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It would have cost just £2 per panel to make the cladding on Grenfell Tower fire-resistant.

The lives of those lost in the blaze could have been saved for just £5,000 more as it emerges the standard version of cladding on the doomed tower is actually banned in the US and Germany.

Hundreds of aluminium panels were reportedly fitted to the tower by Harley Facades, a small family firm subcontracted as part of a refurbishment.

US-based Reynobond makes three types of panel, one of which has a flammable plastic core, with the other two containing fire-resistant cores.

Last night investigators were probing whether the cheaper and more combustible, versions were used by the contractors.

(Image: Getty) (Image: Phil Harris/Daily Mirror)

Reynobond’s fire-resistant panel sells for £24 per square metre— £2 more expensive than the standard version.

Estimates suggest that the cost of using the more expensive version would have cost about £5000.

A salesman for US-based Reynobond told The Times that this version, which has a polyethylene core and is known as PE, was banned in American buildings taller than 40 feet (12.2 metres) for fire safety reasons.

He said:“It’s because of the fire and smoke spread. The FR [variant] is fire-resistant. The PE is just plastic.”

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The PE version is used for small commercial buildings and petrol stations, he said, rather than for tower blocks or critical buildings such as hospitals.

The PE panels which conform to UK standards but are rated as “flammable” in Germany, putting them in the same category as “unprotected wood with a thickness of no more than 12mm”.