Fibre Reinforced Facade Encyclopedia: Installation
Cladding remediation is the process of rectifying an external wall that does not comply with the fire provisions of the building code that applies to it, taking a building from an identified non-conformance to a documented, certified compliant state. It is a regulatory and evidentiary exercise as much as a construction one. The physical work of removing a facade and installing another is straightforward; the difficult parts are establishing what is actually on the building, deciding which compliance pathway to take, and assembling evidence that a building surveyor will accept.
A remediation project normally spends longer on assessment, testing and approvals than on the facade works themselves. On an occupied residential building, the design and approval phase commonly runs 9 to 18 months before any panel is removed.
At a glance
| Property | Typical value | Note |
|---|---|---|
| First step | Desktop review and visual inspection | Drawings, specifications, certificates, prior reports |
| Identification method | Core sampling with laboratory analysis | FTIR spectroscopy, differential scanning calorimetry, burn-off |
| What is being identified | Core material and its combustible content | Panel type, core composition, insulation, cavity barriers |
| Assessment standards cited | AS 5113, AS 1530.1, AS 1530.3, AS 5637.1 | Which apply depends on the pathway chosen |
| Options | Retain with a performance solution, overclad, partial or full replacement | Decided on risk, cost, occupancy and insurability |
| Occupied building works | Swing stage, mast climber or scaffold | Panel by panel, weatherproofed at the end of each shift |
| Typical design and approval phase | 9 to 18 months | Longer where owners corporation approvals are required |
| Sign-off parties | Building surveyor or certifier, fire engineer, structural engineer | Plus registered practitioner declarations where required |
| Evidence retained | Test reports, certificates, as-built records, photographs | The compliance file is the deliverable, not just the facade |
Regulatory background
Concern about combustible external wall cladding became a systematic regulatory issue in Australia after a series of facade fires from 2014 onwards and internationally after the Grenfell Tower fire in London in 2017. Australian responses included the Victorian Cladding Taskforce and the subsequent establishment of Cladding Safety Victoria, the New South Wales Project Remediate programme and the Cladding Product Safety Panel, and the Queensland Safer Buildings combustible cladding checklist, which required owners of certain buildings to assess and report on their external walls. Several jurisdictions also issued building product use bans and product safety notices.
The practical effect for a building owner is that remediation is not optional discretionary maintenance. It sits within a statutory framework with registers, notices, timeframes and, in some states, funding programmes. It also interacts with insurance and with the sale and financing of apartments, which is often what forces the timetable.
Assessment and identification
Assessment starts on paper. The original drawings, specification, product certificates and any prior facade reports establish what was intended to be installed, which is not necessarily what is there. A visual inspection then records what is visible: panel type, joint type, the presence of a cavity, cavity barriers, insulation at the reveals, and the extent of each different material across the elevations.
Physical sampling settles the question. Cores are cut from representative locations on each elevation and sent for laboratory analysis, typically Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy to identify the polymer, thermal analysis and burn-off to establish the proportion of combustible content in the core, and physical examination of the layer build-up. The output is a statement of what each material is, not an assumption based on appearance, because different products with very different cores look identical once installed.
A fire engineer then assesses the risk the identified materials present in that specific building: their extent and location, the height and class of the building, the presence of sprinklers, the egress arrangements, the separation from boundaries, and whether cavity barriers are present. That assessment, not the presence of a particular material on its own, drives what has to be done.
The options
- Retain with a performance solution: the existing cladding stays, and compliance with the relevant Performance Requirements is demonstrated by a fire engineered analysis, sometimes with other works such as sprinkler upgrades, cavity barriers or reduction of the affected area. Suitable only where the risk assessment supports it, and it must be accepted by the building surveyor
- Partial replacement: the material is removed from the elevations and locations where it presents the risk, for instance from around openings, on egress paths or above a given height, and retained elsewhere under a performance solution
- Overclad: a compliant system is installed over the existing wall. It avoids removal and disturbance but adds weight and depth, and it has to be justified because the combustible material remains in the wall
- Full replacement: the existing skin, and usually the substructure with it, is removed and a compliant system installed. The most certain outcome and usually the most expensive
The material chosen for a replacement is a separate decision with its own constraints, principally the weight the existing structure can accept, which is covered on the recladding page.
Occupancy, staging and sign-off
Most remediation happens on occupied residential buildings, and that governs the method. Work proceeds elevation by elevation and panel by panel from swing stages, mast climbers or scaffold; each area opened during a shift is made weathertight before the end of it; residents lose balcony access in rotation; and services, air conditioning penetrations and window interfaces are dealt with as they are exposed. Waste handling matters, since older buildings may contain bonded asbestos in unrelated elements, and the contract needs a clear position on latent conditions found once the skin is off.
Sign-off involves several parties and the sequence should be agreed at the start. The fire engineer prepares the fire engineering report or performance solution. The structural engineer certifies the new substructure and fixings, and the capacity of the existing structure to carry the replacement. The building surveyor or certifier assesses compliance and issues the approval and the occupancy documentation. In jurisdictions with practitioner registration and design declarations, the declaring practitioners must be registered for the class of work, and the compliance file has to show the chain from test report to installed product.
Standards and references
- NCC 2022 Volume One, Specification 7 and the external wall provisions, with Performance Requirement CP2 (check the edition adopted in your jurisdiction)
- AS 5113, fire propagation testing and classification of external walls of buildings
- AS 1530.1 combustibility, AS 1530.3 early fire hazard, AS 5637.1 group number
- AS 4284, testing of building facades, where the replacement system is subject to a performance mock-up
- ASTM E1252 and related FTIR methods, used by laboratories to identify polymer cores
- State frameworks: Cladding Safety Victoria, NSW Project Remediate and the Design and Building Practitioners Act 2020, and the Queensland Safer Buildings combustible cladding checklist
- BS 8414 and BR 135, and the Building Safety Act 2022 in the United Kingdom, as the international counterpart
Related terms
Questions specifiers ask
How is the existing cladding identified?
By taking core samples and having them analysed in a laboratory, typically with FTIR spectroscopy to identify the polymer and thermal or burn-off methods to establish combustible content. Visual inspection alone is not reliable, because products with very different cores look the same once installed.
Does non-compliant cladding always have to be removed?
No. Depending on the fire engineer’s risk assessment and the building surveyor’s acceptance, options range from retaining the cladding under a performance solution, through partial replacement of the highest risk areas, to full replacement. The assessment drives the decision.
Who signs off a remediation?
Typically the building surveyor or certifier, supported by a fire engineer’s report and structural certification of the new substructure and fixings. In jurisdictions with practitioner registration, registered practitioners must also make design and construction declarations.
Can residents stay in the building during the works?
Usually yes. Work is staged elevation by elevation from swing stages, mast climbers or scaffold, with each opened area made weathertight before the end of the shift and balcony access lost in rotation.
How long does remediation take?
The construction is often the shorter part. Assessment, fire engineering, owner approvals and statutory approvals commonly take 9 to 18 months on an occupied residential building before the facade works begin.
Assessing a facade that has to be rectified? ShapeShell-RC glass fibre reinforced concrete is Not Deemed Combustible to AS/NZS 1530.1, tested by Ignis Labs. See our fire test evidence
Reviewed by Richard Halvorsen, General Manager, ShapeShift Technologies. Last updated September 2026.