EU energy regulation is the reason the cladding was put on Grenfell Tower

It underwent an £8.6million refurbishment last year with external cladding put on for insulation purposes as part of a series of improvements enhancing the energy efficiency of the tower.

EU regulations set out rules for buildings’ energy consumption with Britain signed up to the 2010 Energy Performance of Buildings Directive.

Article 24 of the directive was cemented into UK law in April 2014 and a Government report says “bringing as many residential and commercial buildings as possible up to a high level of energy performance is a priority for the UK Government”.

Cladding is often used to improve energy efficiency and it is thought there could be up to 30,000 buildings in the UK fitted with similar cladding to that used on Grenfell Tower.

Foam boards coated in zinc rainproof sheets were spaced across the 24-storey building as part of the refurbishment.

Experts say the foam panel helped spread the fire quickly with the gap between the cladding and building acting as a chimney.

Express.co.uk asked Geoff Wilkinson, MD of Wilkinson Construction Consultants, if EU laws on improving energy efficiency have any impact on building renovations in the UK.

He said: “In short yes the laws did – there is not currently a requirement to retrofit insulation but if you reroof or re-clad a building you are required to upgrade insulation providing it’s technically and economically possible to do so.”

“In the event of a fire this acts like a chimney, drawing the hot air up through itself and making the flames burn brighter. In this way fire [travels] all the way up from the base of the building to the very top.

“Once spread via cladding, the fire could have caught on curtains blowing through windows left open on a hot summer’s night.”

Grenfell Action Group said their concerns about safety went unanswered.

The Environment, Transport and Regional Affairs Committee launched an inquiry after a blaze tore through a 14-storey block of flats in Irvine, Ayrshire, in June 1999, killing an elderly man.

It concluded that cladding should be non-combustible or not pose an unacceptable level of risk to tenants.

Local activist Piers Thompson said “the entire fascia went up like it was paper and tinder and balsa wood”.

Rydon, the firm that carried out the Grenfell Tower refurbishment work, said in a statement following the fire that the project “met all required building regulations”.

A European Commission spokeswoman said: “Fire safety rules and building material standards are a matter for national authorities. The EU’s only role is in making sure materials which meet those national standards are not excluded from national markets in a discriminatory way just because they are made elsewhere in Europe.

“The EU also prescribes that the product performance regarding reaction to fire is tested with a European test method.

“The EU does co-fund various types of building renovation projects, mostly through regional policy – of course it is for Member States to ensure buildings on their territory comply with national law.”