Schools and Student Accommodation Facilities

Combustible Cladding Testing & Rectification for Private Owners of Class 3 Student Accommodation Facilities & Class 9 Multi Storey School Buildings

Are you an owner of a multi storey class 3 student accommodation facility or class 9 school building and are concerned about the safety risks associated with the presence of combustible cladding on your education facilities?
If your school or student accommodation facility was built after 1997 it may have been constructed using now-banned combustible and flammable cladding materials that pose a serious fire risk to your students, staff, visitors, and stakeholders.

Whether you are taking proactive safety steps, have just received building notices/orders from your council, or have watched your insurance premiums balloon to reflect the increased risk of ‘not-knowing’, don’t risk the safety of your stakeholders and expose your school or student accommodation facility to potential litigation measures, contact the team at National Remedial Services (NRS) for an immediate cladding assessment today.

As your combustible cladding project management specialists, NRS will act as an end to end combustible cladding remediation provider.

We provide a comprehensive solution from initial façade assessment, sample testing and identification through to rectification works and recertification to ensure your school or student accommodation facility is safe and meets all relevant compliance standards.

We offer a streamlined remediation process, stress-free convenience and best of all, act as your single point of contact throughout the entire process. Get in touch with our team online or by phone on 0430 370 773 for a ‘no-obligation’ quotation today.

The Current Australian Cladding Crisis

In 2014, Melbourne’s Lacross Building fire and subsequently London’s Glenfell Tower fire in 2017, triggered state governments in Australia to establish combustible cladding task forces to implement procedures and processes to ensure combustible cladding is not used in the future construction of multi storey class 3 student accommodation facilities & class 9 school buildings and to identity and rectify buildings constructed after mid 1997 that may have used combustible cladding materials.

As more and more schools and student accommodation facilities across Australia including 13 undisclosed school facilities in Victoria, a similar number in NSW and 4 in Queensland, are being identified as having combustible or flammable cladding, the potential safety risks and concerns for school and student accommodation facility stakeholders continues to grow.

While state authorities have now banned the use of Aluminium Composite Panels (ACP) with a polyethylene content of 30% or more and Expanded Polystyrene cladding (EPS) on new multi storey class 3 student accommodation facilities & class 9 school buildings constructed after 1997, now face the daunting task of potentially having combustible cladding materials on their buildings and the associated rectification works necessary to ensure the safety of students, staff, visitors, and stakeholders.

ACP & EPS

Biowood

Whilst there are no product bans or other legislature that prohibit the use of Biowood in any states in Australia, it is a highly combustible material. The Building Code of Australia (BCA) Deemed-to-Satisfy Provisions do not permit its use on external walls of multi storey class 3 student accommodation facilities & class 9 school buildings unless a certified fire engineering performance solution has been developed.

State Regulations & Guidelines

Regulations regarding combustible cladding identification, registration and rectification vary from state to state and cladding task forces have been set up to tackle this on-going fire-safety issue.

In Victoria, the Victorian cladding taskforce was established in July 2017 with the aim of

Ensuring new class 3 student accommodation facilities (3 storeys or more) & class 9 school buildings (2 storeys or more) are constructed utilising non-combustible cladding systems
To implement procedures and processes to deal with class 3 student accommodation facilities (3 storeys or more) & class 9 school buildings (2 storeys or more) constructed after 1997 that have been constructed utilising combustible cladding materials
A robust system of rectification has been developed clearly outlining audit responsibilities with the Victorian Building Authority (VBA) taking the lead, and the establishment of Cladding Safety Victoria (CSV) to provide rectification support for those buildings that have been impacted.
The Victorian Residential Cladding Rectification Register (RCRR) has also been established providing owners of class 3 student accommodation facilities & class 9 school buildings, access to pre-approved cladding rectification specialists, ensuring quality and consistency of works can be delivered to the sector. NRS is an approved construction service supplier on the RCRR and can provide best in class “end to end” project management services ensuring projects are delivered on time, on budget and exceeding customer expectations

In March of 2018, an amendment was made to the Building Act of Victoria 1993 banning and/or restricting the use of Aluminium Composite Panels (ACP) with 30% or more polyethylene core along with Expanded Polystyrene Cladding (EPS) on class 3 student accommodation facilities (3 storeys or more) & class 9 school buildings (2 storeys or more).

Another of the task force recommendations was to empower the Victorian Building Authority (VBA) to audit all class 3 student accommodation facilities (3 storeys or more) & class 9 school buildings (2 storeys or more) constructed after 1997, for the presence of combustible cladding and rank them as extreme, high, moderate or low risk.

