Imperial college fire safety research rasies fresh cladding concern

 

 

Fire safety research raises fresh cladding concerns after the student block  blaze in Bolton last week.

The type of cladding that is at least as flammable as the targeted after the Grenfell Tower disaster. High-pressure laminate is widely used and its sales were on a par with the cladding used on the London tower before it caught fire.

Scientists found that HPL failed safety tests 80 per cent of the time compared with a 60 per cent failure for the type implicated over Grenfell.

Researchers  from Imperial College London and Warsaw’s Building Research Institute found that HPL cladding  similar to that blamed for the rapid  spread of the fire  at Grenfell failed 60 per cent of the time.

The safety of the HPL cladding have been raised over the years, not least as panels made of it  played a role in a 2009 fire in another London housing block Lakanal House which killed six.