Criminal focus on suspect cladding in Grenfell fire
BRITAIN: The cladding fitted to the outside of Grenfell Tower will be the focus of a criminal investigation into the fire suspected of killing more than 58 people, Chancellor of the Exchequer Philip Hammond said yesterday.
He said hundreds of panels used to cover 300 square metres of the west London tower contained a plastic banned in Britain for use on high-rise buildings. His comments conflict with the panels’ supplier, who insisted the Reynobond PE panels were legal.
The investigation, to run alongside a separate public inquiry, will examine whether building regulations were breached in the £8.6 million (NZ$15.1m) refurbishment of the block which was completed last summer.
‘‘My understanding is the cladding in question, this flammable cladding which is banned in Europe and the US, is also banned here,’’ Hammond said.
‘‘So there are two separate questions. One, are our regulations correct, do they permit the right kind of materials and ban the wrong kind of materials? The second question is were they correctly complied with?
That will be a subject that the inquiry will look at. It will also be a subject that the criminal investigation will be looking at.’’
Greg Hands, the new minister for London, echoed Hammond, saying the police investigation into the fire was examining both the cladding and how it was attached. ‘‘That is part of the urgent investigation that is under way, that won’t wait for the public inquiry, in terms of whether the cladding played a key role.’’
He added: ‘‘ My understanding is that the cladding that was reported is not in accordance with UK building regulations . . . however, what we do need to find out is precisely what cladding was used and how it was attached.
‘‘That is one of the purposes of the urgent investigation led by the police in conjunction with the Fire Service and the Health and Safety Executive.’’
Reynobond PE aluminium panels are forbidden on tall buildings in America and in Europe under fire safety rules because of their plastic core.
British regulation states that, in buildings taller than 18 metres, any insulation product used in external wall construction should be of ‘‘limited combustibility’’.
The definition of limited combustibility material in the building regulations covers two pages and uses jargon such as ‘‘thermocouple’’ and ‘‘flame spread’’. It does not specify whether an aluminium panel with a polyethylene core would be prohibited.
John Cowley, managing director of CEP Architectural Facades, which fabricated the rainscreen panels and windows for Grenfell Tower’s cladding sub-contractor Harley Facades Ltd, said that Reynobond PE could be used ‘‘in both low-rise and high-rise structures’’.
‘‘Reynobond PE is not banned in the UK. The key question now is whether the overall design of the building’s complete exterior was properly tested and subsequently signed off by the relevant authorities including the fire officer, building compliance officer and architect before commencement of the project,’’ Cowley said.
David Lammy, the Tottenham MP, called on Prime Minister Theresa May and the police to seize all relevant Grenfell Tower documents amid concerns among residents of a coverup.
‘‘We need action to make sure that all records and documents relating to the refurbishment and management are protected,’’ he said. – The Times
Mali resort attacked
Gunmen yesterday attacked a luxury resort popular with Western expatriates just outside Mali’s capital, Bamako, killing two people in what the security minister called a terrorist attack, while 36 guests were rescued. Four gunmen arriving on motorbikes and a car stormed Le Campement Kangaba, near Dougourakoro, to the east of the capital Bamako. Mali’s Security Minister Salif Traore said Malian forces fatally shot two of the attackers but the other two escaped.
Landslide tsunami suspected
Four people are missing after large waves flooded a remote settlement in Greenland at the weekend, Greenland officials said yesterday. A Danish media report said the waves on Saturday might have been caused by an earthquake creating a landslide into the sea, which in turn would have generated a swell. The Greenland government said the small village of Nuugaatsiaq in the northwest was flooded but four people were still missing.
Cladding to go
Alarmed by last week’s disaster in west London, the authorities in Australia are setting up a strike force to replace dangerous cladding, accepting that lessons from a fire in Melbourne three years ago had yet to be acted upon. An official estimate published at the weekend said that at least 2700 buildings in New South Wales had flammable aluminium composite cladding similar to that used in Grenfell Tower. In November 2014 a fire started in the 23-storey Lacrosse Building in Melbourne and spread quickly up the walls. More than 400 people had to be rapidly escorted from the building. No-one was injured. An investigation by the fire brigade later found that the use of combustible external cladding, which did not comply with the building code, contributed to the rapid spread of the fire from a balcony on the eighth floor to the top of the building.
Synthetic opioid banned
China has announced it is banning a deadly synthetic opioid called U-47700 and three other synthetic drugs. In China, U-47700 has until now been a legal alternative to fentanyl and potent derivatives like carfentanil. Its usage has been growing among US opioid addicts. Last year, the US Drug Enforcement Administration listed U-47700 in the category of the most dangerous drugs it regulates, saying it was associated with dozens of fatalities, mostly in New York and North Carolina. Some of the pills taken from Prince’s estate after the musician’s overdose death last year contained U-47700.
Palmer defends family cruise
Clive Palmer has defended taking his family and friends on an expensive Mediterranean cruise a month after complaining of health problems during a court hearing. The former federal MP appeared at a Federal Court in Brisbane in May clutching a vomit bag and using a breathing apparatus and a pillow while giving evidence to liquidators of his Queensland Nickel company. Photos emerged yesterday showing Palmer and his family boarding the 24-day cruise, $10,000 a head cruise in Spain. ‘‘There are no actions against me for anything in any court. I have not been accused of any crime against anyone.