Arconic UK sales manager agrees under questioning that decision made because fire retardant version less lucrative
The Grenfell Tower cladding manufacturer Arconic considered withdrawing its combustible panels from sale before the disaster after a spate of high-rise cladding fires in the Middle East but decided against for “commercial reasons”, the public inquiry was told this week.
Deborah French, Arconic’s UK sales manager, said that around May 2013 there had been discussion in the company about withdrawing the polyethelyne core material. There had been several high-rise cladding fires in the United Arab Emirates, where “they used to sell tens and tens and tens of thousands of sq meters of that stuff every month”. She said a rival, Alucobond, had been considering withdrawing their version, but Arconic decided not to, in part, French agreed under questioning by Richard Millett QC, counsel to the inquiry, because it would have made less money selling the fire retardant version.
