(Alliance News) - Manufacturers of a flammable insulation used on Grenfell Tower were trying to "get away with" telling the market that the product was safe for use on high-rise buildings when there was a lack of test data to prove it, an inquiry has heard.
Staff at Kingspan Group PLC wanted certificates to not declare caveats relating to the specific set of circumstances in which their K15 insulation would be safe to use on high-rise buildings.
Gareth Mills, a former technical advisor at Kingspan, was described in internal company emails as having "the experience in what [the company] can and cannot get away with" when pushing an industry certifier to publish information about K15 that would be favourable to their sales.
Kingspan did not want a 2013 certificate from the British Board of Agreement to include a line about K15 only being approved for use on a high rise building if used in a specific cladding system tested in 2005.
The certificate for the material contained a small text footnote which said: "The test result applies only to this specific construction and a separate test would be required to establish the performance of any other combination of materials".
This was the first time one of these certificates had contained this caveat and Mills conceded it was something the company had wanted to "avoid".
Mills, who gave evidence to the inquiry on Wednesday, described the company as "want(ing) to cover as many situations as was possible based on what data they had."
Mills was questioned on this further by inquiry lawyer Kate Grange QC, who asked: "Would you accept now that there was a culture at Kingspan of trying to minimise the limitations on K15 rather than being accurate and transparent with its customers and with organisations like the BBA?"
Mills said: "I would say they did want to maximise what scope they could get on approvals, things like that. I don't think at any stage they were dishonest about the test data they had, or not that I was aware of anyway."
K15 was one of two insulation products used during the refurbishment of Grenfell Tower.
The cladding system – which also contained aluminium composite material (ACM) panels – has been found to have fuelled the rapid spread of the blaze which claimed 72 lives in 2017.
The inquiry had previously heard that there were concerns in the industry about the fire safety of K15 on high-rise buildings.
An industry insurer was threatened with an injunction when they threatened to advise clients not to use the material, the hearings were told on Tuesday.
Kingspan called in solicitors to warn of getting a court order to silence the National House Building Council when they suggested they would not cover high-rise buildings using K15, as the manufacturers could not prove it was fire safe.
The inquiry continues on Thursday and is expecting to hear from witnesses from both Kingspan and other insulation firm Celotex.
Kingspan's website contains a statement concerning K15 on Grenfell Tower, noting that "Kingspan Insulation had no role in the design or planning of the cladding system at Grenfell Tower, and provided no advice to those working on Grenfell Tower around the suitability of K15 for use in the installed cladding system."
The statement also points out that "K15 constituted 5.2% of the rainscreen insulation boards ordered for use on Grenfell Tower, and Kingspan Insulation had no knowledge that its product was being used until after the fire."
source: PA
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