Company curbs sale of paneling

london» Arconic, the metal products maker that was once part of Alcoa Inc., said Monday it will stop selling one type of aluminum composite paneling for use on high-rise buildings after speculation that the material contributed to the spread of a deadly fire at a London apartment tower.

Reynobond PE, which has a polyethylene core, will no longer be sold for highrise projects, New York-based Arconic said in a statement. The company also makes another type of panel — Reynobond FR — which is fire resistant.

“We believe this is the right decision because of the inconsistency of building codes across the world and issues that have arisen in the wake of the Grenfell Tower,” Arconic said in a statement. “We will continue to fully support the authorities as they investigate this.”

In a statement late Monday, Arconic acknowledged it supplied Reynobond FR to a fabricator which used it as a component on Grenfell Tower’s cladding system. Other parts of the cladding, including its insulation, were supplied by others, it said.

It added that it sold its product with the expectation it would be used in compliance with local building codes.

The company previously had warned that such panels posed a fire risk on tall buildings.

London’s Metropolitan Police is investigating what role aluminum composite panels, the insulation behind them and the installation of the overall exterior cladding system played in the June 14 Grenfell Tower fire that killed at least 79 people.