Cladding used on Grenfell Tower before the fire ‘was the more flammable and cheaper version’ of two options
CLADDING used to cover Grenwell Tower before Wednesday's killer fire WAS a cheaper, more flammable version of two options - the manufacturer of the panels has reportedly confirmed.
A criminal investigation has been launched to find how flames raced up the side of the west London tower block, killing at least 30 people inside.
The 24-storey building underwent an £8.6 million refurbishment last year which included an exterior facelift using aluminium panels.
But the thin metal sheets were seen melting and falling away during the blaze by shocked eye-witnesses, exposing highly-flammable plastic insulation underneath as flames quickly spread.
Manufacturers Omnis Exteriors has now confirmed to it supplied Reynobond PE cladding to contractors Harley Facades for the project.
The aluminium panels are £2 per square metre cheaper than Reynobond FR panels - which are fire resistant.
Omnis director John Cowley said all the cladding and panels the firm supplied were ";fully compliant with regulations".
He told the Guardian: "We supplied components for a system created by the design and build team on that project."
The charred remains of the panels now litter the ground around the devastated tower.
Building managers Chelsea Tenant Management Company hired construction firm Rydon as the lead contractor on the project.
Rydon hired Harley Facades to install the cladding, which was supplied by Ipswich-based firm Celotex and manufactured by Omnis.
It was previously revealed the Reynobond PE cladding is BANNED in America on buildings taller than 40ft for safety reasons.
Similar cladding used on Grenfell Tower was allegedly provided for 14 blocks of flats across London.A salesman for Reynobond told The Times: “It’s because of the fire and smoke spread.
"The fire-resistant [variant] is fire-resistant. The polyethylene [PE] is just plastic."
A rough calculation suggests cladding panels covered more than 2,000 square metres on Grenfell, meaning contractors could have acquired the fire-resistant version for less than £5,000 extra.
The PE panels are also rated as "flammable" in Germany.
It has also been reported that East Sussex-based company Harley Facades provided aluminium composite material for the 23-storey building - as well as 14 others across London housing hundreds of families.
It is not known if these towers are fitted with the fire-resistant variant.
According to , the firm used similar overcladding to refurbish four 23-storey tower blocks in Camden, north London, and Ferrier Point in Newham, east London in 2015.
It is claimed that in the same year, six towers in Harrow, northwest London, were given cladding, as well as Merit House - a 13-storey building in Barnet.
According to the Mail, in 2014, Castlemaine Tower, a 23-storey block in Battersea, south London, and Clements Court in Hounslow, west London were also clad.
Fires are STILL burning at the tower a day after the deadly blaze ripped through the 24-storey residential buildingThe tower block had been reduced to a burnt-out carcass by this morning
Boss of Harley Facades Ray Bailey said last night: “This is an incredibly tragic incident. Our thoughts are with the residents and their families who have suffered such a personal loss.
"We will fully support and cooperate with the investigations into this fire.
"There will be many questions about this whole incident and so you will appreciate that it would not be appropriate for us to comment or for others to speculate on any aspect of fire or it causes in advance of these inquiries.
"At this time, we are not aware of any link between the fire and the exterior cladding to the tower.”
He added that ACM panels are a commonly used product in the refurbishment industry. Harley Facades Limited do not manufacture these panels.
They were designed to improve energy efficiency were fitted to the block in a £9million refurb completed in May last year by East Sussex-based builders Rydon.
But they were filled with foam insulation that allegedly “went up like matchsticks” in the blaze.
Yet use of the materials is entirely legal and complies with all current building regulations.
And experts say the cladding now covers thousands of homes and offices across Britain.
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An urgent review of tower block safety was launched yesterday after cladding on Grenfell Tower was blamed for spreading the inferno.
Today Prime Minister Theresa May ordered a full public inquiry into the Grenfell Tower disaster following calls from opposition leaders.
Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn said "the truth has got to come out"; as he visited those affected by the Grenfell Tower blaze.
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Arnold Tarling, 55, of the Association of Specialist Fire Protection, said: “This was an accident waiting to happen.
