Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the of Answer 23 July 2019 to Question 279062 on Buildings: Insulation, whether any burning had begun in large scale test in June 2019 that was aborted due to procedural issues.

Yes. The BS 8414 test involves a 9 metre high demonstration wall with a complete cladding system – including panels and insulation – fixed to it, being subjected to a fire that replicates a severe fire in a flat breaking out of a window. The tests look at whether the system resists fire spread up the wall. The test is started when a large wood crib is ignited, burns and flames affect the wall build up directly above. The large scale test in June 2019 was started before being aborted due to procedural issues.

The general behaviour of observed before the procedural issue was similar to that observed and recorded during the test carried out in July 2019 the report of this test is available at the following :

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/fire-test-report-mhclg-bs-8414-hpl