Building owners vow to replace substandard cladding

SINGAPORE — Owners of buildings found to have fallen short of fire safety standards said that they would take steps to comply with regulations and replace the improper materials, with one thinking of taking action against the contractor.

The external walls of 36 buildings in Singapore may have used composite panels as cladding that flouted fire safety requirements, the Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) revealed Thursday (Aug 24). It is working closely with the owners of the affected buildings to rectify the problem within two months.

It has also ordered the owners to disclose to their tenants, within 48 hours, the status of their cladding. So far, 19 buildings have been tested and five were found to be compliant.

The other 14 were found to have used composite panels not of the Class “0” standard required by the authorities. They include Teaching Blocks 1 to 10 of Singapore Polytechnic, 321 Clementi mall, The Peak @ Cairnhill I and II condominiums, industrial buildings 3 Pioneer Sector 3 and JTC CleanTech Two, as well as Our Tampines Hub, which officially opened earlier this month.

Another 21 buildings have not been tested yet. The investigations were launched after an industrial building at 30 Toh Guan Road caught fire in May, killing a 54-year-old woman. Its external composite panels did not meet fire safety standards.

Singapore Polytechnic said that it was informed by the authorities about the matter on Wednesday.

“The contractor who had supplied and installed the cladding panels — which are supposed to be in compliance with the Fire Code — will be responsible for the rectification,” its spokesperson said, without identifying the contractor.

SCDF has notified the polytechnic that the affected buildings “remain fit and safe for occupancy because of existing fire safety provisions in place”, but the spokesperson said that the school is “taking immediate action to address the issue and rectify the matter as soon as possible”.

Singapore Polytechnic is one of 11 buildings that have yet to remove the inappropriate panels. Three other buildings found to be non-compliant, namely Clementi Fire Station and two McDonald’s outlets in Yishun and Bukit Batok, have removed theirs.

Eng Wah Global, which owns 321 Clementi, said that only a “small section” of the cladding was non-compliant, and its architecture firm and contractor are working round-the-clock to replace the affected parts “at the earliest possible time”.

Ms Vivien Ong, sales and marketing director of Eng Wah Global, explained that during the early stages of construction, Singapore distributor Chip Soon Aluminium had provided a cladding sample that was approved by the authorities.

“We were not aware that the cladding presently on the building does not align with what was selected and approved,” she said, adding that the mall had been certified safe for occupancy by the SCDF.

The People’s Association said that it had informed “tenants and stakeholders of Our Tampines Hub” of the news, and less than 5 per cent of the total perimeter of the development was affected.

At 3 Pioneer Sector 3, ESR Funds Management said that it is going to remove the aluminium composite panels on Friday. The panels make up about 3 per cent of the building’s external surface area, and they were installed during an “upgrading” exercise in 2015, it said.

Over at JTC CleanTech Two, tenants have been told about SCDF’s order. Mr Heah Soon Poh, assistant chief executive of the engineering and operations group at JTC, said that it is checking other JTC properties and would replace any composite panels if they are found to be non-compliant.

When approached, students of Singapore Polytechnic and residents of affected condos said that they are not that worried about their safety.

Final-year architecture student Rui Zhi, 19, recalled that in 2015, about 50 students were evacuated after a fire broke out at one of the school buildings and the poly had handled it well. “If anything happens, I know the way out, so I am not worried.”

Ms Diana Mueller, 35, a pilot who moved into The Peak @ Cairnhill II a week ago, said that she is not worried either. “They have fire detectors here, so I hope that (if there is) a fire, the detectors (work).”

However, Ms Stephanie Lee, 30, who works in the media industry, is concerned. She goes to 321 Clementi mall to watch movies sometimes.

“The building is located in a busy area ... there are public housing blocks, shophouses, car parks in very close proximity to each other, so fire safety cannot be compromised.”

She added: “Singapore (is) a densely packed city, and building owners should take (this matter) more seriously.”