Cladding Safety Victoria (CSV) was then established to support the rectification process of effected buildings.

Local councils have been charged with detailed analysis of buildings and the issuing of notices and building orders accordingly.

Owners of class 3 student accommodation facilities & class 9 school buildings have been made responsible for rectification works.

While no government grants are available, owners are free to select any qualified rectification provider.

In New South Wales, the cladding task force was established in June 2017 however a very different system of identification and rectification was established to that of Victoria.

In August 2018, NSW commissioner for fair trading issued a building product ban on Aluminium Composite Panels (ACP) with 30% or more polyethylene core along with EPS rendered cladding systems under the building products (safety) act 2017 applicable to class 3 student accommodation facilities & class 9 school buildings (2 storeys or more).

In August 2018, an amendment to the Environmental Planning and Assessment Act 1979 required owners of class class 3 student accommodation facilities & class 9 school buildings (2 storeys or more) to register their buildings with combustible cladding with the planning secretary via an online portal. All registrations were to be completed by February 2019.

Local NSW councils have been charged with detailed analysis of buildings as registered and the issuing of notices and building orders accordingly.

Owners of class 3 student accommodation facilities & class 9 school buildings (2 storeys or more) have been made responsible for rectification works.

While no grants are available, owners are free to select any qualified rectification provider.

Numbers of buildings effected in NSW has not been made public but are likely to be similar to numbers in Victoria.

In Queensland, the cladding taskforce was established on 30 June 2017 to conduct a targeted investigation into use of Aluminium Composite Panel (ACP) cladding and other possible combustible products used in the construction of class 3 student accommodation facilities & class 9 school buildings (2 storeys or more).

The task force implemented processes and procedures to tackle the issue of combusting cladding similar to that of NSW.

Like in NSW, the Building and Other Legislation (Cladding) Amendment Regulation 2018 (Qld) was passed in 2018 mandating owners to register their class 3 student accommodation facilities & class 9 school buildings (2 storeys or more) with suspect cladding online and provide a copy of a completed cladding checklist.

The Queensland Building and Construction Committee in October of 2019 banned the use of ACP with 30% or more Polyethylene content and Expanded polystyrene (EPS) rendered systems on external walls on new class 3 student accommodation facilities & class 9 school buildings (2 storeys or more).

Local QLD councils have been charged with detailed analysis of buildings as registered and the issuing of notices and building orders accordingly.

Owners class 3 student accommodation facilities & class 9 school buildings (2 storeys or more) have been made responsible for rectification works

While no grants are available, schools and student accommodation facility owners are free to select any qualified rectification provider.

Numbers of buildings effected in Queensland has also not been made public but are likely to be similar to NSW and Victoria.

Is Cladding Rectification Optional?

While regulations on building registration vary from state to state, once owners of multi storey class 3 student accommodation facilities & class 9 school buildings have been made aware of combustible cladding issues either by lab testing, council notifications or by any other means, compliance with current state guidelines and regulations is mandatory.

Owners of these buildings have a legal responsibility to act to ensure a safe environment for students, visitors, staff and all relevant stakeholders. Insurance companies should also be informed so that all risks can be evaluated, and mitigation measures are put in place.

Non-compliance or delaying cladding rectification orders puts owners of schools and student accommodation facilities at litigation risk by councils and relevant stakeholders for not fulfilling their responsibility to provide a safe environment.

Our Five-Step Cladding Rectification Process

NRS provides a complete end-to-end solution to assess, sample, identify, mitigate and rectify multi storey class 3 student accommodation facilities & class 9 school buildings in QLD, NSW and VIC affected by ACP, EPS and Biowood combustible cladding. Whether you are looking to test your cladding proactively, or have just been made aware that your school or student accommodation facility has been identified as extreme, high, moderate or low risk by your State’s cladding taskforce, National Remedial Services will ensure a smooth transition from noncompliance to rectification and re-certification with professional and expert guidance every step of the way.

Once the building façade assessment has been completed and potential combustible cladding identified, NRS technicians will perform a site visit and remove required core samples from the combustible cladding locations (as identified in the building facade assessment) for cladding testing purposes.

An NRS sub-consultant will attend the site at an agreed upon time and remove a 50mm diameter core from an inconspicuous area of the building and fit an appropriate plug. Through our partnerships with Insurance Council of Australia accredited testing laboratories, the core sample/s will undergo testing analysis to determine chemical composition and polymer percentage to determine combustibility.

