Contractors that worked on the £8.6 million Grenfell Tower refurbishment could have spent just £5,000 more on fireproof cladding, it has been revealed.
Hundreds of Reynobond aluminium coated panels – which are banned in the US over fire safety fears – were fitted to the outside of the London high-rise last year.
The building was covered in panels with a plastic core costing £22 per square metre – just £2 cheaper than the fire-resistant version.
The death toll continues to rise following the inferno which ripped through the tower on Wednesday morning, with 17 people already confirmed dead and senior figures warning up to 100 could have perished.
The panel with the plastic core sells for £22 per square metre – just £2 cheaper than the fire-resistant version.
Rough calculations suggest panels covered 2,000 square metres of Grenfell Tower, meaning contractors could have used the fire-resistant type for less than £5,000 extra.
The PE panels conform to UK standards but are rated as ‘flammable’ in Germany.
Labour MP David Lammy yesterday branded the Grenfell Tower blaze ‘corporate manslaughter’ and demanded arrests are made because he fears hundreds may have died in Britain’s worst fire for decades.
And the Liberal Democrats have now called for the type of cladding used on Grenfell Tower to be banned in the UK.
