- Mark Allen is a technical director for Saint-Globin in the UK, which owns Celotex
- Celotex made the insulation for cladding used on Grenfell tower in Kensington
- Mr Allen is a member of a government advisory board that makes recommendations on building regulations
- The RS5000 insulation panels failed all safety tests after the tower inferno
A boss of a building firm whose company produced the insulation panels on Grenfell Tower in Kensington is a government adviser.
Mark Allen is a technical director for the UK arm of Saint-Gobain, an owner of Celotex, which produced the insulation used in the tower.
He is also a member of the Building Regulations Advisory Committee, which makes recommendations about industry regulations to Communities Secretary Sajid Javid.
The RS5000 insulation panels ‘failed all safety tests’ when examined by police in the wake of the blaze, prompting Celotex to halt its supply for use in rainscreen cladding on buildings more than 18 metres high.
According to the Department for Communities and Local Government’s website, Mr Allen would have been appointed to the role for two or three years by the secretary of state.
Its role is to ‘advise the secretary of state in England on making building regulations and setting standards for the design and construction of buildings’, the website says.
RS5000 was supplied for the £8.6 million refurbishment of Grenfell Tower and was coupled with Reynobond PE cladding, an aluminium-cased rain sheet which is also flammable.
The insulation, according to Celotex’s website, has a Class 0 rating under UK building regulations, meaning it has the highest rating for preventing the spread of flames and prevents the spread of heat.
However, its ‘health and safety datasheet’ notes: ‘The products will burn if exposed to a fire of sufficient heat and intensity.’
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