Grenfell Fire: Cladding Company Lawyer Says It Holds No Responsibility

A lawyer for the company which made the cladding panels used in Grenfell Tower said it was unfair to pin the blame for the fire on them. Stephen Hockman QC, speaking on behalf of cladding giant Arconic, told an inquiry into the 2017 disaster the company’s product was used in a “wholly unorthodox and irregular cladding system” on the west London tower, for which it “bore no responsibility”. In 2019, inquiry chairman Sir Martin Moore-Bick concluded the “principal reason” the flames shot up the building at such speed was the combustible cladding which acted as a “source of fuel”. Read more on the Evening Standard website.

https://www.standard.co.uk/news/uk/cladding-company-lawyer-no-responsibility-grenfell-fire-b955317.html 

Grenfell Bereaved And Survivors Bring Multimillion Pound Case To High Court

More than 800 bereaved and survivors from Grenfell Tower and 102 firefighters are seeking up to tens of millions of pounds in compensation from organisations involved in the disastrous refurbishment in a case that reaches the high court on Wednesday. The victims of the fire on 14 June 2017 and emergency responders have filed civil claims against defendants including Arconic, the US metals giant that made the combustible cladding, Rydon, the main contractor, and the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, landlord of the 24-storey west London council block. Read more on the Guardian website.

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2021/jul/06/case-for-grenfell-bereaved-survivors-and-rescuers-heads-to-the-high-court 

Manufacturer Changed Grenfell Cladding Without Alerting Certifier

 The supplier of the ACM cladding used on Grenfell Tower changed the composition of one of its products without informing a UK certifying body, the inquiry has heard. Arconic added chemicals to the combustible plastic core of its Reynobond PE panels to change the colour from translucent to black but did not formally update certifier the British Board of Agreement (BBA) about the change. Former BBA deputy chief executive Brian Moore said that he first learned of the alteration when he was told by BBC journalist Tom Symonds in January 2018, seven months after the Grenfell fire. Read more on the Housing Today website.

https://www.housingtoday.co.uk/news/manufacturer-changed-grenfell-cladding-without-alerting-certifier-inquiry-hears/5111000.article

Manager Warned Cladding Firm To ‘Urgently’ Improve Safety Years Before Grenfell Fire

A manager at the manufacturer that sold combustible ACM panels to be used on the Grenfell Tower refurbishment warned colleagues two years before the fatal fire that the cladding was dangerous and a safer version should be sold instead. Arconic technical manager Claude Wehrle’s warning came shortly after the firm’s US parent company had sought an assessment of the Reynobond PE panels produced in France and sold into the UK market. Read more on the Housing Today website.

https://www.housingtoday.co.uk/news/manager-warned-cladding-firm-to-urgently-improve-safety-years-before-grenfell-fire/5110570.article 

Grenfell Cladding Boss Denies ‘Deliberate Concealment’ Of Test Results

The president of Arconic has denied that it was “deliberate concealment” not to tell British regulators that its cladding product had burned in a test, the Grenfell inquiry has heard. Claude Schmidt said that the British Board of Agrément (BBA) “could have found out” about the test results of its Reynobond PE cassettes, which were installed as part of Grenfell Tower’s refurbishment. In 2005, the firm had tested two versions of its Reynobond PE cladding. The first had been on a riveted form of the product, which had resulted in a Euroclass B rating, allowing it to be used on the external walls of high rise buildings. The second was on a folded version which had “performed disastrously”, releasing seven times more heat and three times as much smoke than the riveted version. Read more on the Housing Today website.

https://www.housingtoday.co.uk/news/grenfell-cladding-boss-denies-deliberate-concealment-of-test-results/5110507.article

Grenfell: Arconic Boss Says Fire Safety Tests Were Not His 'Priority'

The boss of the company that made the Grenfell Tower cladding has said it was not his "priority" to understand fire safety tests and certificates. Claude Schmidt, president of Arconic, told the inquiry into the fire that he only learned about a key British fire safety standard after the disaster. It also heard claims the French firm "arranged" for some fire tests to pass. Arconic is being investigated for not informing a British standards board about failed tests. Read more on the BBC website.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-56089596

