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Raab: no fire safety issues expected to arise from withdrawn BRE test
The government has “no expectation” that fire safety issues will arise from an inaccurately described cladding test carried out by the Building Research Establishment (BRE).
Last week the BRE withdrew the result of one of the cladding fire safety tests it has carried out after manufacturer Celotex said it had identified differences between the specification of the cladding system submitted for testing and the actual system tested.
In an urgent question in parliament, shadow secretary of state for housing John Healey said the government’s fire safety testing system was “in chaos” and housing minister Dominic Raab was failing to offer “fresh advice, let alone fresh action to deal with the problems”.
The housing minister responded: “There is no new advice because the existing advice is sound.”
Mr Raab said Celotex “will be acting as soon as reasonably possible” to get the cladding re-tested.
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The housing minister accused Mr Healey of “conflating” the flawed test with “a much broader range of issues relating to Grenfell”.
He added: “The reason that it’s a conflation of two issues is because the system that was tested in a way that has been found to have been flawed is not the same system that is widely understood to have been the one used in relation to Grenfell.
“We have no expectation or reason to believe that there is a fire safety issue that will result as a result of this flawed testing but the responsible thing to do is make sure it is re-tested as swiftly as possible.”
Celotex RS5000 insulation, made from polyisocyanurate, was used on Grenfell as part of the cladding and insulation system on the outside of the building. Celotex has said this product passed official safety tests before being marketed for use on high rises in 2014.
But in a statement posted online last week the insulation company said there were “differences between the system as tested… and the description of that system in the report of the test”.
“These differences were carried through into our marketing of RS5000,” it added.
Mr Healey said more than seven months after the Grenfell Tower fire, only three blocks have had unsafe cladding removed, “so thousands of families are still living in unsafe blocks”. He questioned whether other residents were living in high-rise blocks with the same cladding that was tested by the BRE but has now been withdrawn.
Never Again campaign
Inside Housing has launched a campaign to improve fire safety following the Grenfell Tower fire
Never Again: campaign asks
Inside Housing is calling for immediate action to implement the learning from the Lakanal House fire, and a commitment to act – without delay – on learning from the Grenfell Tower tragedy as it becomes available.
LANDLORDS
- Take immediate action to check cladding and external panels on tower blocks and take prompt, appropriate action to remedy any problems
- Update risk assessments using an appropriate, qualified expert.
- Commit to renewing assessments annually and after major repair or cladding work is carried out
- Review and update evacuation policies and ‘stay put’ advice in light of risk assessments, and communicate clearly to residents
GOVERNMENT
- Provide urgent advice on the installation and upkeep of external insulation
- Update and clarify building regulations immediately – with a commitment to update if additional learning emerges at a later date from the Grenfell inquiry
- Fund the retrofitting of sprinkler systems in all tower blocks across the UK (except where there are specific structural reasons not to do so)
We will submit evidence from our research to the Grenfell public inquiry.
The inquiry should look at why opportunities to implement learning that could have prevented the fire were missed, in order to ensure similar opportunities are acted on in the future.
