My Lords, I think the noble Baroness, Lady Fox, has done a considerable service, because she has highlighted quite a number of things. You might say balconies represent important facets in terms of building safety. The question of balconies may have been triggered by a fire—it may have been in Australia—caused by a discarded cigarette end on a timber-deck balcony. The circumstances, of course, of timber in high summer in New South Wales or wherever may be significantly difficult from in a typical English summer. I grant you that—and, of course, timber does not retain significant degrees of combustibility throughout the season, typically, in this country. I can certainly testify to disposable barbeques being a far more potent source of fire in such circumstances.
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This brings proportionality into question. Combustion of timber elements on exteriors or balconies depends on location and vulnerability, and it depends on the actual use. This may not be straightforward to assess, although I think it should be possible to do some sort of coarse sift without getting too involved in the liability of having signed off a building as safe.
I think this also relates back to the earlier Amendment 112 on the suitability of materials. Here, I will share with the Committee a page from the family scrapbook, in the sense that my own daughter used to have a flat in east London that had a steel construction but timber decking. The timber decking needed replacement, as it does after a period of time, and it was recommended that she use a composite, on the grounds of longevity. I looked at this, and it had a much more significant fire risk than the timber would have had, yet this product was being freely marketed and recommended for use in this instance. Of course, I straightaway advised her that she should not use that product. As it happens, she has now sold the flat, so the matter has moved on. But that brings into sharp focus the need to make sure that such products, on refurb, on refit or on repair, are not used in inappropriate circumstances. It may be perfectly appropriate to have a composite decking at garden level or just above garden level in a back garden, but not where it is part of the building, where it can create a real threat to the integrity of the building as a whole.
I am actually familiar with balcony failures, because my employer’s sister firm had to do a lot of remedial work in a block development in a major south coast town where a chunk fell out and narrowly missed a person some floors down. It was about £15,000 to replace the deck of each of those balconies—by the
time you had got a hoist up, done all the protective work and got people who were competent and trained to use it, and only then got the guy in with a jimmy bar and a screwdriver to actually fix it. So, I think the noble Baroness has raised a very valuable point.
I go back to the question of proportionality, and asking the straightforward question: “Has it got any timber, or has it not?” I think the noble Lord, Lord Blencathra, said minimal bits of combustibility may not be significant, and I think we ought to have regard to that and not be overstrict, otherwise we will have far more buildings needing and receiving remediation whose occupants are being prejudiced by an adverse EWS1 or some sort of waking watch or something like that, and it will be totally unnecessary and disproportionate. We have to get a handle on this, and perhaps there is a lack of clarity in guidance while we are all busy trying to sort this thing out. I am sure the Minister understands where I am coming from, and maybe the noble Baroness in responding will comment.