The government has warned landlords that stripping suspect cladding from buildings in the wake of the Grenfell Tower blaze could increase the risk of fire, as it emerged combustible insulation has been left exposed for weeks on blocks in Salford that are home to more than 1,000 people.

Dozens of councils nationwide have been removing polyethylene-filled aluminium panels like those used on Grenfell, but now the department of communities and local government has warned building owners “not to create conditions which may worsen the integrity of the cladding system … [including] leaving material exposed which could reduce fire performance”.

Grenfell Tower: insulation was not certified for use with flammable cladding Read more

The warning to landlords came as the Guardian established that insulation which is more combustible than that used across Grenfell Tower has been left exposed for up to three weeks on at least six blocks on the Pendleton estate in Salford, including at least one 22 storey tower.

Tenants of the recently revamped council blocks in Greater Manchester have voiced alarm that their homes may have been left more, not less, vulnerable to fire by the removal of the same panels that caught fire during the Grenfell fire which claimed at least 80 lives. One fire safety expert claimed the landlord’s actions in Salford have resulted in a breach of building regulations and created “a known fire risk”.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Whitebeam Court in Salford. Photograph: Christopher Thomond/The Guardian

“People in this block and the other blocks want the insulation taking out,” said Jon Smith, a resident for the last 20 years of the 22 storey Thorne House on the Pendleton estate. “It is more dangerous in our opinion than the cladding that covers it because it is combustible. Now it is exposed, you only need some idiot after a night on the drink deciding to conduct their own fire test and the whole block goes up.”

Starting three weeks ago, the same combustible panels as used on Grenfell were stripped from many of the flats in Salford by Pendleton Together Housing, which manages the properties for the city council. They left exposed swathes of synthetic phenolic insulation which is rated either B or C for reaction to fire in British Standard tests, which means they are combustible.

Arnold Tarling, a chartered surveyor at Hindwoods and a fire safety expert, said: “It is definitely a fire risk now when it might not have been in the past. Exposed insulation on the exterior of a building is not safe because of the risk of the fire spreading over the surface. It doesn’t comply with building regulations … They have guaranteed there is definitely a fire risk.”

The government has been criticised for providing unclear guidance and conflicting advice about the removal of panels that have failed combustibility tests on 233 residential towers nationwide since Grenfell.

Salford’s city mayor, Paul Dennett complained this month that “council are being left to make decisions about complex technical matters amid unclear government guidance, conflicting advice and information which changes by the hour”.

But the latest government guidance states that “where sample panels are removed they should be replaced immediately with a suitable material” that ensures compliance with the fire regulations.



A senior Whitehall source said: “We have not recommended at any stage that rain cladding should be removed on its own. I am not sure why you would remove just the rain cladding and leave potentially greater risk of fire to the exterior of the building.”

Guardian photographs of the partially removed cladding in Salford show exposed panels of Kooltherm K15 insulation manufactured by Kingspan which was used on a small part of Grenfell Tower. Kingspan said it shouldn’t have been used on that project as it has never been tested with the Reynobond polyethylene-filled panels that were also used in Salford.

It said it “would be very surprised if such a system … would ever pass the appropriate British Standard 8414 large scale test”. The material is rated C for reaction to fire which means it is capable of sustaining a fire on its own, according to Tarling.



Kingspan said it was not aware of studies or tests that showed temporary removal of cladding exposing insulation could increase fire risk. However, a spokesman said “each project should be the subject of an individual risk assessment by an appropriately qualified expert to determine the impact that the removal ... will have on the performance of the insulation boards underneath”.

Also used on the Salford homes is Xtratherm Safe-R, which is rated B, which Tarling said means it is susceptible to surface burning.

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Pendleton Together said the removal of panels had been undertaken in coordination with technical experts and it said it is now planning to cover the insulation with temporary cement boards which do not burn. Non-combustible cement-based panels are widely used in private sector housing and office blocks but are said to cost up to twice as much as plastic-filled panels which have been widely used to reclad council blocks.

“The removal of the panels is being carried out in coordination with technical experts,” said a spokeswoman for Pendleton Together. “We have put additional fire safety measures in place to ensure the safety of our residents and to provide reassurance. We will be fitting cement boards to protect the insulation following the removal of the cladding panels. This work is being carried out following advice from independent technical experts and will commence early next week. This measure is temporary until a long term solution has been tested and confirmed.

Government fire tests on full scale cladding systems are expected to produce their first results this week. Ministers faced criticism for only testing the combustibility of the plastic core of aluminium composite panels which resulted in a 100% failure rate. Now they want to know how cladding, insulation and fixings respond to fire as a whole and have ordered six such tests to begin at the Building Research Establishment laboratory near Watford. Ministers have estimated that around 600 tall buildings in the UK are fitted with cladding of some sort.