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Is a Kingspan product being used in your building project?  

Hanlon Deerfield School Building Project in Westwood, Mass., removed Kingspan’s K15 insulation from specifications in March 2022.

Join the growing list of projects saying “NO” to Kingspan 

In March of 2022, the School Building Committee of Westwood, Massachusetts voted to reverse the proprietary specification of Kingspan’s Kooltherm K15 for a planned $88 million school project after we notified them of evidence about Kingspan’s approach to fire testing and marketing from the Grenfell Inquiry in the U.K.  We are aware of similar actions taken by architects, officials, and project owners in the U.S. since 2022.:   

“We will refrain from specifically naming Kingspan as an acceptable manufacturer for future projects.”
Procurement & Contract Director, subsidiary of the Housing Authority for the City of Milwaukee  

“Please confirm these are the specs for your project. If so, we would strongly recommend not allowing this product.”
Captain/ Fire Inspector for Dexter, Michigan, to City Manager and Architects overseeing a city project with Kingspan listed as an approved supplier of insulation boards  

“We will continue to monitor future construction projects to ensure that this product is not used.”
Director of Building Programs for Alvin Independent School District in Texas  

“We are cognizant of Kingspan’s issues and are not currently specifying them.”
Steven D. Shows, AIA, Principal Architect, VSG Architects, Southwest Louisiana  

“Our intent is to remove Kingspan insulation from our projects until further clarification/testing is done to verify required fire safety concerns and regulations. We have already taken the steps to remove Kooltherm K15 from our upcoming projects.”
Project Architect, Davis Architects, Birmingham, Alabama

“We have also removed Kingspan from our master specification.”
– Brian Wolf, Principal, Garmann Miller, Columbus, Ohio

We are working with the staff at City of Lenexa and making changes to our specifications to use products from a different brand for this project. We will avoid using Kingspan on other projects we may do in the future.”
– Architectural Designer, B&A Architecture, Kansas City, Missouri

“We as the State of West Virginia refuse this product anywhere on our premises and request diligence during the submittal process that no Kingspan KoolTherm K15 product be allowed in, on, or utilized in our HVAC renovation project.”
Patrick O’Neill, Building Project Management Specialist, General Services Division, West Virginia

“Yes TBA Studio will avoid products by Kingspan until this situation is worked out.” – Dale DeMoss, Quality Control, TBA Studio, West Monroe, Louisiana

“We have removed the Kingspan product[s] from our master spec and informed the general contractor not to use [them] on any of their construction projects as well. They agreed to remove [them] from their list as well. Our team will make sure to remove [Kingspan] from our spec and drawings forward.”David Seongbae Kim, Principal, CORBeL Architects, Los Angeles, California

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Questions to ask project owners, architects, and the people responsible for safety: 

Why haven’t the architects / owners acted on the evidence from the Grenfell Inquiry and said “NO” to kingspan?

How can we replace Kingspan with a different product? Who decides?

Are there substitutes available?

Tell decision makers: Talk to Kingspan about the costs and risks for our community.

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Questions architects, contractors and public officials should ask Kingspan

Ask Kingspan: Will the company make public the results of any internal audits related to fire testing, certification and marketing?

If Kingspan’s K15 insulation, which is manufactured in the United KinGDOM, was used in your building, was it from a batch of the product that was subject to a recall in the United Kingdom between August 2021- May 2022?  

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Questions you may have about SMART

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Who else is taking action?  

Companies and institutions are severing ties with Kingspan. In 2022, the United States Green Building Council, the administering body of LEED Green Building Certification, confirmed that Kingspan was no longer a sponsor of its USGBC Live event series.  

Also in 2022, the American Institute of Architects website stopped featuring Kingspan on it as an AIA sponsor or provider of AIA continuing education courses (past courses on fire safety have been scrubbed from the site).  

In 2021, after evidence from the Inquiry emerged, the firm’s largest and long-term shareholder Baillie Gifford divested of the firm, along with WHEB, Guinness Sustainable Energy, Liontrust, and Janus Henderson Investors.  

In December of 2021, Mercedes ended a commercial partnership with Kingspan just one week after the deal was announced.   

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Kingspan family of products/brand names

Kingspan Group has acquired many companies, and continues to do business under some of those brand names in the United States. Below is a list of products. If your project includes Kooltherm K15, be aware that this was the same product investigated by the government Inquiry into the Grenfell Tower fire in the U.K., where it is manufactured. In addition, batches of K15 made between August 1, 2021 and March 8, 2022 were recalled by the U.K. regulator. In the wake of the 2021-2022 testimony and evidence by present and former Kingspan employees and managers, we encourage project owners, architects and contractors to find alternatives to Kingspan products.
Click on the three categories below to see a dropdown list of products and brand names.

ARCHITECTURAL INSULATED PANELS
  • Quadcore
  • KingRib
  • KingSeam
  • KS Granitestone
  • KS Series
  • Benchmark
  • Karrier Panel
  • Optimo
  • All Weather Insulated Panels (AWIP)
    • ST40
    • HE40A
    • FL40
    • DM40
    • HE40
    • HW40
    • SR2
    • HR3
    • HR5
    • OneDek
    • RD1 Roof Deck
    • fire Rated Wall Panel
  • VicWest
    • AD150, 200, 275, 300 series wall panels
    • FASSADE insulated wall system
RIGID INSULATION
  • GreenGuard products (multiple insulation and moisture barrier products)
    • Type IV Insulation Board (closed–cell extruded polystyrene XPS)
    • FQ250 Fanfold Underlayment
    • FQ350 Fanfold Underlayment
    • FlexVent
    • P1450 Fanfold Underlayment
    • PB4Waterproofing Protection Board
    • PB6 Roofing Cover Board
    • PB6HD Roofing Cover Board
    • Plygood Sheathing
    • Q250 Fanfold underlayment
    • Q350 Fanfold Underlayment
    • SLX Sheathing
    • Type VI Insulation board
    • Type VII Insulation board
    • XFP14 Fanfold Underlayment
    • XFP38 Fanfold Underlayment
  • Optim-R
  • Kooltherm:
    • K15 Rainscreen board
    • K10 Soffit Board
    • K12 Framing board
    • K20 sandwich board
    • K8 cavity board
    • K9 internal insulation board
OTHER INSULATION-RELATED PRODUCT FAMILIES
  • Diversifoam family of products:
    • A-One
    • CertiFoam 15 (XPS)
    • CertiFoam 25 SE & SL
    • CertiFoam 40
    • CertiFoam Drainage Board
    • Certiite Drainage Board
    • CertiStud
    • Styro Pour-Pak
    • StyroVent
    • R-Flex sidewall with Flexedge
    • The Foiler faced sheathing
    • RayLite Expanded Polystyrene (EPS)
    • RayLite EPS Backer Board- siding insulator & Underlayment
    • R-Tite Sill Plate Gasket
  • Tate Access Floors
    • ConCore Panels
    • All Steel Panels
    • Cavity Floor Panels
    • Stoneworks Panels
    • PowerAire Quad
    • Multi-Zone Opposed Blade Damper
    • Dual-Zone Opposed Blade Damper
    • Single-Zone Opposed Blade Damper
    • Slide Damper
    • Hot Aisle/ Cold Aisle data containment systems

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