Grenfell and Kingspan

[silentbrown]

Just reading this, and it's pretty grim.

https://www.insidehousing.co.uk/insight/grenfell-t...

Re a consultant asking about fire safety.

kingspan said:

“Wintech can go f*ck themselves, and if they are not careful we’ll sue the arse [off] them.”

Re. getting a certificate from Hereford Local Authority building control

kingspan said:

“We can be very convincing when we need to be,” he replied. “We threw every bit of fire test data we could at him, we probably blocked his server. In the end I think the LABC convinced themselves Kooltherm is the best thing since sliced bread. We didn’t even have to get any real ale down him!”

I'm sure there's an existing topic, but I can't find it.. Mods please merge if so.

[bitchstewie]

I think there were previous topics on Grenfell but they got a bit unsavoury so got closed.

I've read a few stories where you have to wonder what will come of it and if anything can come of it given the Attorney General gave an undertaking to protect certain participants from self-incrimination.

The whole thing is just grim the more I read

[silentbrown]

bhstewie said:

I think there were previous topics on Grenfell but they got a bit unsavoury so got closed.

I've read a few stories where you have to wonder what will come of it and if anything can come of it given the Attorney General gave an undertaking to protect certain participants from self-incrimination.

The whole thing is just grim the more I read

Ah. Kind of unsurprising. The undertaking against prosecution applies to individuals but not corporates, which is something.

[Mojooo]

Shows exactly why we need proper public sector regulators (properly funded) rather then relying on honesty of corporates.

Heads should roll at Kingspan for this. Its pretty clear they were being deceptive.

[anonymous-user]

Mojooo said:

Heads should roll at Kingspan for this. Its pretty clear they were being deceptive.

Well one thing that certainly rolled was the cash into the directors pockets at an opportune time.

"Inside Housing - News - Kingspan directors sold £5m in shares just weeks before Grenfell Inquiry revelations" https://www.insidehousing.co.uk/news/news/kingspan...

[Mojooo]

“We produced documentation and we inferred to the industry that our product could do something that potentially it couldn’t,” said Mr Meredith.

From the article previous to the one OP posted:
https://www.insidehousing.co.uk/insight/insight/gr...

[Condi]

The certificate they had wasn't even valid for that exact combination or that product, t'was from an earlier year's model which they had then "fudged" onto the later product.

They are being hung out to dry, and hopefully will be prosecuted based on the evidence given.

[Petrus1983]

It boils my blood when corporations like this make millions and have total disregard for rules - I saw some sold £10m’s of shares recently - I recall £75m as a figure.

[Astacus]

It appears they later managed to design a product that did pass(just, by the sound of it). They then withdrew that product and applied its certificate to the original K15 and kept right on selling the K15 for high rises. This is utterly disgraceful behaviour. I am astonished

[vdn]

Scumbags who have plenty of money in their pocket but blood on their hands.

[Astacus]

If this turns out to be true, then there should be jail time

[Bodo]

Mojooo said:

Shows exactly why we need proper public sector regulators (properly funded) rather then relying on honesty of corporates.

Heads should roll at Kingspan for this. Its pretty clear they were being deceptive.

If the attitude presented is true, Kingspan has kicked the bucket already. A few heads rolling will not change company culture and attitude.

[WonkeyDonkey]

Astacus said:

If this turns out to be true, then there should be jail time

Should do but the rich never get jailed here. Prison time is just for the poor.

You'll get greater punishment for smoking a spliff than being complicit in the death of hundreds.

[dvs_dave]

Bodo said:

Mojooo said:

Shows exactly why we need proper public sector regulators (properly funded) rather then relying on honesty of corporates.

Heads should roll at Kingspan for this. Its pretty clear they were being deceptive.

If the attitude presented is true, Kingspan has kicked the bucket already. A few heads rolling will not change company culture and attitude.

Agreed. This is a systemic firm wide issue. There is clearly a deep rooted profits over everything, highly toxic and arrogant corporate culture at the root of this.

This is flagrant and disgraceful behavior. The fact that they felt emboldened to do what they did, AND put it in writing is the biggest tell tale. CEO and the senior leadership team need to go if they’ve any hope of surviving this.

[bitchstewie]

dvs_dave said:

Agreed. This is a systemic firm wide issue. There is clearly a deep rooted profits over everything, highly toxic and arrogant corporate culture at the root of this.

This is flagrant and disgraceful behavior. The fact that they felt emboldened to do what they did, AND put it in writing is the biggest tell tale. CEO and the senior leadership team need to go if they’ve any hope of surviving this.

Well if they do I think they'll be taking a few more million quid with them than they would have before.

Kingspan directors cashed in £6m of shares before airing of Grenfell claims

[anonymous-user]

WonkeyDonkey said:

Astacus said:

If this turns out to be true, then there should be jail time

Should do but the rich never get jailed here. Prison time is just for the poor.

Isn't kingspan an Irish company though ?
Will that make a difference to who and if anyone is jailed ?

[JagLover]

Spectator is covering this as well.

Seems not to be picked up by most of the media yet but there seems some clear corporate wrongdoing on these cladding products. Falsifying safety reports, changing the product after approval, internal E-mails expressing concern and threats to any outside parties raising concerns.

https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/the-grenfell-t...

rather than the government being expected to pay to re-clad private blocks why cant these companies pick up the bill?

[bitchstewie]

JagLover said:

Spectator is covering this as well.

Seems not to be picked up by most of the media yet but there seems some clear corporate wrongdoing on these cladding products. Falsifying safety reports, changing the product after approval, internal E-mails expressing concern and threats to any outside parties raising concerns.

https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/the-grenfell-t...

rather than the government being expected to pay to re-clad private blocks why cant these companies pick up the bill?

Presumably they could if there was a court case or some legal order compelling them to do so?

I think there's been reasonable media coverage as I've been (loosely) keeping up with it.

Not sure why it doesn't seem to get much discussion on here though as I said there were threads before that got pulled.

[g3org3y]

Astacus said:

If this turns out to be true, then there should be jail time

[Bodo]

bhstewie said:

Well if they do I think they'll be taking a few more million quid with them than they would have before.

Kingspan directors cashed in £6m of shares before airing of Grenfell claims

The daily mail thinks £6m are not worth a headline anymore. They go for £123m
Tycoons whose firm fitted Grenfell Tower with flammable insulation and 'stretched the truth' about tower's fire safety cashed in £123MILLION shares before inquiry

Graun
Gene Murtagh £3.1m
Gilbert McCarthy £1.8m
Peter Wilson £1.6m

Wail
Eugene Murtagh £76m
Gene Murtagh £22m
other executives £25m