Disclosures from current and former staff at materials giants Celotex, Kingspan and Arconic, as well as certification body the British Board of Agrément (BBA) and testing house BRE, have raised alarming questions about weaknesses in the testing and certification of construction products.

Module two of the second phase of the Grenfell inquiry has heard how some products which have been installed on buildings across the UK for well over a decade have been marketed as safe based on dubious and often deliberately misleading test evidence. 

The second phase of the inquiry’s second module wrapped up at the end of last month. This module, which focused on the production, testing and sale of the materials that were installed on Grenfell Tower prior to the June 2017 fire which claimed 72 lives, has had a profound impact on the wider construction industry.

Some of the headlines the inquiry has generated since this module began last November have become common knowledge among construction professionals. Others, which have surfaced after the initial shock of Celotex and Kingspan’s disclosures last year, may be less well known. To put the whole module into context, here is a summary of the evidence.

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