A key sales contact at the firm that produced the combustible ACM cassettes installed on Grenfell Tower as part of its disastrous refurbishment has accepted that he knew a safer, fire-retardant version of the product was available, the inquiry into 2017’s fire has heard.

Geof Blades, who was a senior sales manager at St Helens-based CEP Architectural Facades at the time of the refurbishment, insisted he had not recommended the use of Reynobond aluminium composite material (ACM) panels for the west London tower block’s ill-fated facelift.