What about the external cladding?
It has also emerged that the panels fitted during a controversial refurbishment of Grenfell Tower had been outlawed in the US for similar buildings.
Three versions of the Reynobond aluminium panels are produced. Two have fire resistant cores — the third has a flammable plastic core. It is thought the cheaper version, with the plastic sandwiched between metal panels, was used in the Grenfell building.
A salesman for US-based Reynobond told The Times that the panels with the polyethylene (PE) core had been banned in the US for buildings higher than 12 metres.
“It’s because of the fire and smoke spread. The FR [variant] is fire resistant, the PE [is just plastic].”
The polyethylene panelling sells for £22 ($37) per square metre. The fire resistant panel retails for $24 ($40), just $3 more.
“A rough calculation suggest panels covered more than 2000 square metres on Grenfell, meaning contractors could have acquired the fire resistant version for less than £5000 ($8500) extra,” The Times reported.
What about the new gas pipes in the central stairwell? Did they exacerbate the blaze?
A local councillor, Judith Blakeman, who sits on the tenant management organisation, raised concerns in March about the National Grid installation of gas risers or pipes in the main stairwell as part of the refurbishment. She was reassured by the landlord that they would be boxed in with “fire-rated” protection, but this does not appear to have been done. The London fire brigade said on Thursday morning they had not been able to put out the flames until they had isolated a ruptured gas main in the block.
It has also emerged that the four most senior staff at the KCTMO, who managed the tower, were potentially paid in excess of $1 million annually.
According to The Times, the not-for-profit paid its “key management personnel” £650,794 ($1,094,456) in 2015-16.
The company has not confirmed how many of its staff are “key”. However, only four senior executives are listed in its accounts.
Shared among four people, their individual salaries would be £163,000 ($274,000) each. British Prime Minister Theresa May’s annual salary is less than that at £142,500.