In the Herald today from Martin Williams, the man with a ferry newsletter, the above disgraceful image and then this:
Ministers have been accused of putting lives at risk after it emerged it has overseen the removal of dangerous cladding of just one building seven years after the Grenfell Tower blaze that claimed the lives of 72 people.
Who has accused the ministers? A trade union fighting in the interests of its members, as staffing is reduced but by a far lesser extent than fire incidents are plummeting. Just doing what they should but NOT evidence of anything other than that.
So, once more, the facts:
From BBC Glasgow & West [25/9/22]:
Firefighters have extinguished a blaze which broke out at a tower block in the south side of Glasgow.
Emergency services were alerted to the incident in Shawhill Road, Shawlands, at about 21:00 on Saturday.
The Scottish Fire and Rescue Service dispatched eight fire engines. Large plumes of smoke were seen coming from windows on the block’s upper floors.
The fire was reported as extinguished after 22:00. It is understood there were no reported casualties.https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-glasgow-west-63023916
Why did this fire not spread to other floors and with terrible consequences?
Simple: Cavity Fire Barriers.
What?
These:
Reader Gordon Darge wrote for us in January 2020:
As a chartered architect in Scotland for 40 years I can confirm that the Building Regulations Technical Standards Scotland have for two decades required cavity fire barriers
2.4 Cavities
Mandatory Standard
Standard 2.4
Every building must be designed and constructed in such a way that in the event of an outbreak of fire within the building, the spread of fire and smoke within cavities in its structure and fabric is inhibited.
This includes for example, around the head, jambs and sill of an external door or window opening, at all floor levels and building corners etc. to prevent the spread of fire in building cavities. This would have prevented the spread of the fire at Grenfell Tower.
This is difficult and expensive to achieve and I can only guess that in England they did not follow the Scottish model because Westminster and the Tories were led by the vested interests of big business, property developers and large construction firms.
For anyone wanting more info see:
Cavity fire barriers prevent this:
The Chimney Effect
As I understand it, it is not so much the flammability of the material used as the construction of the external cladding to deny the spread of fire via a chimney effect.
They worked in tower block fire in 2021:
a fire in 2021 which was contained within one floor and had no casualties:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-glasgow-west-58046347According to BBC Scotland:
Residents of a multi-storey block of flats in Glasgow had to be evacuated after a fire broke out on the 17th floor. Fire crews were called to the block on Lincoln Avenue in the Knightswood area of the city at 04:08. Residents were safely removed from the building by the fire service and there were no casualties. A total of nine fire appliances attended the incident which took about five hours to bring under full control. A spokeswoman for Scottish Fire and Rescue Service said: “Operations control mobilised nine appliances to Lincoln Avenue where the fire was affecting the 17th floor of the multi-storey block of flats.” The spokeswoman said residents from the 17th and 18th floors were removed and the fire has been extinguished.
No towering inferno. Never!
Talking-up Scotland 'Albatraz' 
I doubt anybody is surprised any more by Martin looking for any excuse to flash up “EXCLUSIVE” or the Herald picture Editor exaggerating the issue for effect, I suppose we should be grateful the National Editor resisted pressure to follow suit.
However, once you scroll past the schlock/horror opening https://archive.ph/OQbPf you finally arrive at –
” But officials have confirmed that as of mid-December there were 27 buildings deemed most at risk where formal building assessments have been commissioned, with just one building receiving what it calls ‘mitigation’ while ‘remediation’ is taking place in one other. ”
How does that connect with ‘doing nothing’ in Martin’s head ?
Why does it not connect in the head of ‘John McKenzie, regional secretary of FBU Scotland’ that most materials in buildings are flammable, it’s the containment which makes the difference in preventing such as Grenfell in Scotland ?
Yes it remains a problem in parts of England, they still elect Tories who ‘cut red tape’.
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And they are about to (probably) vote Labour who do the exact same thing….lining their own pockets!!!
The Herald is but a fanzine for the right wing Tory/Labour crowd!!!
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However, it is possible that a Westminster Government of whatever colour will use the Single Market Act to change such regulations in Scotland.
Indeed, some of the advertisers in the Herald might be pushing for that.
Alasdair Macdonald
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”It’s Scottish Journalism , John , but not as we know it ! ”( with apologies to Dr McCoy )
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Nah. As we’ve ALWAYS known it! 😉
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The Westminster Gov refused to tighten building regulations. The Westminster members are landlords. No one has been held responsible for Grenfell disaster. Passing the buck. Cameron now firing missiles at the poorest country in the world.
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There are Tory Councillors in Kensington, some of whom may harbour guilt for the manslaughter if not homicide they occasioned, but not a single one of them will face justice or die in prison….
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The Brit state is capable of orchestrating such a disaster though, that’s the scary thing, if desperate enough!! Just look at all the UNEXPLAINED fires which have completely destroyed so many tourist sites in Scotland over the past 2-3+ years. It can’t all be because of malfunction, some remote, some which were hugely important re science, but we don’t seem to hear about any actual investigations going on, nor any reasons given. I mean CCTV, does that show up anything? It’s a long list, I just hope that list is not added to. I know conspiracy theories are poo pooed, but if anyone has any explanations about the list of tourist and important historic sites burned to the ground, do share.
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