Grenfell Tower fire only spread beyond original flat because of unsafe refurbishment

THE GRENFELL Tower fire, which claimed 71 lives, would not have spread had it not been for the refurbishment of the building, according to a major report that catalogues a litany of fire safety failings.

The report, prepared for the Metropolitan Police as part of its investigation into the tragedy, details five breaches of building regulations that helped fan the fire, including the use of combustible cladding and plastic materials to fill gaps between ill-fitting window frames and the building.

It leads to the conclusion that had the refurbishment not been carried out it would have been difficult for the fire to spread beyond the fourth floor flat, where it began in a fridge freezer in the early hours of June 14 last year.

A draft of the report prepared by fire investigation expert BRE Global, leaked to the Evening Standard, says: “Grenfell Tower, as originally built, appears to have been designed on the premise of providing very high levels of passive fire protection. The original facade of Grenfell Tower, comprising exposed concrete and, given its age, likely timber or metal frame windows, would not have provided a medium for fire to spread up the external surface. There would have been little opportunity for a fire in a flat of Grenfell Tower to spread to any neighbouring flats.”

The report details how the 2014-2016 refurbishment failed to meet several major fire safety standards set out in the building regulations. The window frames were too small for the hole meaning that rubberised membrane, rigid foam insulation and UPVC lightweight plastic panels were used to fill that gap and “none of the materials used would be capable of providing 30 minutes’ fire resistance”. Instead the materials provided a “fuel” that allowed the fire to spread to the facade, it is said. Each breach relating to the cladding system is of far greater importance when “considered in combination as opposed to when they occur in isolation”, BRE notes.

The fire was so ferocious that had the original building not been built to such strict standards, it is likely that it would have collapsed, according to the experts.