Dubai blaze renews concerns
Buildings around the world utilize cladding, an external covering examined for potential safety risk
Widely used exterior coverings could pose fire risk for high-rises
Friday’s fire at Dubai’s LONDON tallest residential tower raises new concerns that metal and plastic exterior coverings used around the world pose a huge safety risk.
Even before the Dubai blaze broke out and engulfed more than 40 of the tower’s 86 floors, officials across the globe were inspecting high-rises that use external coverings, or cladding — common on apartment buildings, schools, offices and hospitals.
The initial checks were prompted by the fatal London fire at Grenfell Tower on June 14 that killed at least 80 people. The inferno caused property owners and fire inspectors in numerous countries to check plastic insulation and aluminum panels used on the outside of buildings to determine whether they needed to be replaced.
The cause of the Dubai fire was not immediately known, but similar Dubai blazes have been linked to the highly flammable building cladding. It was the second major fire in the 1,100-foot Torch Tower in less than three years.
Several people were treated for smoke inhalation, Gulf News reported.
Fires have affected several skyscrapers in recent years in the United Arab Emirates — where Dubai is situated on the Persian Gulf Coast — including a towering inferno that engulfed a 63story luxury hotel in Dubai on New Year’s Eve in 2016.
After the London fire, authorities in the western German city of Wuppertal evacuated an 11-story apartment building because its insulation was found to be flammable.
In Australia, at least 2,700 buildings in New South Wales were scheduled to remove cladding similar to that used on Grenfell Tower.
This year, Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank decided to replace cladding on its new headquarters because of safety concerns. The United Arab Emirates’ fire safety and life protection code was recently revised after numerous building fires fueled by flammable cladding in recent years, Gulf Business reported.
Though the new regulations are in place for construction in Dubai and other cities, it’s unclear how authorities will force owners to replace flammable siding with better material.
In the USA, the Cleveland Browns football stadium has cladding “similar if not identical” to the panels on Grenfell, but it poses “zero risk to the fans,” said the city’s chief building official, Thomas Vanove.
In the United Kingdom, the Premier Inn chain said it was “extremely concerned” about cladding on three of its hotels. Developer Taylor Wimpey informed residents in several housing projects that “the cladding has not met the initial flammability tests.”
After the London blaze, the company that makes the flammable plastic core in the Grenfell cladding stopped global sales of the product for use in high-rise buildings.
“Our product is one component in the overall cladding system; we don’t control the overall system or its compliance,” said Arconic, the New York-based company formerly known as Alcoa. “In light of this tragedy, we have taken the decision to no longer provide this product in any high-rise applications, regardless of local codes and regulations.”
The plastic core made of polyethylene was laid between two sheets of aluminum cladding on Grenfell Tower. A laboratory test conducted by Sky News showed that fire can melt the aluminum before reaching the flammable insulation.
Another manufacturer, Celotex, said it was halting shipments of insulation on buildings taller than 59 feet, or about five stories high, saying it wanted “to discuss with the authorities how we can restore confidence in the products.”
Adding to the flammable concerns is the possibility that the burning insulation in the cladding releases a toxic gas. A 12year-old girl who survived at Grenfell Tower was treated for cyanide poisoning.
Similar plastic insulation was banned in Britain’s coal mines four decades ago because it emitted potentially deadly cyanide gas when burned.
In most of the USA, aluminum panels like those used in Grenfell are not used on high-rises because of fire safety concerns.
A brochure issued in 2016 by Arconic Architectural Products, which markets Arconic products in Europe, said polyethylene core tiles should not be used on buildings taller than 33 feet, or roughly three stories high.
“It is crucial to choose the adapted products in order to avoid the fire spreading to the whole building,” Arconic said in its brochure. “Especially when it comes to facades and roofs, the fire can spread extremely rapidly.”
Cladding saves energy, looks modern and protects structures from the elements at a comparatively low cost and is most common in the United Kingdom, France, Australia and the United Arab Emirates.
The U.K. is checking high-rises around the country for cladding panels like those used on Grenfell Tower.
All cladding panel samples from 181 high-rises examined have failed the combustibility tests.
The Kensington and Chelsea Council, which operated Grenfell Tower, added the cladding in the high-rise that was built in the 1970s as part of an $11 million refurbishment completed in May to make the public housing project look better in the affluent neighborhood.
Grenfell residents approved using fire-resistant zinc cladding, but aluminum panels were used instead, saving the Kensington and Chelsea Council $378,000,
The Guardian reported. A chronic housing shortage in London and other U.K. cities has led to the construction of many apartment buildings — many with cladding to save energy.
Mark Alston, an expert in construction technology at Salford University in northern England, said the main reason for using cladding is to increase heat retention to save energy costs and to stop water from penetrating the exterior.
Cladding is often used to bring older buildings up-to-date with energy-saving regulations, he said.
Cladding is most common in the United Kingdom, France, Australia and the United Arab Emirates.