In recent weeks, statements have been made by manufacturers of building materials used on the Grenfell Tower to help uncover the role that the cladding and insulation played in the tragic June 2017 fire. How materials perform in a fire is a technical area, but it is vital to shine a light on why the fire spread so quickly up and around the outside of Grenfell Tower. Lessons learned will inform how we construct and renovate buildings in future to make sure this never happens again.
One claim that has been made in connection with the inquiry is that the ‘outcome of the fire would not have been different in any material way’ if a non-combustible insulation had been used on the tower instead of a combustible insulation. This assertion ignores the facts, and masks fundamental truths of how combustible and non-combustible insulation behave.
Combustible insulation, such as that used on Grenfell Tower, can play a major role during a building fire. In the first instance, plastic foam insulation is combustible and constitutes a ‘fuel load’. A University of Milan study found that the combination of combustible plastic insulation and cladding of the types found on Grenfell, on a building with similar dimensions, would supply a fuel load equivalent to approximately 30,000 litres of petrol – with two-thirds of this fuel load coming from the insulation, one-third from the cladding.
What’s more, plastic foam insulation emits toxic gases and smoke when it burns. Professor David Purser, an expert witness to the Grenfell inquiry, described the insulation as the ‘main source of smoke particulates, carbon monoxide and hydrogen cyanide’ during the ‘early exterior fire’ on Grenfell Tower. Toxic gases and smoke are extremely dangerous, accounting for more than half of building fire casualties in the UK – and, according to Professor Purser, are ‘likely to have contributed to the incapacitation and deaths of flat occupants’.
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