Building, highrise, cladding
A building high-rise cladding fire hazard occurs when combustible materials such as cladding on a high-rise building greatly increases risk in the event of a fire and can have a catastrophic outcome (adapted from Rockpanel, no date)
Primary reference(s)
Rockpanel, no date. What is a high rise or high-risk building? Accessed 25 January 2025
Annotations
Additional scientific description
Building height is an important factor in fire safety. The National Fire Protection Association defines a 'high-rise building' as a building greater than 75 feet (25 m) in height where the building height is measured from the lowest level of fire department vehicle access to the floor of the highest occupiable story (OSHA, 2003). The definition of what constitutes a high-rise building differs for many European countries. For example, in Germany, high-rise buildings are those 22 m and above, in Belgium 25 m and above, and in the UK 18 m and above. Despite the exact limit, it is indisputable that risk increases with increasing building height (Rockpanel, no date).
Escaping from tall buildings is more difficult and takes longer than from a single-family house with one floor. Not only do highrise buildings have more inhabitants or people that work in them, but normal houses also have more escape routes (windows, doors) making escape easier when a fire occurs (Rockpanel, no date).
Composite panels were first developed as a cost-effective, lightweight building material that could be rapidly installed for external cladding or facades of industrial buildings. Following considerable development over recent decades, these panels are now widely used across a vast range of buildings. The main advantage of composite panels is that they are inexpensive, can be easily cut and shaped in any size or dimension, are lightweight, and have excellent insulation characteristics. The products also come with a wide variety of surface finishes to suit architectural designs. The issue of combustible composite panels now concerns both private residences and commercial offices and factories (Chen et al., 2019).
Recent high-profile building fires involving highly-combustible external cladding panels in Australia as well as Dubai, China, and the United Kingdom have created a heightened awareness by the public, government, and commercial bodies of the need to act on the risks associated with non-compliant building structures (Chen et al., 2019). The history of fire incidents involving combustible external composite panels goes back many decades and includes well documented events such as: the Knowsley Heights Fire in Liverpool UK, 1991; the Garnock Court Fire in Scotland, 1999; the Television Cultural Centre Fire in China, 2009; the Shanghai Apartment Fire in China, 2010; the Tecom Building Fire in Dubai, 2012; the Lacrosse Building Fire in Australia, 2014; The Torch in Dubai, 2015; The Address in Dubai, 2016; and Grenfell Tower in the UK, 2017 (Chen et al., 2019).
The Grenfell Tower fire broke out on 14 June 2017 in the 24-storey Grenfell Tower block of public housing flats in North Kensington, West London, United Kingdom. The London Metropolitan Police confirmed that 80 people died as a result. Prior to the incident, Grenfell Tower underwent a major renovation on the exterior of the building which included new windows, a heating system, and the installation of a new exterior cladding for insulation and rainscreen. The fire is believed to have been started from a refrigerator in a 4th floor apartment kitchen. The residents were in the apartment at the time and called the fire brigade. Despite firefighters arriving 6 minutes after the alarm, the fire managed to spread to the exterior cladding before the firefighters suppressed the kitchen fire. The flames spread at an alarming rate up the exterior cladding and the fire quickly became out of control. In addition, the exterior fire re-entered the building, trapping a significant percentage of residents inside the building (Chen et al., 2019).
In its report, the UK Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government stated that Aluminium Composite Material (ACM) cladding (and other metal composite material cladding) with an unmodified polyethylene filler (category 3) presents a significant fire hazard on residential buildings at any height with any form of insulation (Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government, 2020).
Metrics and numeric limits
As example of Metrics and Numeric Limits: The UK Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) has published ‘Information for leaseholders and other residents about fire safety and fixing fire safety problems (also called remediation) including unsafe cladding’ (MHCLG, 2024).
Key relevant UN convention / multilateral treaty
United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). The UNFCCC calls on all Parties to reduce greenhouse gas emissions through low-carbon development strategies, including the adoption of sustainable building practices and climate-resilient materials.
Relevant ISO Standards Incorporated:
ISO 5660 – Reaction-to-fire tests: Measures heat release rate and smoke production of façade materials.
ISO 13785-1 – Intermediate-scale test for façades: Assesses fire behaviour of partial or component-level façade assemblies.
