REVEALED: They ignored the warnings about cladding catching fire
l Panels must NEVER go on high-rises, makers said
THE cut-price cladding blamed for the Grenfell Tower inferno was installed against the maker’s advice that it was too dangerous to use on high buildings, The Mail on Sunday can reveal.
Manufacturers’ instructions say it is ‘crucial’ that the panels should not be fitted above 10 metres (32ft). Yet contractors installed them on the full 24 floors of the block, reaching 67 metres (220ft).
Housing chiefs in Kensington and Chelsea now face an investigation over the work, carried out at a cost of £2.6million. Using the dangerously flammable panels instead of a fire-safe option saved just a few thousand pounds.
The contractors, Harley Facades, will also come under scrutiny in the official inquiry. The firm’s owners, Ray and Belinda Bailey, have not spoken since the fire, and there was no sign of them yesterday at their £1million East Sussex home.
Last night, safety experts said the decision to use the panels was ‘disturbing’ as the cladding contributed directly to flames spreading up and down the tower block and trapping terrified residents inside.
The Mail on Sunday can also reveal how:
Managers responsible for Grenfell Tower have refused to release any details of an updated fire risk assessment carried out on the building after the panels were added last year;
A major blaze inside Grenfell Tower in 2010 was successfully contained, suggesting the building was safe before the flammable cladding was added;
The horror of the blaze could be repeated as thousands of tower blocks across Britain have not been inspected by fire officials, and may also have been fitted with flammable cladding;
The company responsible for Grenfell Tower last year vowed to challenge the London Fire Brigade over ‘excessive’ safety recommendations;
safety audit of tower blocks in the borough was cancelled last year due to a shortage of firefighters.
The panels which transformed Grenfell Tower from a safe tower block into a deathtrap were made by the US company Arconic.
Called Reynobond PE, they are made from aluminium and polyethylene, which is also used to make plastic bags and bottles.
Documents obtained by The Mail on Sunday from Arconic clearly show that its cladding products containing polyethylene (PE) should not be used on buildings over a height of 10 metres.
Arconic said: ‘It is crucial to choose the adapted products in order to avoid the fire spreading to the whole building. Especially when it comes to facades and roofs, the fire can spread extremely rapidly.
‘It is especially crucial for public establishments. Buildings are also classified according to their height, which will define which materials are safer to use. Another important rule when it comes to the height of buildings concerns the accessibility of the fire brigade – as soon as the building is higher than the firefighters’ ladders, it has to be conceived [sic] with an incombustible material.’
The company provides its customers with a height guidance table. While PE can be used up to 10 metres, products which are fire retardant should be used on buildings up to 30 metres. Above that height – the limit of American fire ladders – Arconic strictly advises cladding panels containing non-combustible substances.
When it comes into contact with fire, the PE plastic melts, drips and burns, which would explain why the fire spread downwards as well as upwards over the exterior of Grenfell Tower.
Around 3,125 square metres of PE panels were used to coat the tower block in a bid to improve its appearance and boost insulation.
Polyethylene has also been linked to a number of rapidly spreading fires around the world and is now generally avoided in the construction of tall buildings overseas. Yet in spite of the dangers it poses, PE remains legal under UK building regulations and it is estimated to have been used in 30,000 buildings.
Last night, fire safety expert Phil Barry, of the CWB consultancy, said: ‘It is disturbing and shocking that these panels were used in the tower, contrary to the manufacturer’s instructions, especially as you’ve got Arconic stating it in black and white.
‘It also really demonstrates the inadequacy of the building regulations in this country that polyethylene can be used as an ingredient in cladding materials. I simply don’t understand why it is still being used in high-rise buildings in the UK.’
The addition of the polyethylene and aluminium panels to Grenfell Tower last year meant that the tower had to undergo a new fire risk assessment.
However, the Kensington and Chelsea Tenant Management Organisation (KCTMO) responsible for the building refused to release any of the report’s contents.
The KCTMO chose the safety consultants that put in the cheapest bid to carry out the work. The unnamed bidder was also chosen because they were happy to challenge the London Fire Brigade over its safety rules, The Mail on Sunday can reveal.
In a report to her board of directors, KCTMO official Janice Wray said that a consultancy had been found which ‘offered the best qual-
‘I don’t understand why this material was used’
ity and also the most competitive price’. Controversially, she added that the winning bidder was ‘willing to challenge the fire brigade on our behalf if he considered their [safety] requirements to be excessive’.
Fire safety expert Arnold Tarling, a chartered surveyor at Londonbased Hindwoods, told The Mail on Sunday: ‘The fire service are there to do their job, which is to keep people safe and alive.
‘The idea that a fire consultant should actually challenge them is incredibly dangerous.
‘These are the kind of decisions that kill people.’
Minutes from a KCTMO board meeting in November 2016 also reveal that safety reviews on nearby blocks were delayed due to a shortage of firefighters.
There are now growing fears of a repeat of the Grenfell Tower tragedy elsewhere because thousands of tower blocks have not been subjected to adequate safety testing.
A Freedom of Information request submitted to Southampton City Council last year revealed that it had carried out fire risk assessments on just 200 of its 1,023 blocks of flats.
Another FoI request disclosed that in Tower Hamlets, East London, most of the local authority’s safety checks on public buildings, including tower blocks, were out of date – only 203 of 845 assessments remained valid.
Concerns have also been raised about fire prevention laws, which experts say are not up to the job.
Mr Tarling said: ‘Anything on the outside of the building, including cladding, should be included in the fire risk assessment. However, as it is, the cladding does not need to be checked.
‘So the current law is not up to standard and needs to be changed. Neither does the legislation require risk assessors to have necessary qualifications. You don’t need any training and you can just go in and do it. Anyone can put their hand up and say, “I’m a fire risk assessor.”
‘A proper fire risk assessment would have saved lives in Grenfell Tower.’
The building had been hit by fire before. In April 2010, it was the target of a suspected arson attack when youths were believed to have set fire to bags of recycling on the sixth floor. But the blaze did not spread to other floors and was quickly put out – suggesting the building was safer before the cladding was added.
A report into the blaze said: ‘The fire alarm was activated by the smoke and rang throughout the block.’ It added that the flat door nearest the fire ‘held its integrity’.
Last night, there was no sign of the managing director of the construction company which installed the highly flammable panels that covered Grenfell Tower at his £1 million mansion in rural Sussex.
Ray Bailey, 58, runs Harley Facades with his wife Belinda, 56, and their son Ben, 27.
Since the tragedy, Mr Bailey has limited his response to a brief statement on his company website expressing sympathy with the victims. A Land Rover and Porsche seen earlier in the week parked outside the sprawling property near Crowborough were missing yesterday, suggesting the husband and wife have decided to lie low.