Aluminium cladding supplier warns against ban

A leading supplier of high-rise cladding is warning against imposing a blanket ban on aluminium composite panels in the fallout from Grenfell Tower fire. This comes as the Auckland Council signals it may take longer to approve consents for projects that want to use the panels. The council says this is due to 'the level of uncertainty' surrounding fire compliance of cladding systems, and how to achieve compliance. Its own records are so patchy it does not know for sure whether highly combustible or semi-combustible panels have been used on half of the 116 highrise buildings it has checked. The head of the Auckland company Kaneba that supplies Alucobond panel, Jan Gouws, told RNZ reporter Phil Pennington his company's been advising the industry to be cautious for years, to no avail.