Thread by @PeteApps

Lunchtime update from the Grenfell Tower Inquiry:

- President of Arconic accepts "false statement" in certificate describing the fire classification of cladding used on tower
- Says 'regulatory differences' reason why highly combustible panels were so popular in UK

This morning we've been hearing from Claude Schmidt, current president of AAP SAS, the French arm of Arconic which made and sold the 'Reynobond PE' cladding panels used on Grenfell. They have already been identified as the 'primary cause' of the rapid fire spread at the tower.

Inquiry counsel Richard Millett began by asking him (via a translator) whether or not he agreed with several factual statements. Among other things, he asked whether he agreed that the PE panels, when bent into the cassette shape in which they were used on Grenfell...

... obtained a European classification of 'Class E' in 2010, and no classification in 2004. And that it had never achieved the higher rating of 'Class B' in this form. Mr Schmidt answered 'oui' to all these questions.

He then agreed that the certificate (from respected third party certifier the BBA) drew no distinction between panels bent in this way, and those fixed with rivets (where the fire performance is better). Instead, it presented both as Class B. Once more, oui.

"Do you agree that was a false statement, so far as concerns the cassette fixed version?" asked Millett

"Yes"

Asked to explain this, he said he could not - but referred to the fact that the BBA certificate also referred to the entirely separate British standard of Class 0 (more on which below)

Mr Schmidt then asked several questions about the sale of Reynobond PE panels into the UK market generally. In his witness statement, he said that Arconic had a relatively small share of the UK market (around 10%). But it mainly sold PE - as opposed to a more fire safe version.

"This was what the UK market demanded," his statement said. He contrasted this with other jurisdictions, such as Poland, where "legislation was in place which prevented the use of PE products in architecture other than in limited circumstances".

"Does the regulatory difference account for why people bought more PE in the UK than they did in Poland?" asks Millett.

"Yes, I believe so," replies Schmidt

Next he was asked about testing of the panels to the UK standard of Class 0. Keep in mind, this is a specific British standard. Our building guidance said cladding panels could be EITHER the European Class B or national Class 0

It transpired that a product called Reynobond 160 PE passed a Class 0 test at Warrington Fire testing house in 1997. Mr Schmidt said that this was 'identical' to the Reynobond PE 55 eventually sold for Grenfell

The difference was that 160 PE was made in the US, whereas from the mid-2000s the product was produced in the French plant and was rebranded '55'. But this new French product was never retested.

Schmidt said he had 'no answer' as to why fresh testing was not done and accepted that it would have been 'a good idea'. This 1997 test was never presented to the BBA when it produced its 2007 certificate saying the product 'may be regarded as having a Class 0 surface'

Instead, this was based on testing on the fire retardant version of the product, carried out in 2003 - but the BBA certificate apparently applied to both. Before lunch we began talking about the European testing, that topic will continue in the afternoon.

We are translating questions and answers from French into English, which makes for very slow progress but is also a lot easier to shorthand so from a selfish perspective, this is great.

Also, there was a minor row in the morning when Arconic's lawyer (below) unmuted his mic to jump in and accuse Mr Millett of making a mistake in the question. First time this has happened, counsel normally submit clarifications via email - as Mr Millett very testily pointed out

Continued into the morning break when basically Sir Martin Moore-Bick said there shouldn't be any live interruptions. Had a bit a squabbling public school boys being ticked off by the school master energy. Schmidt continues after lunch.