CLADDING SAFETY VICTORIA

Victoria leading the way in cladding rectification

Cladding Safety Victoria (CSV) has continued to make strong progress throughout the pandemic, successfully getting on with the job of removing more higher risk flammable cladding than any other jurisdiction in Australia.

Ashley Hutchinson, a project manager with Gowdie Management Group, said that the pandemic has added further complexity to inspection activities.

“It was important to continue assessing buildings and getting them into the cladding rectification program while making sure that all inspections were conducted in a covid-safe way,” Mr Hutchinson said.

“We had to look at different ways of accessing the cladding on a building, for example taking material samples from common areas instead of private balconies.

“We also planned heavily before attending site so that we could be targeted in our approach and wearing masks and other personal protective equipment.”

Mr Hutchinson said more than 440 due diligence inspections had been undertaken to ensure that a pipeline of eligible buildings continues progressing through the cladding rectification program.

“On top of COVID, there are labour shortages and other industry challenges; it’s a really difficult market,” he said.

“It is nice to drive around and see that despite these challenges, the cladding rectification program kept progressing, and buildings we inspected are now rectified.”

This extensive due diligence process has also highlighted other challenges facing the cladding rectification program, Mr Hutchinson said. have other major issues like structural problems or major water ingress problems which probably far outweigh some of the potential combustible cladding issues on the building,” Mr Hutchinson said.

He said that continuing to assess buildings over the past two and a half years has been crucial in better understanding cladding risk.

“More product testing has made more information available on different cladding products,” Mr Hutchinson said.

“It has changed our understanding of the risk rating of some cladding types. Instead of blacklisting some products automatically, such as ACP, we now know that some types of ACP are less flammable or perform better in a fire event, so the risk is significantly reduced.

“Similarly, other cladding types look like expanded polystyrene but are a composite concrete product.

“If a cladding product contains ACP or EPS, that doesn’t automatically mean that it is a high-risk flammable or combustible product.” CSV Chief Executive Dan O’Brien said CSV was working with hundreds of owners of corporations at various stages of the program.

“More than 300 of Victoria’s highest risk apartment buildings have been granted funding, and thanks to the continued hard work and collaboration between CSV, contractors and owners corporations, we’ve completed more than 170 projects,” Mr O’Brien said.

“It’s also great to see a healthy number of projects in the pipeline, with 40 more underway and more than 90 currently going through various design and tender stages, with work to commence in the coming months.”

This equates to more than 5,000 individual homes and more than 10,000 people who are safer in 65 different Victorian suburbs because of this program so far.

In addition to the substantial progress demonstrated in the residential program, more than 100 government-owned buildings have also undergone cladding rectification.