Contractors in charge of the refurbishment of Grenfell Tower knew that cladding wrapped around the building would fail in the event of a fire that reached its exterior, the inquiry into the tragedy was told. Emails exchanged by the project’s architect, two key contractors and a fire safety consultant indicated that they knew the cladding was combustible and would fail if flames were big enough to breach the windows. The revelations were highlighted by the lawyer representing Celotex, the company that made insulation used in the cladding system added to Grenfell Tower between 2014 and 2016. They heightened the accusatory nature of early testimonies at the opening of the second stage of the public inquiry into what happened. In previous statements, Arconic, which made the

Source: The Times January 28, 2020 17:03 UTC