Celotex investigating Panorama allegations ‘as a matter of urgency’

News23.05.1810.10 AM by Peter Apps

The manufacturer of the insulation installed on Grenfell Tower has said it is investigating allegations made by the BBC’s Panorama show “as a matter of urgency”.

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Insulation manufacturer Celotex says it is investigating BBC allegations ‘as a matter of urgency’ #ukhousing

On Monday, Panorama broadcast a documentary in which it claimed Celotex’s RS5000 product had additional fire retardant when it passed a safety test in May 2014.

Celotex had previously admitted to “inaccuracies” in the description of this test, and as a result the Building Research Establishment, which provided the facility for the test, had withdrawn it.

However, Celotex announced earlier this month that it had commissioned a fresh test on the product, which it passed, according to a statement posted on the insulation manufacturers website on 2 May.

In a statement posted on its website yesterday, Celotex said: “As you may have seen, the BBC’s Panorama programme from 21 May 2018 focused on the refurbishment of Grenfell Tower and raised certain allegations in connection with the Celotex business. We take these allegations extremely seriously.

“It is important to note that, as was mentioned in the programme, the Grenfell Tower Inquiry and the police investigation are on-going. We have been, and will continue to fully co-operate with these official processes. It is absolutely right that we continue to do this; all of the issues raised in the programme, and many more, will be investigated in detail.

“During the programme, a new allegation was made that Celotex had added fire retardant to the formula of a product sample which was used for a safety certificate and that a different product to this was actually sold. Prior to Panorama raising this, we were unaware of this allegation and had not identified anything which would support it. Celotex is investigating this allegation via all avenues as a matter of urgency.

“Celotex has not used any special formulation for the recent successful BS 8414 system test in May 2018 or Class 0 fire testing. It is very hard to understand the Panorama allegation alongside those tests.

“The current management of Celotex are absolutely determined to do the right thing. That means co-operating fully with the Inquiry and other official investigations, and sharing with them all relevant material. We will continue to provide updates as appropriate.”

Never Again campaign

In the days following the Grenfell Tower fire on 14 June 2017, Inside Housing launched the Never Again campaign to call for immediate action to implement the learning from the Lakanal House fire, and a commitment to act – without delay – on learning from the Grenfell Tower tragedy as it becomes available.

One year on, we have extended the campaign asks in the light of information that has emerged since.

Here are our updated asks:

GOVERNMENT

Act on the recommendations from Dame Judith Hackitt’s review of building regulations to tower blocks of 18m and higher. Commit to producing a timetable for implementation by autumn 2018, setting out how recommendations that don’t require legislative change can be taken forward without delay
Follow through on commitments to fully ban combustible materials on high-rise buildings
Unequivocally ban desktop studies
Review recommendations and advice given to ministers after the Lakanal House fire and implement necessary changes
Publish details of all tower blocks with dangerous cladding, insulation and/or external panels and commit to a timeline for remedial works. Provide necessary guidance to landlords to ensure that removal work can begin on all affected private and social residential blocks by the end of 2018. Complete quarterly follow-up checks to ensure that remedial work is completed to the required standard. Checks should not cease until all work is completed.
Stand by the prime minister’s commitment to fully fund the removal of dangerous cladding
Fund the retrofitting of sprinkler systems in all tower blocks across the UK (except where there are specific structural reasons not to do so)
Explore options for requiring remedial works on affected private sector residential tower blocks

LOCAL GOVERNMENT

Take immediate action to identify privately owned residential tower blocks so that cladding and external panels can be checked

LANDLORDS

Publish details of the combinations of insulations and cladding materials for all high rise blocks
Commit to ensuring that removal work begins on all blocks with dangerous materials by the end of 2018 upon receipt of guidance from government
Publish current fire risk assessments for all high rise blocks (the Information Commissioner has required councils to publish and recommended that housing associations should do the same). Work with peers to share learning from assessments and improve and clarify the risk assessment model.
Commit to renewing assessments annually and after major repair or cladding work is carried out. Ensure assessments consider the external features of blocks. Always use an appropriate, qualified expert to conduct assessments.
Review and update evacuation policies and ‘stay put’ advice in the light of risk assessments, and communicate clearly to residents
Adopt Dame Judith Hackitt’s recommended approach for listening to and addressing tenants’ concerns, with immediate effect