According to the article, “Use of cladding buildings here have grown in recent times: Experts,” Faris Mokhtar (2017) reports the opinions of experts regarding the usage of cladding in the midst of the Grenfell Tower fire incident, which took the lives of many. “Engineering experts” claim that cladding reinforces the aesthetics and durability of the building. However, cladding potentially extends as a fire hazard. Different climates require different cladding methods. Here in Singapore, the cladding procedure has standards to ensure fire safety by the Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF). Although Faris used the Grenfell tower incident as an example that cladding could pose a threat, he could have further investigated if the building had passed the standards of cladding to make fair judgement overall.
Grenfell tower has a history of close to 50 years with regular upgrades and refurbishment in recent years. This included new exterior cladding of the building which was done last May 2016. However, in the article "London fire: What happened at Grenfell Tower?(2017)", it was reported that the cause of the fire was narrowed down to the cladding of the building. Specialists spoke up to say that the standard for the materials used could be more fire-resistant. It was also later inspected that both the cladding and insulation of the building did not pass the preliminary tests conducted by the police concluding that insulation specimens burnt more quickly than the cladding tiles. From another source titled "London fire: Six questions for the investigation," Harrabin(2017), an environment analyst commented that even though cladding can be used for better insulation and other benefits, it should be used with caution and implemented correctly. The building owners for Grenfell towers, however, did not heed to the regulations.
Building owners are encouraged to make their building more sustainable and this was the case for the Grenfell tower. Their motive to upgrade their building was to make things greener. However, along with the upgrade comes the cost as well. Trying their best to shrink down the overall cost, they failed to adhere to the standards of the cladding. From the article "Grenfell Tower: Cladding 'changed to cheaper version'(2017)," reports indicate that the originally proposed material substituted was with a less fire-resistant class which saved them thousands of pounds. The material used to be implemented has said to have never passed the standards of the United States. This raises some questions about the standards that were put in place by government officials in the UK. How were building owners able to purchase materials that were easily susceptible to fire.
Regulations in the British standards of cladding has also been scrutinised. From the article "Why Grenfell Tower Burned: Regulators Put Cost Before Safety(2017)," it was investigated that the government officials have been warned by various engineers and fire safety experts in the country but only fell on deaf ears even after the Lakanal House incident which occurred in 2013 which left many injured and killed six victims. Glanz(2017) recounts a Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order- a law, that dropped the necessity for official inspectors to approve that buildings have met certain standards. Instead, they stirred to "self-policing". All of this incident could have been avoided had the authorities cared more for their people. Implementing stricter regulations and conducting regular tests in cladding of the buildings could go a long way.
After studying the case of the Grenfell Tower incident, it is true to some extent that the cause of the fire that broke out was due to the cladding. However, this was only because of the weak policy that is being implemented by the British standards. It was the accumulation of failed supervision by the building owners of Grenfell Towers and the lenient government policy on cladding that contributed to the fatal incident of the fire.
References
London fire: What happened at Grenfell Tower? (2017). Retrieved September 21,
London fire: Six questions for the investigation. Retrieved September 21,
2017, from http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-40279944
Author, T. Symonds (2017), D. De Simone (2017). Grenfell Tower: Cladding 'changed to cheaper version'. September 21,
2017, from http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-40453054
Author, D. D. KIRKPATRICK(2017), D. HAKIM(2017), J. GLANZ(2017). Why Grenfell Tower Burned: Regulators Put Cost Before Safety. Retrieved September 21,
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