Facade panels that caused London tower fire used in multiple Dutch buildings: report

The facade panels that caused a disastrous fire in the Grenfell tower in London, were also used in multiple skyscrapers in the Netherlands, fire safety inspector Peter van der Leur of consultancy firm DGMR said to newspaper Trouw. He could not say on how many buildings exactly these flammable panels were used, but said that he encountered several buildings with facade panels that do not meet safety requirements.

All the buildings Van der Leur encountered has since been renovated, or are currently being worked on, he said. But he added that it is unclear on which scale these fire-hazardous facade panels were used, because there is little control. Municipalities are responsible for checking this during construction, but that only happens on a random basis. "They can not walk past everything, that would be too much work", he said to Trouw.

The facade panels in question can be sold in the Netherlands, but may only be used on low-rise buildings for which less stringent fire safety requirements apply.

One of the buildings on which these facade panels were used, is one of the Rotterdam University of Applied Sciences building. The University closed that building, and it is currently being renovated.