Kingspan drops week-old sponsorship deal with Mercedes F1 after Grenfell outcry

Picture: AP File

Irish building products giant Kingspan has pulled its week-old “sustainability and sponsorship” deal with the Formula One Mercedes Petronas team whose lead driver is Lewis Hamilton following a controversy over links to the inquiry into the Grenfell Tower fire in London and to potential corporate greenwashing.

The deal involved the Kingspan logo appearing on the Mercedes cars starting from last weekend at the Saudi Grand Prix.

“We are deeply aware of the sensitivities raised in recent days, and so we have jointly agreed that it’s not appropriate to move forward at the current point in time,” a spokesman for Kingspan said in a statement.

“Much has been written about this over the past few days, and out of consideration for our customers and all the great people who work for us, we believe we must respond,” the spokesman said.

The controversy arose because some Kingspan K15 products were used in the tower but Kingspan was not involved in its exterior refurbishment. The building materials company was involved in the subsequent official inquiry into the causes of the fire that caused the deaths of 72 people in June 2017.

“We had no role in the Grenfell Tower refurbishment. However, our Kingspan Insulation UK business is a core participant in the Grenfell Tower Inquiry and fully supports the Inquiry’s important work,” Kingspan said. 

“We did not supply or recommend K15 to Grenfell Tower. K15 made up approximately 5% of the insulation layer of the facade system. It was substituted without our knowledge,” Kingspan said.

When the deal was announced last week, Kingspan told the Irish Examiner that the sponsorship didn’t involve an extreme case of corporate greenwashing despite the link with Mercedes and the oil giant Petronas.

The deal involved Kingspan chairing a sustainability working group for Mercedes-AMG Petronas F1, a London-based spokesman for Kingspan said at the time.

“The working group’s remit will be to draw together expertise from diverse fields to contribute to the team’s objective of pioneering new approaches and technologies for emissions reduction in motorsport,” the spokesman had said last week.