History is unfortunately full of examples of building and construction legislation that came too late. The use of combustible cladding offers several recent examples, including the London’s Grenfell Tower fire which killed 72 people, or the fires in Melbourne’s Lacrosse Tower and Neo200 building just this February. Combustible cladding on a tower block is an accident waiting to happen and stronger legislation through building codes could have prevented these tragic incidents. All too often it takes a crisis to trigger a response from lawmakers. Protecting the building and its occupants are rightly central to the discussion around building codes but the building and its occupants are not always the victims in the failure of building codes. Sometimes legislation needs to be developed to stop the building causing trouble for others. In the story of climate change, for example, the building is the bad guy and we need stronger legislation to protect the world from its […]