The Irish Hospice Foundation has severed its financial association with Kingspan following the publication of an official report on the Grenfell fire. An affirmation of this move was made by a representative of the charity, who mentioned that maintaining their relationship was not in alignment with the entity’s principles.
It was discovered during the report that Kingspan had deceitfully established a misrepresentative market for the insulation used on Grenfell Tower’s exterior in London, by incorrectly asserting that it had cleared tests for usage on skyscrapers towering above 18m. This misinformation led to a fire in 2017 that claimed the lives of 72 people.
The Tremendously detailed report, that was compiled by inquiry head Sir Martin Moore-Bick and runs up to about 1,700 pages, was released publicly earlier in the month. It shed light on the lapses of many stakeholders, such as government bodies, construction material businesses, contractors, fire safety specialists and local councillors that contributed to the fire catastrophe seven years prior.
The Kingspan’s Kooktherm K15 insulation board was applied on approximately 5% of the exterior cladding’s plastic foam insulation tier of the building without the company’s awareness, during the 2016 revamping of the London tower.
In the concluding part of the report, it was revealed that Kingspan in association with Celotex, had deceived the construction market by stating their respective K15 and RS5000 insulation boards were appropriate for high-rise structures. The report asserts that, contrary to Kingspan’s knowledge, K15 could not be marketed honestly for use on external walls of high-rising buildings above 18m which it had actually achieved over the past years.
Moreover, the investigation discovered emails dating back to 2009 from Kingspan’s UK team that made light of the fact that the fire safety tests on K15 were flawed.
The Irish Hospice Foundation has been a recipient of Kingspan’s funding for quite some time, even via an annual sponsored cycle, this arrangement alone has helped raise over €2 million for the foundation since its initiation in 2009. Kingspan directly donated over €400,000 of the total amount.
Upon scrutinising the outcomes from the second phase of the Grenfell Tower inquiry, the Irish Hospice Foundation committee has resolved that persisting in a relationship with Kingspan contradicts our institution’s principles and breaches IHF’s ethical fundraising guidlines. Consequently, we have chosen to terminate our alliance, the charity announced. In addition, it expressed its heartfelt condolences to the family, friends and near and dear ones of the victims of the Grenfell catastrophe. This marks a continuation of a series of disassociations triggered by the inquiry report and the influence from groups of Grenfell survivors. Quite recently, the Irish golfer, Shane Lowry, terminated his ties with the construction company. His action has been commended by the survivor group, Grenfell United, which has prompted other sports personalities to follow his path.