A BENDIGO developer is worried a rule about combustible building cladding may be expose people to an increased fire risk.
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It is cladding allowed on two-storey buildings in Victoria despite an audit of larger buildings with cladding similar to material linked to increased fire speeds on high-rise building fires.
Developer Damien O'Shannessy wants plans for two new Hargreaves Street buildings changed despite getting the nod from the City of Greater Bendigo in 2015.
He is concerned the expanded polystyrene cladding planned for the second floor of each new building is too flammable and has requested council consider allowing fibre cement weatherboard cladding instead.
"If it's been taken down somewhere else then why would I want it on my buildings?" he said.
EPS is a common building material used across the industry for 20 years.
People can use it for free-standing homes, provided they meet fire restriction levels and bushfire requirements in their area.
But the regulations do consider the cladding a higher risk in apartments and hotel buildings of three stories or more, where dwellings are generally closer together.
The Victorian Building Authority began auditing those buildings as well as two-storey buildings like hospitals and schools.
It followed a Melbourne Fire Brigade report into the "rare and challenging incident" at 2014 Lacross Docklands, when a fire rapidly spread rapidly from one apartment throughout a high-rise building.
The audit also came after 2017's Grenfell Tower fire in London, which killed 71 people and where cladding has also been linked to the speed of the flames' spread.
The VBA's audits have found four buildings with either EPC or another high-fire risk material known as aluminium composite paneling.
Audits can result in the complete replacement of cladding, the VBA said. However, changes can be limited to specific areas like balconies and exits or other "approved methods" like sprinkler system upgrades or removing ignition sources, the body's website stated.
Mr O'Shannessy said developers and home owners should consider other cladding and said any fire risk should be considered with something else in mind.
"What we don't know is how the insurance industry will look at this moving forward," he said.
People who want to know about their home's cladding can contact their council or seek advice from a private building surveyor or fire engineer, the VBA advised.