The Times reported on the concerns expressed by fire safety experts and insurers at the fact that ‘Scotland is the only part of Britain that has failed to ban combustible materials from high-risk buildings after the Grenfell Tower fire’, with the Scottish government ‘urged’ to follow the other British nations in closing a ‘loophole that enables hazardous materials to be used in the construction of tower blocks and domestic properties’.
The government was also criticised for ‘failing to replicate’ the cladding remediation fund set up for England to ‘remove potentially dangerous cladding and insulation from high-rise buildings’, with Dr Fire Protection Association (FPA) technical director Dr Jim Glockling arguing that the failure to legislate the combustible materials ban ‘undermined’ efforts to make Scottish buildings safe.
At a virtual meeting of the Scottish government’s local government committee, Dr Glockling added: ‘In all the guidance that we produce, including the twelve commandments of safe buildings, the first commandment is to limit the combustible make-up of a building. The benefits are not just in relation to the issues that we are talking about; the benefits of selection for non-combustibility operate throughout the entire lifespan of the building.
‘We always talk about poor insulation being a problem. We talk about maintenance being a problem. We talk about wear and tear and through-life destruction. Many of those issues become irrelevant when you have a selection for non-combustible material because the buildings are then less susceptible to all those issues over time.’
The ‘loophole’ was said to be that ‘unlike elsewhere in Britain’, the BS 8414 material safety test ‘to rule on whether they meet safety regulations’ is permitted in Scotland to allow combustible materials to ‘continue to be fitted’, and Dr Glockling argued that conditions can be altered on the tests ‘reasonably or unreasonably’ to allow materials to pass flammability tests even after failing an initial check.
In response, the Scottish government stated that it was ‘considering a similar fund’ to that set up in England for cladding removal, though The Times added that ‘it has so far failed to match Westminster’s spending’, and that insurers are ‘in some cases refusing to cover properties as a result of the regulations in Scotland’.
Homes for Scotland chief executive Nicola Barclay warned that this could have a ‘catastrophic impact’ on the country’s housing market. In turn, the Association of British Insurers’ Laura Hughes argued that the BS 8414 test should not be used in Scotland, as ‘we do not believe that it is appropriate to have combustible material on the outside of high-rise or high-risk buildings that could lead to further fire spread’.
Scottish Conservative communities spokesman Graham Simpson said that the government ‘should bring itself in line’ with the rest of the UK on banning combustible products, while a government spokesperson responded that its fire safety review panel found the BS 8414 test to be a ‘robust test’, but the policy ‘would remain under review’ and ‘we are determined to do everything we can to protect those living in high-rise buildings and keep Scotland’s citizens safe’.