More than a decade after the Lacrosse building fire, RMIT University associate professor, Trivess Moore, explains why there is still more work to do.
On 24 November 2014, a late-night cigarette started a fire that spread rapidly up 13 storeys on the Lacrosse apartment building in Melbourne.
The fire caused more than $5.7 million in damages, but thankfully no lives were lost.
It prompted the Victorian Building Authority to investigate the use of flammable cladding in the CBD and inner city.
There was a high rate of non-compliance with building standards for external wall cladding materials.
Investigators found Lacrosse was covered in flammable cladding and a series of reports into the construction industry followed. Ten years on, not enough has changed.
More than 3,000 residential buildings in Australia were identified as having flammable cladding. Making these buildings safe has been costly. It has had major impacts on the finances, health and wellbeing of apartment owners.
There have been changes to the National Construction Code (NCC). Flammable aluminium composite panels and the use of rendered expanded polystyrene as external wall cladding has been banned.
Progress is being made, but the construction industry has a long way to go. For example, even the basic work of identifying which buildings have flammable cladding is not complete in many locations.
Progress implementing recommendations from key reports have been limited.
Beyond creating fire-safe buildings, we need to think about how to avoid the next deadly housing defect.
There are four key areas – design and construction, regulation and compliance, quality assurance and consumer protection – where changes are still needed.
Materials used in construction need to be recorded in a central and accessible repository.
Companies must not be allowed to ‘phoenix’ – closing one company and starting another – to escape their responsibilities.
The focus on costs over quality means limited consideration is given to what happens to buildings once they have been handed over to owners.
The industry must take greater responsibility for delivering buildings that meet the needs of occupants now and into the future. If we build right to begin with, we can avoid many defect issues.
We need clearer processes for households, industry and government to follow when dangerous defects emerge.
These should include providing safe temporary housing and other support after a fire or other disaster.
The construction industry has systematic issues that stand in the way of ensuring it designs and constructs buildings that are liveable, defect-free, high-quality and sustainable.
Regulation is typically slow to change. The construction industry often will resist reforms.
Stronger regulations need to be enforced. There must be significant consequences for non-compliance. This will better protect consumers and ensure the industry, at the very least, is meeting minimum standards.
We can do much more to improve residential construction. It will require further systemic changes, beyond banning flammable cladding.
About the Author
Trivess Moore is an associate professor in the School of Property, Construction and Project Management at RMIT University. He is also associate director of the Sustainable Building Innovation Laboratory, Precincts cluster lead in the Post Carbon Research Centre, and co-chair of the Fuel Poverty Research Network.