Cladding fire risk concerns raised by MPs back in 2000

Concerns had been raised about the fire risk of cladding as far back as 2000 in a parliamentary report, it has emerged.

The Environment, Transport and Regional Affairs Committee launched an inquiry after a blaze tore through a 14-storey block of flats in Irvine, Ayrshire, in June 1999, killing an elderly man.

It concluded that cladding should be non-combustible or not pose an unacceptable level of risk to tenants.

Residents who escaped the fatal Grenfell Tower fire spoke of the cladding going “up like a matchstick”, while TV architect George Clarke said: “There’s a new cladding system put on the outsides (of the block of flats) that looks like a new skin. There’s an air gap, an insulation behind that; to me that looks like a fantastic chimney for the fire to rage around.”

London Fire Brigade said the cause of Tuesday night’s fire in north Kensington is not yet known.

London Fire Commissioner Dany Cotton said: “There will be an investigation but at this stage I do not want to speculate about the cause of the fire or what has caused it to spread in the way that it did.”

But the parliamentary report said: “We do not believe it should take a serious fire in which many people are killed before all reasonable steps are taken towards minimising the risks.

“We believe that all external cladding systems should be required either to be entirely non-combustible, or to be proven through full-scale testing not to pose an unacceptable level of risk in terms of fire spread.”

Harley Facades Limited (HFL) completed the refurbishment work to Grenfell Tower which included installing the exterior cladding.

The company described the aluminium composite material panels as a commonly used product.

HFL managing director Ray Bailey said: “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 the fire or its 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.”