On June 14, 2017, 72 people, primarily people of color and immigrant families, were killed in the 24-story Grenfell Tower Fire. The exterior insulation and cladding system is believed to have contributed to the extraordinarily rapid spread of the fire up the side of the building.
As a result, the British Government is conducting an Inquiry into the causes of the fire. During the Inquiry, revelations emerged concerning Kingspan’s approach to fire safety. Our report, “Kingspan and the Grenfell Tower Inquiry: A Report for Architects, Specifiers, Project Managers and Fire Protection Engineers,” uses evidence from the Inquiry to document Kingspan’s shortcomings in fire testing, certification and marketing over the period 2006 to 2020. This website invites you to take action to hold Kingspan accountable and to ensure that Fire and Life Safety remains the #1 priority.
The company’s documented conduct has concerned its Kooltherm K15 insulation, the primary Kingspan product used in a small portion (5.2%) of London’s Grenfell Tower. Although Kingspan did not advise the project and learned only after the fire that its products had been used there, the evidence from internal company documents, as well as testimony and statements from Kingspan managers, reveal shortcomings in the company’s approach to fire testing, certification, and marketing over the period from 2006 to 2020.
Chalmers: “[K15] Doesn’t actually get class 0 when we test the whole product tho LOL!”
Moss: “WHAT, We lied? Honest opinion now.”
Chalmers: “Yeahhhh. Tested K15 as a whole – got class 1 [a worse rating]. Wheyy. lol”
Moss: “Whey. Shit product. Scrap it.”
Chalmers: “Yeah all lies mate” and “Alls we do is lie in here.”
– From a 2008 text chat between two members of Kingspan’s K15 technical/marketing teams
In November, Kingspan demanded that we cease distribution of our report. We refused to acquiesce to the company’s threat, and you can read our rebuttal to the company’s claims that our report was libelous and form your own opinions.
While news coverage of the Inquiry has been intense in the United Kingsom, this has not been the case in the United States, where Kingspan sells many of the same products, including Kooltherm K15.
In December 2021, one week after Kingspan and Mercedes announced a partnership, Mercedes announced that it was ending that partnership immediately, as covered in the national press. Amid the backlash from the survivors and bereaved of the Grenfell Tower fire, Member of Parliament and Secretary of State Michael Gove (Conservative Party) had also called on Mercedes to reconsider the commercial partnership, which he said, “threatens to undermine all the good work the company and sport have done.”
