding located on the wall and balcony of the unit in Canberra.

 Read the news story here.

Fueled by the 100% polyethylene core panels, the fire spread across the building wall – the same sort of cladding that caused London’s Grenfell Tower fire and the 2014 Docklands fire.

More and more buildings are catching fire because of unsafe cladding, underlining the lack of knowledge about the extent of combustible cladding on privately owned buildings.

Residents in a Melbourne apartment building were ordered to leave their homes last week as the building was discovered to contain large amounts of highly combustible cladding, and unsatisfactory fire safety systems. After a statewide cladding inspection by the Victorian Building Authority's (VBA) the building was deemed unsafe to occupy.

Read the news story here.

Given these recent events, it is more important than ever for apartment and unit owners to invest in some reporting and investigation to ease their own concerns rather than waiting for the Government – there is no time to spare if your building contains unsafe cladding.

WHY DECOCLAD IS NOT FLAMMABLE

Property owners and industry professionals can rest assured choosing a fire safe product such a DecoClad. DecoClad is a solid, powder coated aluminium exterior cladding that contains no combustible materials or core and is a safe cladding option for buildings. The powder coating will only char, preventing the spread of fire.

DecoClad has been tested by CSIRO and certified as compliant with Volume 1, Clause C.1.12 9 of the NCC and the testing regime specified in Australian Standards, AS/NZS 1530.3-1999 and AS 1530.1-1994, which set out the methods for fire testing on building materials, components and structures. 

It also meets the requirements of AS/NZS 3837-1998, which covers the method of testing for heat and smoke release rates for building materials and products.

 For more information on DecoClad, please click here. 

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