“They clad the concrete of this building with flammable insulation panels and rain screen cladding with a 30mm gap, which acted like a chimney.
“All the burning material falls down, starting more fires below, and the flames spread up and across searching for oxygen.
Danger across UK
SIMILAR cladding to that used at Grenfell Tower has been fitted to high-rise blocks across Britain and the rest of the world.
Numerous schemes have made use of the cheap insulation to get green energy ticks next to developments.
Brightly coloured exterior panelling can be seen on new -builds and added to existing, crumbling estates.
The Highwood, a 31-storey block, part of the redevelopment in Elephant and Castle, South London, is just one example.
Five towers on the Chalcot Estate in Camden, North London, have been kitted out with the cladding by Rydon, the company behind the Grenfell refurb.
Devastating consequences linked to the design craze have been seen in Dubai, where there have been several major blazes. On New Year’s Eve in 2015, a fire tore through the 63-storey Address Hotel. Fortunately no one was killed but it left the building in ruins.
There were also fires at the 826ft Marina Torch residence in February 2015 and at the Tamweel Tower in November 2012.
Experts say there are more examples of the cladding’s use in the Middle East and China.
“Meanwhile, crews can’t tackle the fire effectively because their water just bounces off the rain covers.
“The cladding looks lovely, it’s cheap, complies with regulations and gives the building a high environmental rating. But it’s a silent killer.
“When this block was built, it complied with the old fire regulations. Had it been left alone it would never have burned like this.”
What we know so far:
- A huge fire engulfed 24-storey Grenfell Tower in West London just before 1am on Wednesday night
- Seventeen deaths have been confirmed but the death toll is feared to be more than 100 - with many people still missing
- The first victim has been named as Syrian refugee Mohammed Al Haj Ali, 23
- The Prime Minister has promised a full public inquiry into the disaster and police have launched a criminal investigation
- The blaze is thought to have been sparked by a faulty fridge
- Experts warned the blaze was spread by cladding panels which are fitted to countless buildings across Britain
- Residents were seen jumping from upper floors in scenes reminiscent of September 11
- Horrified witnesses told of babies being thrown from windows by desperate mothers
- It was revealed the block had only recently undergone a £10million refurb but still had no sprinkler system installed
- Designers insisted the refurbishment work complied with building regulations
- Residents raised safety concerns four years ago, but were ignored
- A former housing minister was blasted for postponing a government review into tower block safety
- Celebrities and ordinary Londoners have united to provide food, clothes, money and shelter for survivors
An industry watchdog warned of the cladding danger 18 months ago after panels caused fire to tear through a Dubai block in minutes.
When six people died in a 2009 fire at Lakanal House, a 14-storey block in Camberwell, South East London, exterior cladding panels ignited in four-and-a-half minutes.
Southwark Council was fined £570,000 for fire safety failings in February — but astonishingly not for the cladding.
Fire reg rap
BRITISH fire regulations are ten years out of date and ignore major developments in construction.
Southwark Council was prosecuted four months ago over a fire where cladding ignited, but only for technical breaches such as missed risk assessments.
New-builds over ten storeys must have sprinklers fitted, but fire expert Dr Jim Glockling said: “When a significant redevelopment is made it should be updated to the latest building regulations.”
There were further questions last night over the possibility that fireproof insulation, removed to replace old pipes in the Grenfell refurb, was not put back.
If it wasn’t, that would have created channels of air allowing the flames to rapidly spread inside the building.
A surveyor involved with the project refused to comment last night.
Residents at Grenfell were also told to stay in their flats rather than flee because the staircase was not designed for a mass evacuation.
But the “stay put” policy was developed in an era when fires mostly stayed in the rooms they started in — and were not expected to spread so rapidly on the outside of blocks.
A source who works for Grenfell Tower’s fire maintenance system said alarms did go off — but might not have sounded.
He said: “We got a call this morning to say the alarms had activated and needed to be reset.
