Hello John:

I have been waiting years for this report to be issued.

I plan to download the full report to see it it answers all my questions- for example why there was no water in the risers or why it took so long to turn off the gas supply to the building.

Now it has been issued, how long before the police start arresting people?

Peter Brooks

Palm Bay Florida 

You do have to be very sure if you have  a death penalty. There have been a great many cases where later we decided that the guilty person wasn't after all.
Mike.

Witch hunts for someone to blame is just a way of the government to avoid doing anything because they can say they are waiting for the police to investigate.

Their hope is some company will plead guilty and go bankrupt while paying some compensation to those who lost relatives.

BUT, What to do with buildings over 12 floors that have this flammable cladding still needs to be sorted? 

Make the company that installed it remove it within 1 year is an option.

If they go broke jail the chief exec  and call in the army to finish the job.

We cannot keep on prevaricating for ever over a stupid mistake.

Another stupid mistake was removing flame proof asbestos cement from high rise buildings and replacing it with flammable plastics.  No wonder the inside catches fire easily as well. 

CliveS said:

We cannot keep on prevaricating for ever over a stupid mistake.

What makes you think any of this was a mistake?  Whether it's building materials companies claiming their products were more fire resistant than they really were, or council officials who went for the cheapest option and didn't care about the safety implications.  It was all deliberate.

Hello John:

I see in today's Housing magazine (Monday 9th September 2024) that the Lords call for the Building Research Establishment (BRE) be stripped of it's responsibility for certifying modern methods of Construction.

Peter Brooks

Palm Bay 

It might be more sense to not make it financially dependant on customers - in the same way that the courts are not paid by the fines they levy...
Mike.

Hello Mike:

With any "independent" (if there is any such thing) service provider, funding of the operation is always a problem.

Even if that service is provided by the government - it is never fully funded to the required level.

For an example the approval of new drugs in the US by the FDA.

By the way, on an unrelated item, I saw last week that the UKCA mark has been killed.

Peter Brooks

Palm Bay FL 

Peter Brooks said:

I saw last week that the UKCA mark has been killed

Not quite (at least as far as I'm aware), the change is that the CE Mark can still be used in the UK - so manufacturers can use either (or both!) 

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/using-the-ukca-marking#rules-for-using-the-ukca-image

Not that I can imagine many manufacturers bothering to use the UKCA mark, I certainly wouldn't advise any to now as it adds no value, but the intention is that it could be used for any future UK specific standards

I am not sure what people don't understand about Grenfell.  It was a building made out of rocks/brick/cement.  Those materials do not burn or catch fire.  Then people decided to wrap it in a highly flammable petro-chemical based material and a fire broke out somewhere and spread rapidly.  Lot of people died in this awful incident/Tragady

The people that decided that material was ok to use are to blame.  They need a custodial sentence

The people selling/distributing the material as Fire Safe.  They need a custodial sentence

The people that decided that material was ok to use are to blame.  They need a custodial sentence

The people selling/distributing the material as Fire Safe.  They need a custodial sentence

And I agree anyone who has O level chemistry or indeed just set fire to a polyethylene bag should have realized the scope for a fire problem.

Actually  there is a similar issue when you replace 'crittal' steel framed windows with uPVC the glass falls out when hot in a way that neither metal nor wooden frame used to- but homes up and down the land are happy with that, as the risk of fire in a normal house is low. It is not clear that the same sort of windows are such a good idea when panes of glass fall from many stories up.

The grasp of basic chemistry among the general public, including those employed by councils and cladding companies, it appears is pretty minimal and folk do not see it as a serious inadequacy not to understand the world about them, encouraged perhaps  by popular quiz shows when 'science' questions are seen as harder than 'football' ones.

Mike.

Hello Mike:

Your comments about using uPVC  windows frames and the surrounding packing (for leak sealing) was also a spot on.

Here in Florida new replacement windows must only meet hurricane wind requirement (180 mph) and metal frames have nearly disappeared with the use of cheaper uPVC.

The TV adverts show the new replacement uPVC frame windows being hit with a baseball bat, without any visible damage. 

Peter Brooks

Palm Bay 

Hello Mike:

Your comments about using uPVC  windows frames and the surrounding packing (for leak sealing) was also a spot on.

Here in Florida new replacement windows must only meet hurricane wind requirement (180 mph) and metal frames have nearly disappeared with the use of cheaper uPVC.

The TV adverts show the new replacement uPVC frame windows being hit with a baseball bat, without any visible damage. 

Peter Brooks

Palm Bay