Concerns about the notorious Grenfell cladding has resurfaced when just last week an apartment block in Dagenham (East London) was engulfed in flames that took more than 200 firefighters over 8 hours to put out.

Residents have repeatedly voiced concerns over the fire safety standards in the building and even the London Fire Brigade had issued warnings to the building`s management to address these concerns. Work had just started to replace the building cladding when the fire broke out. Thankfully, no lives were lost in this incident but the residents are now worried about where they will reside.

This same type of cladding was also used in Grenfell Tower during the 2017 incident where over 70 people died. This cladding is made up of two thin sheets of aluminium that's sandwiching a core of polyethylene (PE) which is a highly combustible plastic. The ‘cassette’ system that this cladding is installed in is also problematic because it creates a chimney effect that causes the melted plastic to spread rapidly when exposed to high temperatures.

The manufacturers of this design were well aware of the flaws that came with them and were given plenty of warning signs when apartment blocks with this type of cladding in the middle east were catching fire. And the cassette system had also routinely failed fire safety inspections for over 12 years before Grenfell.

There are still a number of apartment blocks in London with this type of cladding despite it being known as a very serious fire hazard. This is a very serious concern and both local and central authorities really need to expedite removal works and not wait for more tragic incidents like this to occur before taking action.

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