Scaffolding used by contractors undertaking remedial work could have played a part in spreading fire at a residential block in Dagenham yesterday, according to a fire expert.
Fire broke out at the Spectrum building early on Monday morning (26 August), causing a blaze that took more than 200 firefighters to put out.
Contractor Fleetwood Architectural Aluminium (FAA) had been remediating “non-compliant” cladding on the top two storeys of the Spectrum Building, as well as replacing materials in balconies on the whole building. (See a timeline of work carried out on the building here).
A press briefing by a London Fire Brigade officer yesterday said that the whole building had been affected by the fire, including scaffolding surrounding the property and the roof.
And independent fire expert Stephen Mackenzie told Construction News that a fire service source informed him the fire was believed to have started in a commercial unit on the ground floor before spreading up scaffolding to the top floors.
Mackenzie said: “If you took a cigarette and lighter to a scaffolding board, it would be hard to get going – they are high mass timber.
“But once you have a fire in steady state condition, then the boards can capture heat and ignite, and heat the board above.”
CROSS UK, a confidential cross-industry reporting system for building safety, warned about the potential risks from scaffolding in spreading fire in a February 2023 report.
An unnamed reporter told the body’s expert panel he was concerned the construction industry was not appropriately assessing the fire risk of scaffolding on in-use buildings.
They added that standard practice only considered fires starting on the scaffolding, ignoring the possibility of fires starting in the building and spreading through the windows to the scaffold.
There is no suggestion that FAA had not followed best practice.
In a briefing yesterday, a London Fire Brigade (LFB) spokesperson said the building had “a number of fire safety issues” that it was already aware of.
The LFB has started a “full and detailed investigation” into the fire. A spokesperson told Construction News “all aspects of the building at the time of the fire” will be factored in to the investigation.
Spectrum Building, a mixed-use commercial and residential building, originally housed the offices of a chemical manufacturer, before being converted to mixed residential and commercial use during the 2010s, adding two floors.
The upward extension had rainscreen cladding, which some outlets are reporting was made from high-pressure laminate. The rest of the building’s facade is clad with the original concrete panels.
In evidence to a 2020 parliamentary inquiry, residents said that an EWS1 survey showed “that the building did not fully comply with building regulations at the time of build”.
They added: “There is a myth, perpetuated by the building industry, that they are also innocent parties because they met regulations at the time of build.”
The fire started at around 2.45am and took more than eight hours to bring under control. Around 225 firefighters and 40 fire engines arrived at the scene, where four people were treated for smoke inhalation, two of whom were taken to hospital.
FAA had finished installing around 700 metres square of VitraDual A1 rated cladding panels and was putting in Ceramapanel A1 panels to the balcony privacy screens, according to a Facebook post by cladding manufacturer Valcan.
The latest cladding-related fire comes a week before the Grenfell Inquiry is due to deliverits final report.
Residents group Grenfell United said the incident highlighted “painfully slow progress of remediation across the country, and a lack of urgency for building safety as a whole”.
They added: “We expect the Labour government to take action to speed up remediation on unsafe buildings, where their predecessors failed.”
Dame Judith Hackitt, who wrote a government-commissioned report in the wake of the Grenfell fire, told the BBC this morning that it was “really concerning” that “so many people are living with uncertainty and fear about the buildings they are in”.
The Metropolitan Police are not currently investigating the fire.
FAA declined to comment on the fire when contacted by CN today. The Health and Safety Executive and Valcan have also been contacted for comment.
