Grenfell Cladding Manufacturer Blames Other Construction Materials for Fire

ARCONIC, the manufacturer of the Reynobond aluminium composite material (ACM) panels that were on Grenfell Tower, has blamed other materials on the building for creating the conditions for the disaster, including the use of polyethylene (PE).

Giving evidence to the Grenfell Tower Inquiry which finished the first phase of its hearings yesterday, the company argued that it was the building design, incorporating other combustible materials that led to the fire: “It was only the use of ACM PE in combination with the other materials used in the refurbishment at Grenfell, together with the configuration of those materials, and the other fire safety features (or lack thereof) present in the building, that created the conditions for the catastrophe.”

Combustible Materials

The company says that the use of products with no fire rating in the internal window surrounds could have led to the fire near the Tower’s windows penetrating rapidly into the cladding system.

It also blamed the use of PIR insulation on the exterior, which, it says, catches fire quickly owing to a low thermal inertia, for the fire spreading to and igniting the cladding system and preventing the fire being put out quickly. However, expert witness Professor Bisby had already said that whether PIR insulation, or another non-combustible insulation such as mineral wool, was used on the building “that would be hugely overshadowed by the fact that you have polyethylene in the system which is freely burning”.

Arconic further asserted that if inflammable PIR insulation and polyethylene ACM panels were used they should have been broken up by horizontal bands of non-combustible material on the exterior of the Tower.

Other aspects of the building’s design and construction, including the fire doors, the lack of sprinklers and the ventilation system were asserted as contributing to the Grenfell tragedy, concluding that if they had not been present the fire would have spread through the building “much less rapidly”.

Grenfell Inquiry

Following the Grenfell Tower disaster, the government has banned the use of combustible materials on all new schools, hospitals, care homes, student accommodation and residential buildings in England above 18m in height.

Phase One of the Inquiry, which began in May 2018, heard evidence over 100 days. Phase Two will involve examining the design and four-year construction of Grenfell Tower, the regulatory framework, and the role of local authorities and government in overseeing it. It is expected to start late in 2019.

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