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The tower in north Kensington, London was built in 1974 and contained 120 flats, thought to be home to between 400 and 600 people. It underwent an £8.6million refurbishment last year with external cladding put on for insulation purposes as part of a series of improvements enhancing the energy efficiency of the tower. EU regulations set out rules for buildings’ energy consumption with Britain signed up to the 2010 Energy Performance of Buildings Directive.

There is not currently a requirement to retrofit insulation but if you reroof or re-clad a building you are required to upgrade insulation Geoff Wilkinson, MD of Wilkinson Construction Consultants

Under the directive, the UK is required to report to the European Commission on progress towards national energy efficiency targets each year. Article 24 of the directive was cemented into UK law in April 2014 and a Government report says “bringing as many residential and commercial buildings as possible up to a high level of energy performance is a priority for the UK Government”. Cladding is often used to improve energy efficiency and it is thought there could be up to 30,000 buildings in the UK fitted with similar cladding to that used on Grenfell Tower. Foam boards coated in zinc rainproof sheets were spaced across the 24-storey building as part of the refurbishment.

EPA•GETTY At least 17 people died in the Grenfell Tower fire

The building’s design and access statement says: “The over-cladding works are an integral part of the upgrade to the heating of the building, while also being a complete overhaul to its appearance.” Experts say the foam panel helped spread the fire quickly with the gap between the cladding and building acting as a chimney. Express.co.uk asked Geoff Wilkinson, MD of Wilkinson Construction Consultants, if EU laws on improving energy efficiency have any impact on building renovations in the UK. He said: “In short yes the laws did - there is not currently a requirement to retrofit insulation but if you reroof or re-clad a building you are required to upgrade insulation providing it's technically and economically possible to do so.”

London fire: Grenfell aftermath latest images Thu, June 15, 2017 At least 30 people have been confirmed dead and dozens missing, after the 24 storey residential Grenfell Tower block in Latimer Road was engulfed in flames in the early hours of June 14. The number of fatalities are expected to rise Play slideshow BBC 1 of 52 Inside Grenfell Tower

Mr Wilkinson wrote in the Daily Telegraph: "These plastic or metal panels are installed to protect a building from weather or improve its appearance, but between them and the wall there is a cavity where rain can run down. "In the event of a fire this acts like a chimney, drawing the hot air up through itself and making the flames burn brighter. In this way fire [travels] all the way up from the base of the building to the very top. "Once spread via cladding, the fire could have caught on curtains blowing through windows left open on a hot summer’s night." Grenfell Action Group said their concerns about safety went unanswered.

RBKC Grenfell Tower before the refurbishment

Concerns had been raised about the fire risk of cladding as far back as 2000 in a parliamentary report. The Environment, Transport and Regional Affairs Committee launched an inquiry after a blaze tore through a 14-storey block of flats in Irvine, Ayrshire, in June 1999, killing an elderly man. It concluded that cladding should be non-combustible or not pose an unacceptable level of risk to tenants. Local activist Piers Thompson said "the entire fascia went up like it was paper and tinder and balsa wood". Rydon, the firm that carried out the Grenfell Tower refurbishment work, said in a statement following the fire that the project "met all required building regulations".

EPA Experts say the foam panel helped spread the fire quickly