Gove warns Arconic over ‘commercial consequences’ as remediation row escalates

Mr Gove said in his attached letter that he was “appalled by the evidence heard during the inquiry about the extent that your employees went to so as to conceal the flammable nature of your products, and to avoid promoting fire-retardant products to customers – because doing so would reduce your profits”.

The Grenfell Inquiry heard from lawyers acting on behalf of Arconic in November who described its much-criticised failure to disclose devastating fire tests before the blaze as a “non-issue” and claimed that the firm is the victim of an “agenda” to blame it for the fire.

On the day before, the firm was named first in a “rogues gallery” of the most culpable parties for the deaths presented by lawyers for bereaved and survivors of the tragedy.

The inquiry has previously heard evidence that the firm’s French arm had test evidence from 2005 which showed that its aluminium composite material burned ferociously when bent into a ‘cassette’ form and could not achieve even the minimum European fire classification.

But it did not release this testing and continued to sell the product, despite further tests in the years before Grenfell repeating the result and mounting internal warnings about the danger associated with its product. 

In his letter, Mr Gove said the firm “incorrectly stated that you were being represented by the Construction Products Association (CPA)”.

However, Inside Housing understands that although it is not a member of the CPA, its position is that negotiations and any agreement should be reached through the body.

Mr Gove signed off his letter with a warning. “Those companies that do not share our commitment to righting wrongs of the past must expect to face commercial consequences,” he said. 

Arconic is expected to respond “no later than 12 April”.

The targeting of product manufacturers by Mr Gove marks an escalation in his attempts to make companies pay for the remediation of life-critical fire safety issues in their buildings. 

On Tuesday, Galliard Homes became the latest developer to sign the government’s post-Grenfell remediation contract, over three weeks after the deadline passed.

The DLUHC has added Galliard Homes to its list of organisations that have now signed the contract – bringing the total to 45.

The privately owned firm was one of 11 companies that initially failed to meet the 13 March deadline, but it told Inside Housing that it had been negotiating with DLUHC for “some weeks with a view to signing the contract”.

This led to Mr Gove threatening that companies which fail to sign the contract would be frozen out of the housebuilding business “unless they change course”.

Five firms are still yet to sign the contract, including the housebuilding arm of Grenfell contractor Rydon.

The contract is aimed at ensuring developers tackle all life-critical fire safety defects in buildings that are 11 metres or taller that they built in the past 30 years.