- New post-Grenfell tests show real-life fires could burn at least 100 degrees hotter
- Leaked Grenfell dossier reveals how disastrous refurbishment turned tower into a 'tinderbox'
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Posted 26.04.18
Association of British Insurers (ABI): Article link
Research conducted on behalf of the insurance industry in the wake of the Grenfell Tower fire has exposed the utter inadequacy of the laboratory tests currently used to check the fire safety of building materials.
The ABI commissioned the Fire Protection Association to carry out a series of carefully controlled experiments recreating more realistic building conditions than those in which the standard tests are done, in an effort to measure what difference these factors could make in the event of a fire.
The real-life factors overlooked by the official testing regime include:
In its submission to the Hackitt review, the ABI called for an end to the use of all but non-combustible materials in construction, and a reformed testing regime that replicates real world conditions to provide genuine evidence of how materials perform in a fire.
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Posted 17.04.18
Evening Standard: Article link
A report prepared as part of the police investigation into the Grenfell Tower fire has uncovered calamitous deficiencies in the installation of the windows, cavity barriers and cladding system, and their failure to meet building regulations.
The 210-page interim document, by fire investigation experts BRE Global, is set to dramatically assist the Metropolitan police in their wide-ranging investigation.
It was leaked exclusively to the Standard and recounts in forensic detail how the original concrete building was turned from a safe structure into a tinderbox by the refurbishment between 2014 and 2016.
It not only finds the cladding material and insulation was combustible, but also exposes hitherto unknown areas of incompetence relating to the design and installation of the windows and cavity barriers.