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Government tells building control bodies to ‘review’ assessments of Kingspan product
Building control bodies have been instructed by the government to revisit their assessments of a widely used Kingspan insulation product after the company withdrew fire safety test reports.
In a letter to councils and other organisations including the Construction Industry Council and the Fire Industry Association, the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) said “all reasonable efforts” should be made to check that K15 has been used appropriately on buildings.
The move follows a decision by Kingspan to write to the Building Research Establishment (BRE) in October to retract three test reports, one of which it had used in its marketing of K15 since 2005. In the letter, the firm admitted that the test was not representative of the version of the product sold since 2006 and that the reports contained “inaccuracies”.
A secret test on the updated K15 carried out in 2007 found that it burned “very ferociously”, the Grenfell Tower Inquiry previously heard.
But Kingspan used the 2005 test result to help it persuade certifying bodies the British Board of Agrément and the Local Authority Building Control (LABC) to issue certificates describing the product as suitable for use on buildings taller than 18m.
A small amount of K15 was installed on Grenfell Tower.
Last week, the building control inspector who produced the LABC certificate for K15 told the inquiry he was “misled” by Kingspan.
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In its letter, MHCLG notes that the withdrawn tests may have been used in assessments “to justify the use of Kingspan K15 on a range of different combinations on various building projects before the retraction of the tests” – a reference to the process known as desktop studies.
“Fire safety professionals and buildings control bodies should review their records to check that any assessments (direct, extended application or fire engineering assessment) they have carried out using these tests are identified and revisited in light of Kingspan’s announcement,” it added.
“Where they identify an assessment, which relies on the information provided by these tests, fire safety professionals and building control bodies should make all reasonable efforts to revisit the conclusions of their assessment and that the materials used are appropriate.”
The variation of K15 approved for use in different building projects based on desktop studies should be identified and available relevant test evidence considered, the letter said.
This work will likely involve contacting Kingspan “to assist with the identification of the insulation and relevant test evidence to support the assessment that was made”, it added.
Building owners and clients should also be contacted “to inform them of the situation”.
The letter noted that Kingspan is not aware of any successful BS 8414 fire safety test on a combination of K15 and a fire-resistant high-pressure laminate cladding product.
A spokesperson for Kingspan said it has now “retested the three BS 8414 tests it withdrew and validated the original claims using current K15”.
“Kingspan is engaged with the appropriate stakeholders on matters relevant to all K15 legacy marketing and testing issues on an ongoing basis,” the spokesperson added.
“When K15 was recommended in a system by Kingspan for use in a particular building, and the existing suite of BS 8414 tests does not support that use, then Kingspan is fully committed to acting swiftly to evaluate what action is required, and to providing remediation as appropriate.
“Kingspan is already actively providing support on legacy projects.”
The company has apologised for “shortcomings” in its testing practices, but insisted it played no role in designing the cladding system used in the Grenfell refurbishment and did not know that its product was being installed on the tower.
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