Building fans flames

The colossal fire on the Greenacre Homes construction site in Peckham on November 26 clearly did no favours for the UK timber frame industry.

The blaze in the part-finished four-storey housing association development spread rapidly through the exposed frame and 300 people had to be evacuated from neighbouring flats.

Following other fires in incomplete timber frame multi-storey blocks around the UK in recent years, the incident clearly highlighted the need for further reappraisal of construction site practice. And, indeed, the UK Timber Frame Association is now leading the way in tackling the issue, with the launch of a 'Site Safe' programme in January set to precede a range of other fire safety initiatives.

Building, as it's wont with timber frame fire stories, however, has jumped in with coverage that implies the system is inherently unsafe for multi-storey construction.

The text of the main article in this week's edition by technical editor Thomas Lane is less inflammatory than previous reports, asking what timber frame can do to improve its fire safety record and image following the building site blazes. But he juxtaposes the Peckham blaze and the chance of fatalities in any future timber frame fire, with the six deaths in the blaze at Lakanal House in London earlier this year. The inference many readers will draw from that was that the latter was also timber frame. It was in fact a 1959 concrete panel block clad with plastic panels - so what was the relevance of mentioning it?

But the most partial element of Building's coverage had to be its cover this week, flagging up Mr Lane's article and a fire safety piece by building control officer Paul Hymers with an image of a timber frame building made of matches and the strapline "so how dangerous is timber frame?".

Paul Hymers concludes his piece by saying 'whatever happens, timber frame ticks all the sustainability boxes, so we need to find a way of sustaining it long enough to get the building finished'. Agreed. The UK timber frame sector needs to deal with the construction site fire safety issue because we need timber frame. But if Building magazine itself really agrees with that and wants to contribute constructively to making timber frame safer, why is it using images and sound-bite slogans that only serve to inflame the situation and possibly scare some people off using the construction method altogether?