ISO 13785-2 – Full-scale façade test: Evaluates vertical flame spread and overall fire propagation behaviour across complete façade systems.
Drivers
In October 2019, Phase 1 of the Grenfell Tower Inquiry reported on the role played by ACM cladding, fitted onto the exterior of the building. Sir Martin Moore-Bick, the Chairman of the Inquiry, found that the “principal reason why the flames spread so rapidly up, down and around the building” was the presence of combustible ACM cladding, “which acted as a source of fuel” (National Audit Office, 2020).
Impacts
Cladding with flammable material helps the fire to spread more quickly, resulting in the death of inhabitants and intoxication from smoke.
Multi-hazard context
The figure below summarises common interactions between building, highrise & cladding and other hazards. This information should be used with caution and not be solely relied upon in Disaster Risk Management, particularly as some interactions may not have been included. Note that hazardous events occurring together or locally in space or time may not necessarily cause, amplify or be otherwise related to each other. Specific examples of multi-hazard context can be found in the ‘Hazard drivers’ and ‘Impacts’ sections above.
Multi-hazard diagram
Risk Management
Appropriate exits, alarms, emergency lighting, communication systems, and sprinkler systems are critical for resident and employee safety. When designing and maintaining exits, it is essential to ensure that routes leading to the exits, as well as the areas beyond the exits, are accessible and free from materials or items that would impede individuals from easily and effectively evacuating (OSHA, 2003).
Since the tragedy at Grenfell Tower, the UK government’s Building Safety Programme has focussed on identifying and advising on short-term interim and remedial measures for existing high-rise residential buildings with ACM cladding, while developing wider reforms for the future building safety regulatory system (Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government, 2020).
In the wake of the Grenfell Tower disaster, the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government, UK, established the Building Safety Programme (the Programme) “to ensure that residents of high-rise residential buildings are safe, and feel safe from the risk of fire, now and in the future”. While remaining clear that it is building owners who are responsible for ensuring the safety of their buildings, the Department has adopted an objective to “oversee and support the remediation of high-rise residential buildings that have unsafe aluminium composite material cladding”. The Programme is designed to implement this objective, as well as to reform building regulations and the construction industry in the light of flaws brought to light in the wake of the Grenfell tragedy (National Audit Office, 2020).
The Saudi Green Building Forum (SGBF) in Consultative Status with the Economic and Social Council; And scheme owner of saaf® Certification promotes sustainable and safe building practices through the official regional certification system saaf® (Sustainability Assessment Accreditation Framework). Regarding cladding principle, the saaf® certification mandates the exclusive use of non-combustible, low-emission, and locally adapted façade materials. This ensures that fire safety is fully integrated from the design stage through to final construction. The approach aligns with the principle of designing out risk to prevent hazards before they arise.
Monitoring
Monitoring of buildings that are highrise with cladding is important. The history of fire incidents involving combustible external composite panels goes back many decades and includes well-documented events such as: the Knowsley Heights Fire in Liverpool UK, 1991; the Garnock Court Fire in Scotland, 1999; the Television Cultural Centre Fire in China, 2009; the Shanghai Apartment Fire in China, 2010; the Tecom Building Fire in Dubai, 2012; the Lacrosse Building Fire in Australia, 2014; The Torch in Dubai, 2015; The Address in Dubai, 2016; and Grenfell Tower in the UK, 2017 (Chen et al., 2019).
References
Chen, T.B.Y., A.C.Y. Yuen, G.H. Yeoh, W. Yang and Q.N. Chan, 2019. Fire risk assessment of combustible exterior cladding using a collective numerical database. Fire, 2:11. Accessed 25 January 2025.
Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG), 2020. Advice for Building Owners of Multi-storey, Multi-occupied Residential Buildings. Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG), Accessed 25 January 2025.
Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG), 2024. Information for leaseholders and other residents about fire safety and fixing fire safety problems (also called remediation) including unsafe cladding’ (2024). Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) Accessed 24 April 2025.
National Audit Office (NAO), 2020. Investigation into Remediating Dangerous Cladding on High-rise Buildings. Accessed 25 January 2025.
Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), 2003. Evacuating High Rise Buildings. Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA). Accessed 25 January 2025.
Rockpanel, no date. What is a high rise or high-risk building? Accessed 25 January 2025.