North Shore Times (New Zealand)
‘Grenfell’ cladding not a risk
Takapuna’s Spencer on Byron has been named as one of two high-rise buildings in Auckland found to have combustible cladding in the wake of London’s Grenfell Tower blaze.
While Auckland Council would not identify which apartments were affected, TVNZ reported they were the Spencer on Byron in Takapuna and the Nautilus in Orewa.
But the Spencer on Byron hotel manager said there were no concerns ‘‘whatsoever’’ about fire safety, as the building had a host of fire protection measures, including sprinklers.
‘‘We’re very different to Grenfell Tower,’’ said hotel general manager Greg Remmington.
The building had sprinklers inside, as well as outside on the ground floor. It also had smoke detectors in every area and an automated fire warning system linked to the fire department.
Remmington said each apartment was firerated, stopping a fire spreading from one apartment to another, and the building had two stairwells and six exit points at ground level.
Auckland Council had not been in contact with any concerns, he said.
The cladding was set to be replaced on the building, due to leaky building issues, with work expected to be done at the start of 2018.
The council’s general manager of building control, Ian McCormick, said body corporates would be advised about the combustible cladding ‘‘as soon as practically possible’’.
In total, 90 buildings were identified as potentially having the cladding and 21 had been investigated so far - with just two confirmed.
McCormick said such cladding had been authorised by fire engineers who had signed off the buildings.
“You could have combustible cladding on it as long as the building was sprinklered and had various other fire safety systems on it.”
McCormick said enquiries around the presence of aluminium composite panels started after the Lacrosse Apartment fire in Melbourne in November 2014.
He defined the cladding as ‘‘an aluminium sandwich’’, a composite material sandwiched between two sheets of aluminium.