60 UK tower blocks, including 9 owned by local governments, have failed a new round of more-stringent fire tests conducted in the wake of the Grenfell fire disaster.

According to the BBC Local Government Association chairman Lord Porter would not disclose which blocks failed the test because "intellectual property rights on the installation of cladding systems mean the identification of tower blocks affected by fire safety issues may not be made public."

This is incoherent rubbish of the sort that government officials are wont to hand down all over the world, but especially in the UK. There is no right in patent, trademark or copyright that would prevent the disclosure of which buildings incorporated a product, nor could this possibly be a trade secret.

Presumably, Lord Porter's next move will be to assert that nothing can be said because of the Data Protection Act, which is the way that government officials say, "I mayn't answer thine question, for a witch has put a curse on all who utter those words and we would be set upon by demons."

It's been five years since former Conservative Prime Minister David Cameron declared war on "safety culture", a year since landlords serving as Members of Parliament voted down a rule that would require that their properties be "fit for human habitation," and a month since his successor, Theresa May, refused to promise any government funds to remediate dangerous housing.

The nine blocks built in the 1960s were re-clad recently with shiny coloured panels, and insulation to cut energy bills. One resident told the BBC it was "like sitting on a tinderbox". Crisis management expert Prof Edward Borodzicz said: "For the people who live in these buildings, this must be extremely concerning." He added there could be a case for evacuating people from towers with unsafe cladding and insulation combinations.

Salford had already begun removing cladding and the process will continue.

Grenfell Tower: Sixty blocks 'fail new fire test'

[BBC]





(via Naked Capitalism)