Legal fight underway to rectify cladding

TASMANIANS financially impacted by having to rectify buildings because of dangers associated with a certain aluminium cladding have been invited to be part of a class action against the manufacturer.

The Federal Court of Australia said in an advertisement the class action involved Vitrabond PE and Vitrabond FRbranded aluminium composite panel cladding against the manufacturer Fairview.

Omni Bridgeway Limited, formerly IMF Bentham, and William Roberts Lawyers are working together to investigate and bring viable claims for compensation on behalf of people and entities with property interests in buildings on which the cladding is installed.

The moneys sought involve the cost of removing and replacing the cladding, the cost of rectification, increases in insurance premiums, the costs of building safety assessment and the consequent reduction of building values.

You can be a member in the class action if your building has been fitted with either product, but you can register even if you are unsure about the brand of cladding on your building.

An audit of Tasmanian buildings containing aluminium composite panels was conducted in 2018, after the deadly Grenfell Tower blaze in London and the 2014 fire at the Lacrosse Building in Victoria.

Forty-two of 43 Tasmanian buildings investigated during the audit were classified as low risk for fire. The State Government then moved to regulate aluminium composite cladding use in Tasmania.

A Department of Justice spokesman on Wednesday said the cladding was classed as a high-risk building product.