by Callum Rhodes
The Victorian Building Authority is set to investigate practitioners involved in the construction of Melbourne’s Lacrosse Apartments, including the primary contractor LU Simon Builders.
The announcement followed the release of the Metropolitan Fire Brigade’s review into a fire incident in the high rise building last year, which revealed the fire’s rapid spread was primarily due to combustible materials used in the external cladding.
The fire began during the night of 25 November on a balcony on the building’s eighth floor, supposedly caused by a discarded cigarette. Within minutes it had spread over the exterior of 13 stories, reaching the top of the tower, and the building was subsequently evacuated of its more than 400 occupants.
“Rapid vertical fire spread up the building appeared to be directly associated with the external facade of the building, rather than associated with the internal parts or extensive fuel loads stored on many of the balconies,” the report stated. “Had the external wall cladding been of a non-combustible type, the likelihood of fire spread beyond the level of ignition would have been greatly reduced.”
The external cladding was identified as Alucobest, an aluminium/polyethylene composite manufactured by a Chinese firm. A CSIRO test conducted after the incident suggested the product was combustible according to the test criteria specified in the relevant Australian Standard, and in breach of the combustibility requirements for a high rise building.
The MFB urged stakeholders in the construction industry to exercise greater diligence and caution in the selection of aluminium/polyethylene composite cladding, and to seek products with appropriate and clear accreditation and certificates of conformity.
LU Simon managing director Peter Devitt told The Age aluminium composite panels, including Alucobest, have been widely used in Australia for decades, and the cladding complied with Australian standard tests for ignitability, spread of flame, heat and smoke.
However, when the building was commissioned in 2010, Devitt said, there was no such product that passed the test for "combustibility".
Devitt said other factors were to blame for the ignition and rapid spread of the fire, including an absence of sprinkler systems on the balconies. VBA director for technical and regulation, Jarrod Edwards, said the VBA was also taking steps to identify any possible use of non-compliant external cladding elsewhere.
“The VBA has begun contacting all relevant building practitioners and will work with them to determine if non-compliant building material has been used incorrectly during the construction of other buildings in Victoria,” Edwards said.
Photo: Liliana López via Twitter
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