London tower blaze: Cladding panels expected to be a focus of probe

LONDON: The facade of the London tower block that was gutted by a fire yesterday morning was replaced just two years ago with new cladding panels.

An investigation into the cause of the blaze in the building is expected to look at whether the materials used to refurbish the exterior of the tower may have contributed to the violent spread of the blaze.

Dubai-based fire expert Tom Bell-Wright said the blaze “had the appearance of a cladding fire” but added it was too early to speculate on the exact causes. Dubai has seen a spate of high rise cladding fires in recent years, most notably on New Year’s Eve in 2015 when The Address Downtown Dubai Hotel erupted in a ball of flames.

But there have been many examples of similar blazes in Europe as well, sometimes involving older buildings that had been refurbished.

Cladding fires are not typically associated with large numbers of casualties, despite their often spectacular appearance, because they tend to affect the exterior of buildings.

However footage of the Grenfell Tower fire shows both the interior and exterior of the building engulfed in fire.

The 24-story Grenfell Tower is part of the Lancaster West Estate which was built in the early 1970s.

Like many local authority buildings from this period, it was recovered with new aluminum composite materials which have come under scrutiny worldwide for the speed with which some of them propagate fire.

The panels used on the building are described by the contractor that installed them as “cassettes” and may have included insulation materials.

Residents had warned of the threat of an electrical fire in the building for several years.

Work had only recently completed on an £8.6 million ($11 million) upgrade of the building, which was part of a £57 million borough-wide regeneration plan in Kensington & Chelsea.

It is understood that the sub-contractor in charge of installing the cladding material on the building has since gone bust after encountering payment problems. It had worked on a number of other tower refurbishments.