UK cladding distributor disputes ‘misleading’ failed safety test in Dubai
The UK distributor of a cladding brand that failed a fire safety assessment in the UAE has disputed the test as “highly misleading”.
Vitracore G2 was seen as a fire-safe alternative for buildings and had been used as a replacement for cladding in the UK that failed safety tests in the wake of the Grenfell Tower fire.
The components of Vitracore G2, which is distributed by Valcan, all have a rating of “limited combustibility” based on laboratory assessments.
According to a BBC report, these ratings mean the cladding could be fitted on a building without a full system test under UK building regulations.
The product was made by Valcan’s parent company Fairview, based in Australia, in response to a 2014 fire in Melbourne. Fairview developed Vitracore G2 as a fire-safe alternative to the cladding on the building.
But in a full system test – known as BS-8414 – carried out in Dubai last week, the cladding went up in flames.
In the BS-8414 test, cladding is fixed over an external wall and a fire lit beneath it to assess its combustibility.
The test was carried out by Exova Warringtonfire, an independent testing company, at its facility in Dubai.
The UAE location was chosen because Exova’s European test centres have been overwhelmed with bookings from manufacturers since the Grenfell fire.
Valcan has disputed the findings of the test, which was featured on the BBC’s Newsnight programme last week, claiming “ulterior motives” behind its commissioning.
In a statement on Valcan’s website on Monday, the company accused a competitor, Kingspan – that commissioned the test – of trying to “falsely discredit” its product.
But Valcan said the Vitracore G2 panels in the test “were not installed per the manufacturer’s guidelines” and that the Newsnight report showed that, while the product melted where the fire began, it “did not continue to burn or spread”.
The company said that the product had been previously tested by Exova Warringtonfire in November last year.
“The panel did not spread flame, and temperature results were safely below requirements. This test of Vitracore G2 demonstrates that the panels will not cause a fire to spread through the exterior or interior of a high-rise building,” it said.
A spokesman for Kingspan described their test as rigorous and said that “any systems being installed on tall buildings should have to pass this test”.
“The test failure demonstrates that systems combining non-combustible and limited combustibility products can still fail the BS 8414 test and therefore may not be safe for installation on tall buildings,” the spokesman said.
Adrian Buckmaster, from UK cladding company TretraClad, told The National that the test appeared to show the company was using up to six times the amount of a flammable glue in its product than it originally sent for testing.
Mr Buckmaster said that the test might have been unfair to Valcan because it was not given an opportunity to check the materials or how the panels were constructed in the test.
“But if it is true that they have a glue problem, then that is a problem that they must resolve,” he said.
While Valcan and parent company Fairview operate in the UK, Australia and New Zealand, Mr Buckmaster said it was likely the product, which was introduced in 2016, could be used in the UAE in the future.
The panel did not spread flame, and temperature results were safely below requirements
VALCAN Distributor for Vitracore G2