A Brisbane primary school has been shut down and a crime scene declared after a “significant” fire destroyed several classrooms. Key points: A blaze broke out on the top level and roof of a two-storey building at the school just after 7:00pm on Friday More than a third of the school’s 500 students from prep…

Many building owners and managers in Queensland continue to go through the cladding compliance process as mandated by the Queensland Government, even if their buildings have no cladding issues. Following the devastating fire at London’s Grenfell Tower in 2017, the Queensland Government had introduced new combustible cladding regulations in late 2018, which required property owners…

Potentially deadly combustible cladding will be banned from all new Queensland buildings. The combustible cladding ban would extend to all aluminium composite panels with a polyethylene core of more than 30 per cent and restrict usage across all buildings in Queensland.   Cladding with a polyethylene core is not flame retardant. It comes after industry…

An inner Sydney apartment building remains abandoned eight months after its occupants were evacuated over water and fire safety defects, in revelations expected to deliver a fresh blow to confidence in the city’s building standards. The Herald has confirmed that the owners and tenants moved out of 30 loft-style apartments at 19 Gadigal Avenue in…

Introducing a lively debate on Building a Safer Future at the Firex International event held on June 18, 2019 in the ExCel centre in London Michael Harper, who became the Federation’s chairman last year, welcomed the progress made whilst expressing the frustration professionals and residents have concerning the lack of positive actions taken to stop…

Combustible cladding is just the “tip of the iceberg” of defects for high-rise apartment owners in Australia, who will also have to pay to fix widespread problems such as water penetration and incomplete fire safety systems, the author of a new report into building defects says. While the crisis of combustible cladding is making apartments…

A RECENTLY renovated bowls club on the Sunshine Coast will likely be closed for several weeks to repair damage caused by a fire that broke out today. Dozens of people were evacuated after a fire broke out at the Mooloolaba Bowls Club this afternoon. A Queensland Fire and Emergency Services spokeswoman said seven crews were…

FIREFIGHTERS remain at the scene of a blaze at Brisbane’s Port Office Hotel. The fire broke out in the kitchen and spread to the hotel’s exhaust about midday. A Queensland Fire and Emergency Services spokesperson said the fire was contained to the building and was under control by about 1.30pm. A number of firefighters entered…

Two years after London’s Grenfell Tower fire, the Queensland government says inaction on cladding loopholes is risking safety and the construction industry. Queensland may ban provisions allowing combustible cladding on high-rise buildings, with concerns the global insurance fallout from the Grenfell Tower disaster could affect the state’s construction industry. It’s been two years since 72…