A three-storey Bendigo building's flammable cladding poses an "intolerable risk" and must be replaced, a housing agency says following a London skyscraper inferno.
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Haven; Home, Safe wants the Bendigo council's permission to reclad the city centre apartment building as part of a global rethink triggered by the 2017 fire at London's Grenfell Tower, which killed 71 people.
It wants to switch out expanded polystyrene cladding at the address, which the Advertiser has elected not to name to maintain the privacy of social housing residents.
Risk can drop from 'intolerable': report
The revamp is among hundreds that Victorian government agency Cladding Safety Victoria has been linked with statewide.
The same report shows Haven was told to replace all flammable cladding elements on the building's ground level facade, and fix several other hazards, if it was to downgrade the risk from "intolerable".
Haven has told the council it wants to go further and also replace materials higher up the building with textured fibre cement cladding.
All would have the same colours as the existing cladding.
The building is safe to occupy and all safety processes are regularly tested, chief commercial officer Blake Hogan said.
The cladding complied with building codes when the building opened, he said.
"However since there has been a review of cladding fire ratings, an upgrade is now required to meet new codes," Mr Hogan said.
Haven expects to launch a tender process for the replacement cladding immediately.
Bendigo council considering application
Grenfell Tower's fire began in a fourth flour flat late at night and raced up the facade, which was fitted with a combustible aluminium composite material a year earlier, a later inquiry found.
Flames reached the 22nd floor within 17 minutes of the first call to emergency services. By the morning the entire tower was a charred ruin.
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The inquiry found compelling evidence for Grenfell Tower's external walls not complying with building regulations because of cladding in insulation material fitted between it and the original concrete wall.
Bendigo's council is considering the application and is expected to made a decision on its part of the planning process at a later date.
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Tom O'Callaghan
I grew up in Bendigo and I want to tell your stories.
I grew up in Bendigo and I want to tell your stories.
