how flammable cladding gets approved

News Night received some confidential reports that helped explain how flammable materials became more and more common in high-rise buildings.
It is reported that the combustible cladding is allowed and it is considered that the fire behavior involving the combustible aluminum plate is similar to that of a fire with a non-combustion aluminum plate
Combustible tiles.
They are developed to persuade inspectors to sign.
Exova, the company that produced the report, declined to comment.
The company, also known as Exova Warringtonfire, is a fire testing and engineering company.
It had previously cited the client\'s non-disclosure principle of refusing to comment, and since news night obtained a copy of the report relating to the two buildings later on Friday afternoon, it did not respond to the request.
Confidential reports obtained by news night contain some assessments that convince inspectors that a given package-level design is safe and compliant with legal standards.
Part of the reasoning of the engineer is that in the fire test, if you use a combustible aluminum plate or a non-combustible aluminum plate, you will get similar results
Combustible tiles.
Therefore, it believes that you can use successful fire tests, including tiles, as a possible fire safety guide for systems using aluminum plates.
\"If so,\" the report said. . .
Will be tested. . .
Compared to the tiles, the external flame spreads as a result.
\"While there is no test that contradicts the author\'s conclusions about the security of the proposed cladding system, the experts are surprised by the arguments put forward by the authors, who believe that the evidence does not strongly support this.
Aluminum Composite Panels are two pieces of thin aluminum around the \"core\" of other substances.
In a fire, these panels can be \"layered\": the outer aluminum skins fall off to reveal the inner core.
These panels can allow fire to spread quickly if the inner core is combustible.
The tiles do not contain combustible materials and there are no layers that can be disassembled.
That\'s why it\'s so much of a concern to use aluminum paneling with plastic cores on glendfair tower.
The government is currently asking local authorities and housing associations to send samples of aluminum panels to the test.
One of the documents obtained by News Night was used to approve the materials currently being used in the Greetham Street student dormitory managed by Portsmouth student accommodation provider co-student.
Both reports relate to a cladding system similar to the Grenfell Tower: Combustible insulation material under the aluminum composite board.
Neither report, however, proposed the use of the same material as Grenfell Tower.
Both reports involve aluminum cladding containing flame retardant substances.
While these reports involve slightly different designs and different authors, they all present the same technical arguments relating to experts.
The assessments, some say, \"seem to infer Apple as Orange\" and they agree that this shows that we have weaknesses in ensuring fire safety in buildings. These reports -
Called \"desktop research\"
Is a legal alternative to laboratory testing.
There are several regulatory routes that can prove to inspectors that the coating on high-rise buildings is safe.
First of all, all parts of the coating can be tested separately and it is found to have \"limited combustion\", which in a broad sense means that these parts will not catch fire or fire.
However, if some components do not meet that standard, the developer can arrange a laboratory to build a model of the entire proposed wall system and evaluate what will happen in the fire.
But if the developer wants to follow a plan similar to the settings that have been launched --
After testing, they can ask the engineer to do a desktop study to demonstrate that the proposed structure will pass the test without the need for testing.
The scale of use of desktop research is actually still unknown: these studies are not published and are even considered trade secrets.
But now the government is increasingly worried that desktop research may be an important factor.
Direct and indirect
In explaining why so many buildings are found to have combustible ingredients in their cladding.
News Night has applied for documents from Kensington and Chelsea\'s Royal borough to determine whether the desktop study was used to justify the package-layer configuration used on Grenfell Tower.
Unite, who manages the Portsmouth building, said: \"Fire safety has always been the top priority of Unite --
That is why we work with Avon fire and rescue services to ensure that our construction, policies and procedures are not only in compliance with existing regulations, but exceed existing ones.
\"As a general practice, we use the members of the Association of Fire Engineers to regularly review and evaluate the fire risk in all of our buildings.
\"Both documents were commissioned and paid by Kingspan, the manufacturer of insulation materials used in the cladding.
Kingspan said: \"In the case that Kingspan commissioned desktop research, it has been from the most respected fire assessment consulting company in the UK.
\"These experts put their professional reputation aside when providing security advice, and we are very confident that this will not be compromised.