I mean how would they know the cladding was unsafe and shouldn't have been spec'd?
The checks on barriers and the like should be in the hands of an expert in the field in my opinion anyway, not someone who is an expert at other things and has a million things to think about - and they need to be involved from inception of a new build. There should be something brought in like BREEAM, but fire safety related and legally necessary, with a minimum rating you have to hit and stages above that to aim for that are incentivised. This would mean you have to have an expert involved throughout every stage and corners aren't cut.
The architect has to know everything. The architect is responsible for the design and should co-ordinate all the different elements of the building fabric. At Grenfell the commercial team went back to the cladding contractor for a cost saving and cheaper non-fire rated cladding was incorporated. The architect should have made it his business to identify the cheaper material as not being compliant with fire regs. He didn't.
You are quite correct that there should be a controlling body specialising in fire regulations on each project but at the moment this falls under the Architects scope. He should produce a fire strategy document and ensure it is fully adhered to. This doesn't happen and Architects and builders are trying to get subcontractors to enter into design and build subcontracts thus believing they are absolving themselves of all responsibility. The problem with this is that they are wrong and they retain overall design responsibility. I've had this dispute with a number of builders over the years and been proven to be correct. It is scandalous that Architects can be this naïve but they are. Years ago there used to be a Clerk of the works who checked the works as they proceeded. Now we have inexperienced trainee architects signing off works, carried out by inexperienced, non English speaking operatives working under tighter and tighter cost constraints. It isn't fit for purpose.
The full story of Grenfell hasn't yet come out but one of the main issues was the air cavity behind the cladding acting as a flue within which the fire spread. The insulation on one side of the cavity acted as a fuel and the Cladding on the other side caught fire and melted thus spreading the fire even more. The cavity itself provided the oxygen.The fire breaks around the windows also failed allowing fire to travel from inside the building and once on fire outside the fire then spread inside through the window perimeters. I suspect the windows themselves also caught fire and probably made from UPVC. All these issues should have been picked up by the Architect.
There are fires on reasonably new buildings every week and new problems are being identified nearly every time. There are tens of thousands of timber framed buildings around the country and I believe the Bolton fire was just this. The next time bomb will be what is referred to as CLT. Cross laminated timber buildings. Whole sections of walls and roofs prefabricated off site and craned into position. I have no idea how these buildings are compliant but suspect it is to do with them being under five storeys high. This is the height up to which the Fire brigade can rescue people. Again this is scandalous because if the fire alarm fails and the inhabitants are asleep they burn.
The whole industry needs to have a root and branch reform of how buildings are designed and built. We have lost the ability to build safely and its sickening.