“When we get a notification like that it means the fire alarm must have gone off. I’ve heard residents’ reports that they didn’t sound. This is unusual but is possible.
“We only manage the fire alarms in communal parts of the building.”
He added: “There are no sprinklers in the building. I know that because we would manage them if there were.
“When it was built it didn’t have to have sprinklers put in.
“Regulations were different in the 1970s. Even now it’s only a recommendation.
“Sprinklers are expensive. They cost about £3,500 per dwelling — a lot for a high-rise building.
But you should never put a limit on the price of safety of people’s lives.”
Dr Jim Glocking, of the Fire Protection Association, said his organisation had been crying out for a review of UK building regulations.
He said: “This is not a one-off. If it turns out that everything was to plan and absolutely appropriate, then that raises a horrific question that what is currently being done is wrong, or certainly not good enough.
“We keep being promised a review, it keeps being delayed. The last regulations were ten years ago. We are building very different buildings now.
“We have been very concerned about the introduction of highly-combustible products into buildings.
“They are often being introduced on the back of the sustainability agenda, but it’s sometimes being done recklessly without consideration to the consequences. It’s not uncommon for buildings to have blocks of polystyrene up to 30cm deep on the outside, which is an extraordinary quantity of combustible material.”
Policing and Fire Minister Nick Hurd yesterday pledged to reassure people living in similarly-clad buildings as soon as possible.
Studio E Architects, who oversaw the Grenfell refurb, said: “We are deeply shocked and distressed over news of the devastating fire. Our thoughts are with those affected.
“We will be assist the relevant authorities as and when required.”
According to planning documents, sub-contractors Harley were paid £2.6million to oversee the cladding installation.
A spokesman for Harley Facades told Sun Online: "Harley Facades Limited completed the refurbishment work to Grenfell Tower. This included the installation of exterior cladding.
"The Aluminium Composite Material (ACM) panels are a commonly used product in the refurbishment industry.
"Harley Facades Limited do not manufacture these panels."
He added: "This is an incredibly tragic incident. Our thoughts are with the residents and their families who have suffered such a personal loss.
"We will fully support and cooperate with the investigations into this fire.
"There will be many questions about this whole incident and so you will appreciate that it would not be appropriate for us to comment or for others to speculate on any aspect of fire or it causes in advance of these inquiries.
"At this time, we are not aware of any link between the fire and the exterior cladding to the tower."
Sun Online has contacted Rydon for comment.
Harley managing director Raymond Bailey and his wife Belinda had been director and secretary of Harley Curtain Wall, which was responsible for the cladding project at the tower block.
The firm went bust in 2015, owing creditors more than £1million, before being bought up by Mr Bailey's other firm Harley Facades.
The 58-year-old boasts of more than 25 years “practical experience” as a specialist curtain walling contractor.
Witnesses to the blaze described how the material "went up like paper".
Another told Channel 4 news: "The fire was coming up really fast because of the cladding.
“The cladding was flammable."
Rydon had earlier insisted its work - which was completed on May 2016 - "met all required building control, fire regulation and health and safety standards."
A statement from the company on the “devastating” fire today read: “Rydon completed a refurbishment of the building in the summer of 2016 for KCTMO (Kensington and Chelsea Tenant Management Organisation) on behalf of the council, which met all required building control, fire regulation, and health and safety standards.
"We will co-operate with the relevant authorities and emergency services and fully support their inquiries into the causes of this fire at the appropriate time."
The building was last tested for fire safety shortly after the new cladding was fitted in December 2015.
Investigators are currently trying to establish the exact cause of the blaze, which left 69 injured.
Police said the death toll of 12 is likely to increase dramatically.
Robert Bond, CEO of Rydon said: “Rydon completed a partial refurbishment of the building in the summer of 2016 for Kensington and Chelsea Tenant Management Organisation on behalf of the Council.
The project met all required building regulations and handover took place when the completion notice was issued by the Department of Building Control, the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea.
"We are working with the relevant authorities and emergency services and fully support their enquiries into the causes of this fire.”
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