Once the tests results are available from the laboratory, Our C-10 fire engineer will analyse results, determine an appropriate ICA risk category and make a recommendation to remove affected cladding or to conduct a stage 3, C10 fire engineering risk assessment to determine feasibility of partial or full cladding retention.

An NRS sub-consultant will attend the site at an agreed upon time and remove a 50mm diameter core from an inconspicuous area of the building and fit an appropriate plug. Through our partnerships with Insurance Council of Australia accredited testing laboratories, the core sample(s) will undergo testing analysis to determine chemical composition and polymer percentage to determine combustibility.

Once the tests results are available from the laboratory, Our C-10 fire engineer will analyse results, determine an appropriate ICA risk category and make a recommendation to remove effected cladding or to conduct a stage 3, C10 fire engineering risk assessment to determine feasibility of partial or full cladding retention.

With the Building Façade Assessment and core sample tests in hand an NRS registered C-10 fire engineer may conduct a fire engineering risk assessment to determine the feasibility of a fire engineering performance solution considering partial or full cladding retention and
prepare a Façade Risk Assessment Report (FRAR).

Includes:

• Review façade assessment report
• Review of sample testing results
• Review the as-built design
• Detail if, and how, the external wall cladding complies with BCA 2019
• Comment on external wall compliance with NCC 2019
• Undertake preliminary feasibility assessment to determine if a partial retention or full retention performance solution is likely to be feasible.
• Provide a preliminary scope of works likely to be required to justify the partial or full retention performance solution (this will allow pricing for a performance solution to be compared to that of full recladding)
• Make a recommendation regarding the likely best project solution

While NRS works with a national network of registered building specialists experienced in combustible cladding rectification, the delay between initial identification and final re-certification puts your school or student accommodation facility at risk.

As such we recommend the implementation of an emergency planning and management solution which can detail:

Upgrades to existing safety measures.
The review or establishment of emergency plans.
Evacuation procedures.
Fire safety training including building evacuations.
Tailored mitigation measures for your specific circumstances.

From fire engineering performance solutions to full recladding options, the NRS project management approach ensures the transition from non-compliance to rectification and re-certification is a process driven journey and not a painful trek.

Using our national network of registered building specialists that are highly experienced in combustible cladding rectification, we will assist in the development of a scope of works and provide quotations that are competitive and timely. As your dedicated rectification project manager, we work closely with you and the building rectification specialists to ensure all rectification works are transparent and carried out as detailed in the schedule of works for your peace of mind.

Rectification Cost & Finance Solutions

While the costs of cladding rectification works will vary from building to building, the team at NRS knows that for schools and student accommodation facility owners, the initial expenditure for rectification may exceed the limits of emergency building funds; As a full-service cladding remediation provider, we have partnered with leading ASX listed finance providers to support funding gaps in VIC and provide full funding in NSW and QLD for rectification works. With competitive market rates and flexible payment terms available, we can help you get recertified sooner rather than later, potentially offering significant savings on insurance premiums.

With competitive marketing rates and flexible payment terms available, we can help you get recertified sooner rather than later, potentially saving you big on insurance premiums.

National Remedial Services, Your Complete Combustible Cladding Management Solution

National Remedial Services is your complete end-to-end solution for combustible cladding identification and rectification. With many decades of expertise and experience across the consulting, construction, legal and finance sections, we are customer focused and offer best in class performance, pricing, testing, reporting, and lead times.

We offer complete transparency throughout the entire process from your initial building façade assessment through to rectification, recertification and everything in between. With quality reporting outcomes, impressive lead times, affording pricing and competitive financing solutions from ASX listed companies, we provide the expertise and technical know-how to rectify any and all combustible cladding issues to ensure your multi storey class 3 student accommodation facilities & class 9 school buildings are safe and fully compliant.

Contact the NRS team today for:

Building Façade Assessments
Core Sample Testing
Fire Performance Solution
Fire Risk Assessments (FRA)
Development of Initial Mitigation Measures
Complete Cladding Rectification Solutions
Competitive and Flexible Finance Solutions
Class Action & Litigation Assistance

Don’t take the unnecessary risk of potential litigation measures made against your school or student accommodation facility;

Ensure your education facilities are fully cladding compliant and have the rectification team at NRS provide the assistance and end-to-end solutions you need to provide a safe learning environment for students, teachers, visitors and stakeholders.

Whether you need an initial façade assessment, or have had a Fire Risk Assessment and Schedule of Works prepared by another provider, get in touch with National Remedial Services either online or by phone on 0430 370 773 for a ‘no-obligation’ quotation today.

Our dedicated team can help you with your combustible cladding issues at any stage of the process.