Grenfell Cladding Firm Didn't Withdraw ACM For 'Commercial' Reasons

Arconic continued to sell the cladding product used on Grenfell Tower despite concerns about its safety because of “cost implications”, its UK sales person said on a phone call shortly after the fire. It also emerged that Deborah French, a former UK sales manager for the manufacturing giant, failed to raise the alarm after realising that Reynobond PE [polyethylene] did not have test reports clearing it as Class 0 – the standard for use on high rises like Grenfell Tower under English building guidance. Read more on Inside Housing.

https://www.insidehousing.co.uk/news/grenfell-cladding-firm-didnt-withdraw-acm-for-commercial-reasons-inquiry-hears-69510?utm_source=Housing60&utm_medium=email&utm_content=article_link&utm_campaign=H60

Grenfell Cladding Firm President Agrees To Give Evidence At Inquiry

A senior executive at the firm that made the combustible cladding used on Grenfell Tower has agreed to give evidence to the public inquiry after refusing to do so for the last seven months. Claude Schmidt, the president of Arconic Architectural Products, the French company that supplied the plastic-filled panels that were the main cause of fire spread, was one of several witnesses wanted for questioning by the inquiry into the disaster who had refused, citing an arcane French law. Read more on the Guardian website.

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2021/jan/27/grenfell-cladding-firm-president-claude-schmidt-agrees-to-give-evidence-at-inquiry

'Step Up' And Face Grenfell Inquiry, Minister Tells Cladding Firm Bosses

The UK government has demanded that executives who supplied combustible cladding to Grenfell Tower “step up to the plate” after their refusal to give evidence to the public inquiry into the disaster provoked anger among the bereaved and survivors. Stephen Greenhalgh, the building safety minister, escalated a legal and diplomatic dispute over the position taken by three current and former executives at the French division of the US company Arconic. He told them to stop hiding behind an arcane French law. Read more on the Guardian website.

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2021/jan/03/step-up-and-face-grenfell-inquiry-minister-tells-cladding-firm-bosses-arconic

Cladding Firm ‘In The Know’ About ‘Dangerous’ Material Used On Grenfell

Senior staff at the firm which manufactured the cladding panels used on Grenfell Tower admitted to being “in the know” about the risk in internal emails which also branded discussion of their fire performance “VERY CONFIDENTIAL!!!!!”, the inquiry has heard. Shocking internal emails discussed by lawyers representing victims of the fire and Rydon, the main contractor on the tower’s refurbishment, appear to show that Arconic was aware of the perils of its Reynobond PE product long before the fire. Read more on Inside Housing.

https://www.insidehousing.co.uk/news/cladding-firm-in-the-know-about-dangerous-material-used-on-grenfell-emails-show-68511?utm_source=Ocean%20Media%20Group&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=11963928_IH-DAILY-10-11-2020-GR&dm_i=1HH2,74FFC,8CKJV9,ST641,1 

Grenfell TMO ‘More Interested’ In Savings Potential Of ACM Panels

Phase 2 of the Grenfell Inquiry has heard that aesthetics was the “principal concern” of the planners involved in the refurbishment of Grenfell Tower – while the TMO was more interested in the savings that could be made by using ACM panels rather than the originally specified zinc. The claim came in the opening statement from Rydon, the main contractor on the tower’s £10m 2016 refurbishment, which involved cladding the tower in panels that Phase 1 of the inquiry concluded were the main cause of the fire spread. Rydon’s statement also alleged that internal emails from cladding manufacturer Arconic knew that its cladding panels were not suitable for use on building facades. Read more on 24housing.

https://www.24housing.co.uk/news/grenfell-tmo-more-interested-in-savings-potential-of-acm-panels/

Grenfell Cladding Firm Has Spent £30m Defending Its Role In Disaster

The Grenfell Tower cladding manufacturer has spent £30m on lawyers and advisers defending its role in the disaster in an outlay that dwarfs the amount spent on the panels a public inquiry has determined were the main cause of fire spread. Arconic has been spending at a rate of up to £50,000 a day on lawyers and other advisers. As well as the public inquiry, it is embroiled in a criminal investigation in the UK with detectives investigating possible corporate manslaughter and manslaughter cases, a civil suit in the US for wrongful death. Read more on the Guardian website.

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2019/nov/27/grenfell-cladding-firm-spends-30m-defending-its-role-in-disaster