The report into the Grenfell tragedy from 2017 published this week has added to pressure on Kingspan and its related sporting sponsorships.
There are many points of blame including product, testing, regulation and more that could have saved the 72 lives that were lost in the tragedy.
Kingspan is at the centre of a concerted campaign to ostracise them as part of the blame and that is extending to their multiple sporting partnerships.
The relationship with Ulster rugby including front of shirt sponsorship and stadium naming rights is already ending at the end of the current season.
Other prominent partnerships in Irish sport include as the naming partners on Kingspan Breffni Stadium with Cavan GAA, with golfers Shane Lowry and Leona Maguire and as funders of the Kingspan Kickstart Fund with Jonny Sexton as an ambassador.
The report runs to 1,700 pages and goes into exactly the level of detail you would expect in order to learn from the past and avoid a repeat of the terrible loss.
Kingspan issued the following statement in response to the report being published.
“Today is another extremely difficult day for the relatives and survivors of the Grenfell Tower fire and we extend our deepest sympathies to those impacted by the tragedy.
We welcome the publication of today’s report which is crucial to a public understanding of what went wrong and why. It explains clearly and unambiguously that the type of insulation (whether combustible or non-combustible) was immaterial, and that the principal reason for the fire spread was the PE ACM cladding, which was not made by Kingspan.
Kingspan has long acknowledged the wholly unacceptable historical failings that occurred in part of our UK insulation business. These were in no way reflective of how we conduct ourselves as a Group, then or now. While deeply regrettable, they were not found to be causative of the tragedy.
Kingspan has already emphatically addressed these issues, including the implementation of extensive and externally-verified measures to ensure our conduct and compliance standards are world leading.
We remain committed to playing a leading role in providing safe and sustainable building solutions, including continuing to work with government and industry partners.”
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