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A government contract issued in the wake of the Grenfell Tower fire to investigate the toxicity of burning building materials has been awarded to a research group linked to the foam plastic insulation industry.
The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) has awarded the £ 600,000 research grant to a consortium whose members include a fire testing specialist whose research has been funded by Kingspan, the company that manufactured some of the combustible foam. used in Grenfell, and a fire engineer who has publicly opposed a total ban on combustible materials.
Two members of the winning bid team also attended a conference on the use of plastics in facades in Brussels last year, organized by a body from the plastics industry.
The Housing Ministry turned down a rival offer from another team despite being seen as stronger in terms of understanding the evidence on smoke and toxicity in buildings, The Guardian understands.
The contract award comes amid growing concern for building safety with tens of thousands of homes wrapped in combustible coatings, including plastic insulation foams that release toxic gases like carbon monoxide and hydrogen cyanide when burned.
Fiona Wilcox, a senior coroner investigating the 72 deaths caused by the Grenfell fire in June 2017, concluded that the tower was filled with smoke containing “multiple toxic substances” and that “almost all of those who died in the fire, they died as a result of smoke inhalation ”.
The government wants the winning team to review the laws on how toxic fires can be in England, as well as current methods for testing materials for toxicity. You are seeking guidance on the best approach to writing toxicity limits in your building regulation guide.
The tender request stated: “All smoke is toxic, but the question remains as to whether certain products produce especially toxic fire effluents that could unduly impair evacuation.”
The contract was not put out to tender, but instead passed through the Crown Commercial Service system, meaning that only prequalified bidders could compete.
MHCLG has not announced the winning group, saying it will do so within 90 days of the contract award. However, Professor José Torero revealed the winning team in a public declaration of interest to the public investigation of the Grenfell Tower.
However, MHCLG confirmed that the winning consortium was led by OFR, a fire consultancy. He denied any conflicts of interest and noted that because smoke toxicity was a highly specialized field, there were relatively few companies involved in that work. He said that he expected industry experts to attend conferences and seminars and that this did not prohibit them from being independent.
“Our priority is that buildings are safe for residents, so we ensure that leading experts are involved in this important research study on the impact of smoke and toxicity in buildings,” said a spokesperson. “The acquisition process was robust and in line with all standard procedures.”
Torero, a University College London-based fire engineer and Grenfell Tower research expert advisor, is a key figure in the winning consortium.
He has argued against a ban on combustible materials, telling the Scottish parliament last November: “It is not such a simple problem that we can say, ‘Ban all combustible materials’, because the implications are extraordinary … To prevent everything type of fires, they like not to see combustible materials in any building, but we all recognize that that is not realistic. “
He also told the chairman of the Grenfell Tower investigation, Sir Martin Moore-Bick, who was considering recommending changes to fire safety, that it was “imperative, at this stage, to recommend great caution to any changes in design practices. of approved buildings and documents [which guide the application of building regulations] until the relevant issues are better understood ”.
Last November Torero attended a symposium in Brussels on the use of plastics in facades organized by Modern Building Alliance, which describes itself as an alliance of “trade associations and companies representing the plastics industry in the building sector. construction at the European level ”. Members include Kingspan and the plastics companies Dow and BASF.
Eric Guillaume, general manager of Efectis, a laboratory company in the winning team, published last month a study of the spread of the fire in Grenfell that used a mathematical model to claim that the flames would have traveled through the site faster with minerals. non-combustible. wool insulation than with polyisocyanurate insulation (PIR) foam. It was funded by Kingspan, which manufactures PIR foams for wall and ceiling systems.
When asked if his positions on combustible materials or his attendance at the symposium presented a conflict of interest, Torero replied: “Unfortunately I cannot comment on any of the issues discussed.”
When asked by The Guardian Simon Lay, the OFR director, about potential conflicts of interest arising from Guillaume’s Kingspan-funded investigation into the spread of the fire in Grenfell, Torero’s argument against the ban on combustible materials and his own attendance at the conference on plastics in Brussels, said: “We can not comment on these research projects.”
Efectis UK and Ireland said it was a subcontractor to the research project and that “we are not allowed to talk about it.”
