By Tom Lowe2021-02-23T11:44:00+00:00
But firm continued selling Reynobond PE panels in the UK until a week after 2017 blaze
A manager at the manufacturer that sold combustible ACM panels to be used on the Grenfell Tower refurbishment warned colleagues two years before the fatal fire that the cladding was dangerous and a safer version should be sold instead.
Arconic technical manager Claude Wehrle’s warning came shortly after the firm’s US parent company had sought an assessment of the Reynobond PE panels produced in France and sold into the UK market.
Monday’s hearing was told that Diana Perreiah, the president of Arconic’s global building and construction systems business, had requested the assessment from the president of the firm’s French subsidiary, Claude Schmidt.
One of the most senior US executives at the company Arconic was likely told its cladding panels were unsafe for buildings above 12 metres in height, two years before the Grenfell Tower disaster, the public inquiry has heard. The $7bn a year turnover aluminium specialist sold the plastic-filled panels for use on the apartment block in west London, which was more than five times taller than that maximum and went up in flames in June 2017 – killing.
One of the most senior US executives at the company Arconic was likely told its cladding panels were unsafe for buildings above 12 metres in height, two years before the Grenfell Tower disaster, the public inquiry has heard. The $7bn a year turnover aluminium specialist sold the plastic-filled panels for use on the apartment block in west London, which was more than five times taller than that maximum and went up in flames in June 2017 – killing.