Description
How manufacturers sold combustible cladding
When Marcio Gomes found out that Grenfell Tower, where he lived, was going to be covered in cladding, he assumed it must be safe. Today we know this material was the main cause of the spread of the fire at Grenfell Tower.
The cladding installed on the tower was made by French company, Arconic - it was highly combustible. Prior to the fire at Grenfell, Arconic staff were warned that covering a tower block in this material could add the fuel power of an oil tanker to the outside walls. Why did they sell it anyway? And how was that allowed?
Presenter: Kate Lamble
Producer: Josephine Casserly
Production coordinator: Janet Staples
Audio engineers: James Beard and Gareth Jones
Story consultant: Simon Maybin
Editor: Penny Murphy
The Inquiry’s Phase 2 report was released this week, distilling 400 days of evidence and more than three hundred thousand documents. The report concluded the fire which killed 72 people was the culmination of “decades of failure” by government and others in the construction industry. It set out a...
Published 09/06/24
In the early hours of the 14th of June 2017, a fire broke out in a tower block in West London. This fire was both a personal tragedy and a national scandal.
It began in Flat 16 of Grenfell Tower. Before long, the flames reached combustible cladding and insulation, which had been installed on the...
Published 09/06/24