Tower had cheaper, more flammable cladding

Material used in the cladding that covered Grenfell Tower was the cheaper, more flammable version of the two available options, an investigation of the supply chain has confirmed.

Omnis Exteriors manufactured the aluminium composite material (ACM) used in the cladding, a company director, John Cowley, confirmed to The Guardian.

He also said Omnis had been asked to supply Reynobond PE cladding, which is £2 cheaper per square metre than the alternative Reynobond FR, which stands for ‘‘fire resistant’’, to the companies that worked on refurbishing Grenfell Tower.

Harley Facades confirmed it had installed the panels bought from Omnis in the work it performed on Grenfell Tower. Construction firm Rydon Maintenance was the lead contractor but subcontracted elements of the work to smaller companies, including Harley.

Its website says Omnis manufactures cladding at a workshop in St Helens and has supplied dozens of building projects around the country.

German construction companies have been banned from using plastic-filled cladding, such as Reynobond PE, on towers more than 22 metres high since the 1980s, when regulations were brought in to improve fire safety at residential blocks.

Concerns that the panels could exacerbate the spread of fires led German authorities to allow them only on buildings that can be reached by the fire brigade using fully extended ladders from the ground. Taller buildings require panels with a more fire-resistant core, and separate staircases for people to use if evacuation becomes necessary.

Frankfurt’s fire chief, Reinhard Ries, said he was appalled by the Grenfell Tower fire, and tighter fire safety rules for tower blocks in Germany meant that a similar incident could not happen there.

United States building codes also restrict the use of metal composite panels without flameretardant cores on than 15m.

Thousands of buildings across Britain have been fitted with external cladding similar to the kind implicated in the unprecedented spread of the Grenfell Tower fire.

The public sector alone has spent £553 million on contracts to fit such insulation around the outside of buildings including homes, schools, hospitals and leisure centres.

In the absence of any central record of which buildings have been fitted with cladding, or which type of insulation materials have been used, the government yesterday launched an emergency review of 4000 tower blocks owned by buildings taller councils and in England.

European safety campaigners said that despite repeated lobbying, Britain lagged behind many other countries in allowing potentially combustible materials to be used on building facades.

Many local councils, including those in Manchester and Aberdeen, have already begun assessing their housing stock, liaising with the fire service and issuing advice to tenants.

London Mayor Sadiq Khan said people living in tower blocks with cladding needed to be told what kind of materials had been affixed to their homes. housing associations