A visting UK fire expert says the Grenfell Tower blaze has exposed multiple failings worldwide, and he's pushing for international fire standards to be implemented.
The charred remains of clading are pictured on the outer walls of the burnt out shell of the Grenfell Tower block in north Kensington, west London on June 22, 2017. Photo: AFP
Gary Strong of the Royal Institute of Chartered Buildings Surveyors is leading a UN-backed push for international fire standards triggered by Grenfell, and high-rise building fires in other countries over the past decade.
"It would not be an exaggeration to characterise global fire safety standards as the most urgent outstanding issue in the pursuit of the public interest in global safety and performance comparability," Mr Strong said.
Investigations following the Grenfell fire, which killed 72 people in London last year, showed widespread failings.
"It's rocked people's confidence in the UK codes. People have suddenly sat back and thought, do you know what, we haven't got this right in the UK - have we got it right in other countries?" he said.
Fire safety problems had come to light in Europe, with issues including combustible aluminum composite cladding on high-rises and flammable insulation, he said.
A recent meeting of building regulators from 30 European countries exposed differences in materials testing and certification, national building regulations and guidance on managing high-risk buildings.
This created "confusion, uncertainty and risk to the public", he said.
Mr Strong said the Grenfell Tower fire had led to a once in a two-generation opportunity to improve fire safety standards.
Standards that had been neglected in part due to Europe's decade-long focus on insulating buildings with the very products now causing problems in order to meet higher energy standards, he said.
In New Zealand, a common response from central and local government to post-Grenfell warnings has been to say that fire protections here are significantly more robust than Britain's, citing multiple lines of defence from passive systems, to alarms, to rising mains in the stairwells, and stronger evacuation requirements.
"If New Zealand is the premier league in terms of fire safety then, great, let's see if we can adopt that.
"But I think what you'll find as we work through this project, there will be lots of challenges around what is best practice."
There is an ongoing conversation about using types of aluminum composite panels in New Zealand, after the Codemark certificates for most types of semi-combustible panel were found to be flawed and suspended.