The president of the Official College of Technical Architecture of Valencia (COAT Valencia), Vicente Terol, has informed this newspaper that the project for the damaged building contemplated that the insulation of the facade be "rock wool" and not "polyurethane." The College, which has the technical report (documentation that includes the final certificate of work with images that prove it) points out that the way in which the incident evolved "seems to indicate a priori that the characteristics of the façade along with the prevailing wind have influenced ".
But Vicente Terol adds that "we cannot yet determine what has caused that façade to behave in the face of fire as it has." "We cannot conclude a priori that it was the material," he adds. The school recognizes that it is difficult to explain what happened according to the project materials. What is evident is that the fire spread at great speed and if there was rock wool it could not have been for this reason: rock wool does not burn.
Several hypotheses are on the table. The first, that between the project approved and delivered to the Official College of Technical Architecture of Valencia and the work executed, on site, the choice of the indicated materials was not respected. Two: engineers consulted tell this newspaper that the "sandwich" to protect the façade had to be made of two thin layers of aluminum and between them rock wool or mineral wool. Any other material was not contemplated in the project.
The building, according to data from the school, was started in February 2006, prior to the Technical Building Code (CTE), which is the current regulations that govern our buildings and came into force in 2006.
As a result of the London fire, a modification was made to the CTE in 2019 that increased the requirements regarding materials and ventilated facades like this one, requirements that increase depending on the height of the building. Currently, in buildings of this height, the ventilated chambers must be interrupted in continuity, for example, so that they are segmented and not continuous. This rule, however, is also after the construction of this building.
"We must stop making undocumented speculations," adds Terol. "Our country has tremendously restrictive and demanding construction standards. And precisely the Valencian Community has been a pioneer in very strict quality controls. The investigation will determine the causes and it will be time to study actions so that a tragedy like this can never occur," concludes
