Insulation industry news from Global Insulation

UK: Michael Gove, the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, has told parliament that the government intends to make building materials producers and developers pay to fix all fire-safety issues at high-rise buildings. In a statement Gove said, “We will make industry pay to fix all of the remaining problems and help to cover the range of costs facing leaseholders. Those who manufactured combustible cladding and insulation, many of whom have made vast profits even at the height of the pandemic, must pay now instead of leaseholders.” Flat owners in buildings over 11m tall will no longer be forced to pay for their own repairs under the proposed plans, according to the Times newspaper. Manufacturers and developers face a potential Euro4.8bn bill for the remedial work.

UK: Jonathan Roper, a former assistant product manager at Celotex, has described the company as ‘dishonest’ by ‘overengineering’ a cladding fire safety test to achieve a pass for its RS5000 insulation product. After a first test failure in January 2014, a second system passed in May 2014, which the firm used to erroneously market the combustible rigid foam boards as being safe for use on high-rise buildings, the inquiry has heard, according to the Press Association. Covert changes were allegedly made to the set-up of the second test to make the outcome more favourable. Roper added that the motivation for getting the RS5000 product to market was to compete with rival firm Kingspan and its K15 insulation.

Celotex, part of the French multinational Saint-Gobain group, has maintained it promoted RS5000's use on buildings taller than 18m only on a "rainscreen cladding system with the specific components", used when it passed the fire safety test. The inquiry has previously heard Celotex saw Grenfell as a "flagship" for its product and exploited the "smoke of confusion" which surrounded building regulations at the time.

The current stage in the inquiry is examining the production, testing and sale of the materials used in the tower's refurbishment which resulted in the June 2017 fire, killing 72 people. The proceedings continue.

Ireland: Kingspan has written to the Building Research Establishment (BRE) to withdraw fire test reports on its rigid thermoset phenolic insulation Kooltherm K15. The Irish Times newspaper has reported that, speaking at the inquiry into the Grenfell tower fire in London, a representative of the company admitted that the fire test reports on Kooltherm K15 may not reflect the actual product. This was due to possible compositional changes arising from “process shortcomings” that “fell short of the high standards which Kingspan sets itself." In 2007 it failed a fire test in which it was reportedly tested with a cladding system that also failed subsequent testing with another company’s insulation.

The Grenfell inquiry has asked Kingspan why it had not previously withdrawn the Kooltherm K15 fire test reports with the BRE. A distributor supplied the insulation to contractors for use in the refurbishment of Grenfell in 2012 – 2016.

The majority of the insulation purchased for use in a refurbishment of Grenfell Tower prior to the fire in June 2017 was Celotex’s RS5000 polyisocyanurate foam (PIR) insulation board. However, Kingspan confirmed in July 2017 that a small amount of its Kooltherm K15 product had also been used without its knowledge and that it had no involvement in the design or specification of the refurbishment.

UK: A public inquiry has heard that Grenfell Tower cladding subcontractor Harley Facades and staff of Saint-Gobain subsidiary Celotex discussed the use of Celotex’s RS5000 polyisocyanurate foam (PIR) insulation as a “case study” to determine “the U-value achieved by the product.” The insulation product was also sold to the contractor at a 48% discount. Ben Bailey, project manager at Harley Facades, denied that the price had anything to do with the final choice of product for the project. However, other documents showed that Harley Facades staff also enquired about the price of a Kingspan K15 insulation product.

In January 2020 Stephanie Barwise Q.C. told the inquiry that Celotex treated the 67m tall building as a "flagship" project for its RS5000 insulation product.

The Grenfell Tower fire in June 2017 killed 72 people. The inquiry continues.

UK: Celotex has temporarily suspends operations in the UK due to coronavirus. It said that it continued to support the country’s National Health Service (NHS) and other essential infrastructure and building projects. The subsidiary of Saint-Gobain plans to provisionally reopen in late April 2020, although this will be reviewed.

UK: French-based Saint-Gobain has received vindication in its attempted deflection of liability for alleged harm done by flammable insulation products designed, manufactured and sold by its subsidiary Celotex with the revelation of systematic failures in the London Fire Brigade response to the Grenfell disaster on the night of 13 – 14 June 2017. BBC News reported that the Phase One Report, published on 29 October 2019, identified ‘serious shortcomings’ in large-scale incident management training for control room supervisors, with a ‘stay-put’ advisory strategy rescinded 60 to 80 minutes too late at 2:47AM.

US: Celotex has been named in a lawsuit filed in Philadelphia on behalf of victims and families of the 2017 Grenfell Tower fire in London, UK that killed 72 people. Attorneys for the plaintiffs said they represent the estates of 69 of the 72 people who perished in the residential high-rise fire, and 177 survivors who suffered life-altering injuries, according to Reuters. The lawsuit demands a jury trial but has not specified the amount of compensation it is seeking. Whirlpool and Arconic have also been named in the document.

UK: An investigation by the BBC’s Panorama news program has alleged that a safety test for Celotex’s RS5000’s polyisocyanurate foam (PIR) insulation board product used extra fire retardant in safety tests. The programme believes that a different product was eventually sold to the public. It also accused the subsidiary of Saint-Gobain of mis-selling the insulation with misleading marketing.

Celotex said that it was unaware of this allegation and had not identified anything that would support it. It is investigating this allegation as a ‘matter of urgency.’ It added that it had not used any special formulation for a recent successful BS-8414 system test in May 2018 or Class 0 fire testing.

Celotex suspended supply of RS5000 PIR insulation board in June 2017 following its use as part of the rainscreen cladding system in the refurbishment of Grenfell Tower. The building had a fire in June 2017 that killed 72 people.

UK: Celotex says that a rainscreen cladding system using its RS5000 polyisocyanurate foam (PIR) insulation board product has passed the BS 8414:2 safety test. The insulation producer previously announced in January 2018 that it had found errors between a previous test and the description of the system in the report of the test. It added that the rainscreen cladding system conformed to the BR 135 fire test. It is now notifying the relevant bodies and is contacting its customers about results of this latest test.

Celotex suspended supply of RS5000 PIR insulation board in June 2017 following its use as part of the rainscreen cladding system in the refurbishment of Grenfell Tower. The building had a fire in June 2017 that killed 71 people. The suspension remains in place.

UK: A leaked report by the by fire investigation specialists BRE Global has blamed a poor cladding refurbishment on a lethal fire at the Grenfell Tower in London on 14 June 2017. The document, leaked to the Evening Standard newspaper, found multiple deficiencies in the installation of the windows, cavity barriers and cladding system, and their failure to meet building regulations.

The report described insulation used in the refurbishment as ‘combustible’ and said that it provided a medium for the fire to, ‘spread up, across and within sections of the façade.’ BRE noted that the 75mm insulation foam used on most of the spandrel beams had, ‘no markings to identify the manufacturer of the foam.’ The Evening Standard says that 100mm Celotex foam insulation was also used in the columns but that the BRE report does not further distinguish between the two types.

71 people were killed in the fire that took place on 14 June 2017. The draft BRE report was submitted to the Metropolitan Police Service as part of its investigation.