Queensland property owners are running out of time to comply with the first stage of the sunshine state’s new combustible cladding regulations.

The Queensland Building and Construction Commission (QBCC) Commissioner, Brett Bassett says that, “Once the 29 March deadline has passed, in addition to risking fines for non-compliance, a building industry professional report will have to be provided to the QBCC.”

Cladding in Queensland has been used on buildings since the mid-1990s to improve appearance but events such as the 2017 London Grenfell Tower tragedy and the Lacrosse Tower fire in Melbourne’s Docklands in 2014 have highlighted that certain types of cladding can contribute to propagation of flames and the rapid spread of fire to other parts of the building.

Accoridng to reports in the Australian Financial Review, a quarter of the 14,300 private high-rise buildings singled out for cladding assessment in Queensland are set to undergo a physical inspection in the second round of the state's audit process.