Building industry supports banning combustible materials on high-rise buildings

19 Feb 2018

New construction industry poll shows support for a ban on using combustible materials on mid and high-rise and sensitive buildings.

Survey on use of combustible materials

The new survey by leading research consultancy Populus, commissioned by ROCKWOOL, polled senior staff working in the construction, civil engineering and architectural industries who have responsibility for specifying or detailing construction materials.

74% believe that using combustible materials on mid-, high-rise and sensitive buildings should be banned
70% say that following the Grenfell tragedy, they would be less likely to use combustible materials on new build and retrofit residential projects
60% say the government, rather than the construction industry, should be responsible for defining fire safety in buildings
63% agree that an overhaul of fire safety regulations in England is necessary
93% support publicly disclosing all test results and data used to secure approval of building materials
62% want the Hackitt Review to recommend banning desktop studies as a route to compliance

ROCKWOOL Group Senior Vice President Gilles Maria: “It’s encouraging to see the UK construction industry advocating so strongly for banning combustible materials on mid-, high-rise, and sensitive buildings. The government should take note of the industry sentiment and act quickly to require the use of non-combustible cladding and insulation materials on these types of buildings”.

Link for more details on the survey.

Read BUILDINGTALK GUEST BLOG on why only simple, unambiguous regulations that require non-combustible cladding and insulation will prevent another Grenfell tragedy.