[St Charles Owl]

Polyethylene though is not banned in the UK as a form of insulation as long as it is encased with a more fire resistant material, which in this case it was. Other countries have banned it, most recently Australia, but it is still ok in the UK. I have no problem with aesthetically pleasing being a pre-requisite for cladding, to me that is the whole point of modern day cladding, it looks better than the core materials used to build a building!!

You last statement though highlights the need for stringent building regulations. It doesn't matter whether its construction on this level or building an extension on our own house, using cheaper materials is always an issue usually due to the fact that the cheapest bid generally wins the project and therefore if a profit is to be made then the cheapest possible material will be used to complete the job. Most of the time this is ok, that material is not going to effect any aspect of safety on a project but where it might, then the building codes need to be specific as to what can and can't be used. Clients are going to build, design and specify buildings that meet the building codes (as is likely in this case), those that bid these jobs are going to try to do it as cheaply as possible within those guidelines and the lowest bid will generally be chosen - all of that requires robust codes or else this sort of thing will happen!!