Wooden cladding on a Bermondsey development will be removed over fire safety fears.
Flats and offices in the Bermondsey Square development will have their timber cladding replaced with aluminium cladding instead.
It comes after “deficiencies” were apparently found in the original cladding on the site installed by a developer, including “combustible cladding” and “combustible insulation.”
“The application follows investigations by the building’s owners that have identified deficiencies in the cladding erected at the site by the original developers,” states a letter sent to the council in April by planning consultant Chris Jones.
These include “combustible insulation, combustible cladding, limited/poorly installed fire breaks and ACM cladding.”
The Red Louro cladding will now be replaced with a particular type of aluminium cladding instead, made of anodised aluminium.
The materials will be a dark wood colour to match the rest of the development, according to council documents approving the decision last Tuesday.
“The proposal will result in a very minor protrusion, 20mm approximately, of the new and remounted cladding across the building, however this will bear no impact upon the amenity of neighbouring premises,” states a council officer who approved the decision.
“The proposal will therefore not harm any adjoining occupiers’ privacy, access to daylight and sunlight, sense of enclosure or quality of outlook.”
It comes nearly a year on from a serious blaze in Barking, which destroyed twenty flats. Fears over a particular type of wooden cladding used on the block were raised in the aftermath of the fire.