The Grade II-listed tower dates features a distinctive roof with a brick balustrade, a stylish modern curved modern extension, and views over Ashby-de-la-Zouch.
A raging inferno : testimony reveals how deadly cladding ended up on Grenfell Tower
Public statements by Arconic, Celotex and Kingspan at times contrast what inquiry was told had been said in private
A volunteer helps place green hearts opposite Downing Street in memory of the 72 victims of the Grenfell fire. Photograph: Amer Ghazzal/Rex/Shutterstock
A volunteer helps place green hearts opposite Downing Street in memory of the 72 victims of the Grenfell fire. Photograph: Amer Ghazzal/Rex/Shutterstock
Wed 16 Dec 2020 03.00 EST
After the Grenfell Tower fire in June 2017, the companies that made the cladding reacted with horror.
The insulation manufacturer Celotex said it was “shocked by the tragic events”. The “rainscreen” maker Arconic was “devastated” and stressed that the causes of the fire were “not yet known”.
Hadleigh, where Celotex is based, is an affluent market town in a picturesque part of south Suffolk. It is the opposite to the England of the Grenfell estate in west London, but decisions made there are now at the centre of the inquiry.
Hadleigh, where Celotex is based, is a picturesque market town in Suffolk
- Credit: Charlotte Bond
Since 2012 Celotex had been owned by a French firm called Saint Gobain - a massive multinational corporation.
When it bought Celotex, Saint Gobain wanted to see a return on its investment and gave management a target of increasing profits by 15%.
In 2012, head of marketing Paul Evans, created a document called “lost opportunities”.
How they built Grenfell Away from the media spotlight, the Grenfell Tower inquiry is quietly disentangling a web of corporate spin and scandal. In December 2007, an Irish building materials company called Kingspan tested the fire safety of one of its insulation materials, Kooltherm K15. It was tested on a rig mocked up like a building, to mimic how the product might be used in real life, with aluminium cladding panels on a steel frame six metres tall. It created a “raging inferno”, according to one of the test’s observers from Kingspan. The Building Research Establishment (BRE), the certification body that carried out the test, had to stop it early because it risked setting fire to the laboratory. Even after the heat source was extinguished, the product continued to burn on its own.