Yahoo Finance What has the Grenfell inquiry revealed about building materials?
A new regulator that could prosecute companies making dangerous building materials has been announced by the government, prompted by evidence given at the Grenfell Tower inquiry. Here we look at some of the key issues that were raised by the hearing …
What is the problem with building products?
After the Grenfell Tower fire, it emerged that hundreds of tower blocks were wrapped in similar combustible materials that builders and building inspectors believed were being used in line with regulations. They have now been deemed dangerous and must be stripped off, leaving leaseholders and the government with multibillion-pound bills.
What has the public inquiry into the 2017 fire revealed about how this happened?
From as early as 2007, some construction material companies set up fire safety tests to artificially improve results and deliver certificates that would reassure builders they performed safely in a fire. Test rigs were set up according to the manufacturer’s instructions rather than fully independently. Materials companies also lobbied certificators and building inspection bodies to get the widest possible access for their products.
Some were aware that their materials were more dangerous than the test results or marketing brochures let on. This cemented conclusions drawn by Dame Judith Hackitt, whom the government asked to review building safety in 2018.
What did Hackitt say?
She said the whole system needed major reform and that residents’ safety needed to be a greater priority through the entire life cycle of a building – from design and construction, through to when people were living in their homes. She found that methods for testing, certification and marketing of construction products and systems were not clear, and called for “a more effective enforcement, complaint investigation and market surveillance regime at a national level for construction products”.
How long has the government known about this problem?
In 2014, Brian Martin, a senior building safety official at the Department for Communities and Local Government, said in an email that he was aware of “reliable” claims that several buildings had been erected with combustible polyisocyanurate insulation in high-rise cladding.
“Apparently people are under the impression that PIR is a material of limited combustibility (which it isn’t),” he wrote to a building safety certificator. “The purpose of my email is a friendly warning. You might want to double check with your inspectors and plan checkers that they are on top of this.”
How does this change regulation of building materials?
It doesn’t change the building regulations, which still allow combustible materials to be used on buildings up to 11 metres. But it looks likely to intensify scrutiny of the testing of products and the claims that manufacturers make for them. The Construction Products Association said: “We are awaiting further details from government and look forward to supporting its development and implementation.”
