Grenfell Tower cladding 'switched to cheaper version to save £300,000’ in £9million refurb
CLADDING used on the multi-million-pound refurbishment of Grenfell Tower was switched to a cheaper version, according to reports.
The burned-out shell of Grenfell Tower
Official documents which stated cheaper aluminium panels were preferred to the non-combustible zinc alternative have been seen by The Times and the BBC.
An £8.6million refurbishment of the 1974 tower block was completed in May 2016 and, according to the reports, the cheaper cladding saved £293,000.
The Times reports it has seen emails which suggest cladding at the 24-storey building was downgraded to save money.
Uproar as Grenfell Tower council meeting finishes early
Workmen remove cladding from a London tower block
Paperwork showed the consultants for the refurbishment of the tower block were placed under pressure to keep costs down, while the BBC also said another key reason for the switch was to save money.
Downing Street has revealed that 149 cladding samples from high-rise buildings in 45 local authority areas have now failed fire safety tests - a 100 per cent failure rate.
Officials said 149 cladding samples had failed fire safety checks
But an independent panel set up to advise on immediate safety improvements suggested cladding which failed the checks may not have to be stripped from buildings in all cases.
The Independent Expert Advisory Panel, chaired by the Government's former Chief Fire and Rescue Adviser Sir Ken Knight, said in any cases where panels fail combustibility tests, landlords should follow interim safety measures issued last week, which involve thorough checks on fire precautions throughout buildings but do not require the immediate removal of cladding.
Reports suggest cheaper cladding was used on Grenfell Tower
And the advice added: "The Panel will engage with experts across the country to consider whether these panels can be used safely as part of a wider building external wall system, and therefore could remain on a building under certain approved circumstances.
"If, in the meantime, a landlord chooses to take down and replace cladding, care should be taken to consider the impact that removal may have on the other wall elements, especially insulation, and therefore on the overall fire integrity of the building as well as other Building Regulation requirements.”