BBA鈥檚 certificate for Kingspan product described by inquiry counsel as 鈥榙angerously misleading鈥�
A government official reprimanded the UK鈥檚 leading construction products certifier after it made a 鈥渄angerously misleading鈥� error in its certificate for an insulation product used on Grenfell tower, the inquiry has heard.
The British Board of Agrement (BBA) had said in its certificate for Kingspan鈥檚 K15 insulation that the combustible insulation could be used in accordance with amendment 12.7 of Approved Document B of the building regulations, which covers fire safety matters.
Approved Document B states that insulation products used in external wall construction on buildings above 18m should be of limited combustibility, with these restrictions not applying to masonry cavity wall constructions.
But the inquiry heard on Thursday that the BBA鈥檚 certificate did not make clear that it referred only to the important second part of the amendment, instead simply stating that the insulation could be used in accordance with the entire amendment.
Counsel to the inquiry Rachel Troup asked former BBA head of approvals Chris Hunt: 鈥淐an you assist me any further with how K15 could be used in accordance with the provisions of that section?鈥�
Hunt, who held his role at the time that the certificate was written, replied: 鈥淚 think, you know, in a situation where it was insulation within a masonry cavity wall construction.鈥�
Troup asked: 鈥淲hy does the certificate not simply say that?鈥�
Hunt replied: 鈥淭hat I don鈥檛 know.鈥�
Inquiry chair Martin Moore Bick questioned Hunt further on the danger of the BBA鈥檚 wording of the certificate, asking: 鈥淒oes that not risk at least giving the impression that it can be used in buildings over 18 metres because it is of limited combustibility?鈥�
Hunt said that there was a 鈥渞isk that it could be read that way鈥�, agreeing that this could have been avoided by indicating that the certificate was only referring to the exception of the amendment.
Asked by Troup if he accepted that this was 鈥減otentially quite dangerously misleading鈥�, Hunt replied: 鈥淵es, I think it should have been clarified.鈥�
The error prompted Brian Martin, the official at the then-Department for Communities and Local Government who was responsible for Approved Document B of the building regulations, to write to the BBA in July 2014 reprimanding the wording of the certificate.
Although the wording in question had by this time been removed, Martin told the BBA鈥檚 then-head of approvals John Albon that it had constituted a 鈥渟erious safety matter鈥�.
Martin wrote: 鈥滻 am concerned that the original certificate may have been issued in error. As this is a serious safety matter, I would appreciate it if you could investigate and advise me of the outcome of your investigation as soon as possible.鈥�
Albon responded to Martin writing that the mistake had been 鈥渃aused by human error鈥� and that the project manager involved and their line manager no longer worked in the BBA鈥檚 operations department.
The inquiry heard earlier this week that the BBA鈥檚 certificate for K15 had given it a class 0 rating despite the certifier never seeing test data for the product.
Instead, the rating was based on test reports dating back to 1991 of different Kingspan products which also contained combustible phenolic foam cores.
The BBA鈥檚 former deputy chief executive Brian Moore told the inquiry that it was 鈥渘ot unusual鈥� to extrapolate data from one product to another, although he added that 鈥渃an鈥檛 be certain whether that is permitted鈥� under UK fire regulations.
The inquiry also heard this week that the BBA had renewed its certificate for another product used on Grenfell Tower, Arconic鈥檚 Reynobond PE ACM panels, based on incomplete test data and information on the supplier鈥檚 website after the firm failed to provide the required material for the renewal.
The inquiry has already found that the ACM panels used on the tower鈥檚 flawed refurbishment were the 鈥減rimary cause鈥� for the rapid spread of flames up the sides of the building, while the insulation products used in the cladding system 鈥渕ore likely than not鈥� contributed to the fire which claimed 72 lives in June 2017.
The inquiry continues.
