Government and fire officers to meet following major fire
Peckham blaze triggers timber frame safety talks
Fire chiefs are meeting with the government and manufacturers of timber frame homes to discuss new measures to improve building site safety after a major fire in Peckham.
Fire chiefs said they wanted ‘urgent action’ to make timber frame building sites safer following the fire, which spread to two nearby blocks of flats and a pub and led to more than 300 people being evacuated from their homes.
The Chief Fire Officers Association is meeting with officials from the Communities and Local Government department and manufacturers’ body the Timber Frame Association.
A spokesperson for the TFA said they would discuss whether building control departments would be willing to automatically notify fire brigades of the building materials – timber frame, brick or steel – used on certain construction sites in their area. ‘They could then liaise more closely with health and safety and building inspectors to make sure guidelines are complied with,’ she said.
She said the association published guidelines on fire safety in timber frame construction sites 18 months ago and would look at whether they needed to be revised once the lessons from the Peckham fire are known.
‘The security of completed timber frame buildings is absolutely not in doubt but there may be more things the industry can do on the construction process. This is an issue about site security and site management,’ she said.
The TFA, fire chiefs and the government have been discussing safety on timber-frame building sites since a fire on site Collindale, north London, three years ago.
The Chief Fire Officers Association said it was ‘increasingly concerned’ about the number and severity of fires in timber framed buildings under construction.
The CFO said the Peckham fire showed the problem of rapid fire spread through part-finished timber frame. It said fire risk reduces significantly once the buildings are complete because fire precautions have been installed.
In a statement it said: ‘Fire chiefs are, therefore, calling for all relevant agencies, including the HSE, to redouble their efforts to find a solution to this serious, emerging and developing trend.’
On the Peckham construction site, 39 timber frame homes were being built by Greenacre Homes, who control the land, for London & Quadrant Housing Group. The site was originally acquired by developer Trafalgar (London).
The fire spread to flats in Carisbrooke Gardens, which is owned by Southwark council and managed by a tenant management organisation, and Oak Court, which was home to a mix of council and housing association tenants.
Southwark council set up a rest centre for more than 300 people who were evacuated from their homes when the fire broke out on Thursday morning. Most people were allowed to return home on Thursday night but 65 had to stay in temporary accommodation.
Residents of nearby Family Mosaic homes were allowed home after being evacuated. The association said it would clean soot damaged homes.
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Readers' comments (13)
david gough | 27/11/2009 4:26 pm
i work for a timber frame company and i think that their isent anything wrong with it being timber or brick this was a accident that couldent be helped and this would have happed what every way it was made big fuss for timber frame industry over nout
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Janet Yatak | 27/11/2009 10:31 pm
Well as an employee of the Timber company you would stick up for them wouldn;t you I wonder however if you would live in a timber framed house i'ts a bit insulting to those families that have lost their homes because of a timber framed construction.
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Jim Paton | 28/11/2009 0:29 am
David -this certainly wasn't "an accident that couldn't be helped". The issue of whether arson was involved is still being investigated. The same applies to whether or not the fire was accelerated by inappropriate storage of gas cylinders or other flammable materials.
Even if it turns out there was no arson and no dangerous accelerants involved (the latter seems unlikely in light of witness accounts of numerous explosions), this tragedy could still have been avoided if the site had what building sites of this size always used to have -a night "watchman" (as he was always called). I got shouted at / chased by them several times as a kid when attempting to muck about on building sites.
Thanks to decades of alleged "efficiency savings" site security now relies on high fencing, usually with panels of marine ply made from tropical hardwoods, often topped with anti-climb paint or barbed wire. We wrap our building sites round with the devastation of the rainforests of Malaysia, Indonesia etc., then chuck it in the skip after a few months or a year.
A modest re-usable fence and a human presence on the site 24/7 would have had a very good chance of either preventing this fire, extinguishing it at an early stage, or at least calling the fire brigade before it got out of hand.
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tony | 28/11/2009 1:58 pm
what caused the fire at the same site a few days before?
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karen | 30/11/2009 9:40 am
It seems that the compromise for using green and sustainable building methods (i.e. timber and not steel) has some key issues. Its worth noting that timber framed buildings have not been proven less safe once the building is complete. Their vulnerability during the build process is worrying though.
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lisa Tucker | 30/11/2009 4:06 pm
Working now in Canada where all buildings are made of wood, sprinklers is compulsory and if the UK are using wooden frames then this has to be the way forward.
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Chloe | 01/12/2009 2:49 pm
Hi Tony
Please could you get in touch? My email is chloe.stothart@insidehousing.co.uk
Thanks, Chloe (Inside Housing editorial)
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Build your own house | 02/12/2009 11:15 am
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darren paton | 03/12/2009 6:00 pm
we as a company have been asked to come up with a solution for these conditions in a timber frame project.
we have fitted wireless cctv cameras that will detect fire conditions and can be monitored 24hrs , seven days a week.
we have also designed a new system that if rapid heat changes the atmosphere, a siren will sound warning personnal to leave the building with back up lighting to show the way out. further details can be obtained from emailing us.
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Steve Sanford | 04/12/2009 3:25 pm
I know it would increase cost marginally but would it not be an idea to coat all timber framed panels with some sort of fire retardant this could be done during the manufacture process in the factory
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