The government is planning to quietly weaken the restrictions on putting combustible materials on high rises following lobbying from the insulation industry.
Yes, you read that right.
Yes, you read that right.
::Another thread on building regulations and Grenfell follows::
Sorry.
This stuff is important, too complex for one tweet and develops all the time.
Sorry.
This stuff is important, too complex for one tweet and develops all the time.
Building regulations ONLY permit combustible insulation if it passes a large scale fire safety test known to nerds like me as BS-8414
These tests are expensive and time consuming. In 2014 the industry just came up with a way of doing less of them: desktop studies.
These involve looking at previous test data and making essentially an informed guess about whether or not the cladding system is safe. It has NEVER been part of the official guidance.
At least one system cleared through a desktop study has been proved UNSAFE by an official test. The LGA, and others, argue the process is flawed and should be dropped.
But the government, following lobbying from the plastic insulation industry, is going to alter building regulations to officially approve their use
The other options on the table are:
- Ban combustible materials from use on high rises full stop
- Continue the present, official, system which says effectively in the rare cases they are used they must be fully tested
- Ban combustible materials from use on high rises full stop
- Continue the present, official, system which says effectively in the rare cases they are used they must be fully tested
I don't think anyone expected building regulations to get LESS tough on combustibles post-Grenfell. But that's about to happen. If you have an opinion on this, now is the opportune time to express it (ends)
The link to our article is here by the way, as I suddenly realise 1,000 retweets later I forgot it. insidehousing.co.uk/news/governmen…
