SINGAPORE - Workers began dismantling panels of metal cladding at 3, Pioneer Sector 3 on Friday afternoon (Aug 25), following Thursday's announcement that these panels were not compliant with the Fire Code.

The Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) said its investigations had found that 36 buildings were supplied cladding material that might contain a mixture of panels of different safety standards.

Fifteen of these buildings were found to have combustible cladding that allows flames to spread more quickly than they are supposed to. Of the 15, four had already removed their non-compliant external cladding by Thursday.

When The Straits Times arrived at 3, Pioneer Sector 3 on Friday at 2.30pm, workers had already removed about 10 of the affected panels.

These were part of a row of around 80 panels installed on the industrial building's facade.

The building is managed by ESR-Reit, which is also in charge of 30, Toh Guan Road. A 54-year-old woman was killed there when a fire broke out in May.

The SCDF's findings about the non-compliant aluminium panels emerged following investigations into this fire.

The 30, Toh Guan Road building is among the 36 buildings affected, and was one of the four that had already removed their non-compliant external cladding by Thursday.