Grenfell Towers

As I understood it, it was the insulation behind the cladding which caught fire causing the Ali to burn, but it is all speculation.

Concrete is pretty much fire proof, but I suppose it doesn't look very nice.

I'm guessing adding insulation to the outside of these old blocks, to improve them to modern standards is what is actually going on.

 

Yeah but it is still standing, and it is the concrete that is doing that.

 

So what building would you go into after a fierce fire
I'm not saying it is stable, just that concrete does not spread fire, if the original outside was concrete then the fire would have probably spread much more slowly.
Guessing again,
it's down to modern thermal insulation, which seems to be a bugbear in all building situations, from damp penetration to now, fire spread.

 

hiding paperwork, lossing paperwork etc

 

I think you could well be right @JWK. The ethos of any old which way and covering over potential problems seems the way things are nowadays.
As a recent personal example I had a new wood burning stove installed 2 weeks ago. A new hearth had to be laid to accommodate it. I was totally unimpressed at the workmanship and insisted the hearth was taken up and relayed. Begrudgingly the installers (despite being Hetas approved, which certainly didn't guarantee good workmanship!) lifted the hearth and left for the day. To my utter horror when I looked at where the new hearth had been laid the installers had covered over a large hole down to the basement 15ft below with a sheet of cardboard. Luckily I know a retired architect who I asked to come and see the issue. A visit to B and Q for quick setting concrete and some expertly installed shuttering made by my friend sorted the problem. it took us about 1 1/2 hours to make the base for the hearth secure and SAFE. Cost £6.50!. God only knows what might have happened if I hadn't insisted the installers lift their 1st effort at laying the hearth as the hole was directly below where 1 of the legs of the wood burner now sits. The stove weighs 190 kg. The installers were VERY red faced when they returned to finish the job and oh surprise made a very nice job of laying the hearth the 2nd time. Quite obvious that it's the norm? to try to get away with doing a sh1te job despite being capable of doing things properly when pressed to do so.

 

My brother is a gas engineer and now contracts for that well know firm doing work across London. He shows me some of the awful workmanship their own employees have done. Sad that the people who trust a big name get such shoddy work. My brother goes round to dodgy jobs and rectifies them. One that sticks in my mind was one where the flu to the boiler was INSIDE the kitchen. The tenants said they opened the back door when they wanted to put the boiler on.

 

I agree John, the cladding could have been installed incorrectly.
But the way I look at is, would you clad your house with this stuff.
And if you did would you get insurance.

I often wonder when you see all this trendy grunge looking cedar cladding being put on lots of buildings these days.
If you want to live in a shed then you can buy one pretty cheap, and if it burns down it will be cheap to replace.