Former London-listed building materials supplier Kingspan Group PLC (EURONEXT:KRX) has been levelled with serious allegations surrounding the marketing of its K15 insulation product in the final Grenfell Inquiry report published today.
While the inquiry did not blame Kingspan for the London fire that left 72 dead in 2017, the Ireland-based group was blasted for misleading market practices prior to the disaster.
“Although it was not used on the building in any quantity, the way in which it was tested and marketed created conditions that encouraged unethical practices in the supply of insulation for use on high-rise buildings,” said the report.
The inquiry found a “fundamental falsehood” at the heart of Kingspan’s marketing of the product.
It claimed that Kingspan falsely touted successful testing under the British Standards Institution’s BS 8414 standard, which sets the standard for fire performance of external cladding systems.
“From 2005 until after this inquiry had begun, Kingspan knowingly created a false market in insulation for use on buildings over 18 metres in height by claiming that K15 had been part of a system successfully tested under BS 8414 and could therefore be used in the external wall of any building over 18 metres in height regardless of its design or other components.
“That was a false claim, as it well knew, because BS 8414 is a method for testing complete wall systems and its results apply only to the particular system tested.
“As Kingspan knew, K15 could not honestly be sold as suitable for use in the external walls of buildings over 18 metres in height generally, but that is what it had succeeded in doing for many years.”
Kingspan’s response
Responding to the report, Kingspan highlighted that it was the ‘PE ACM cladding’ developed by Arconic that was of principal blame for the disaster.
The insulation provided by Kingspan was “immaterial” to the fire, Kingspan added.
Phase one of the Grenfell inquiry concurred that “although there were many different factors, the main reason why the flames spread so rapidly up Grenfell Tower was the presence of ACM panels with polyethylene cores which melted and acted as a source of fuel for the growing fire”.
However, Grenfell inquiry chairman Martin Moore-Bick added that “it was more likely than not that the presence of polyisocyanurate (PIR) and phenolic foam insulation contributed to the rate and extent of the vertical spread of flame, but that it was not possible at that stage to quantify their respective contributions”.
Phenolic foam refers to Kingspan’s K15 insulation product.
The phase-two report released today did not challenge these initial conclusions and did not quantify to what extent, if any, K15 contributed to the spread of the fire.
“Kingspan was not aware until after the fire that K15 had been used on the tower,” the inquiry added.
Kingspan acknowledged “unacceptable historical failings” within part of its UK insulation business, but added that “these were in no way reflective of how we conduct ourselves as a group, then or now…
“Kingspan has already emphatically addressed these issues, including the implementation of extensive and externally verified measures to ensure our conduct and compliance standards are world-leading”.
While the report levelled most of the blame on cladding supplier Arconic and principal contractor Rydon, it also cited the government’s “deregulatory agenda”, failings of the London Fire Brigade, the Studio E architecture firm and the Tenant Management Organisation.
Proactive has reached out to Kingspan for additional comment.