DUBLIN (Reuters) – Insulation agency Kingspan and the Mercedes Formula One group have agreed to end a sponsorship deal, they stated on Wednesday, amid a backlash in regards to the Irish firm’s hyperlink to Britain’s 2017 Grenfell Tower hearth.

British Housing Minister Michael Gove and survivors of the Grenfell Tower hearth final week known as for Lewis Hamilton’s group to rethink a sponsorship deal because of Kingspan’s hyperlink to the 2017 London catastrophe.

The Grenfell hearth killed 72 folks, with flamable cladding used on the residential block recognized as central to the fast unfold of flames.

Kingspan, whose branding options on the group’s vehicles, stated that whereas its Kingspan Insulation UK enterprise was a core participant within the Grenfell Tower Inquiry, it had no position within the refurbishment.

“We are deeply conscious of the sensitivities raised in current days, and so we’ve collectively agreed that it is not applicable to maneuver ahead on the present time limit,” it stated in an announcement.

Mercedes, which didn’t point out Grenfell, stated in a Twitter submit that either side had “concluded that it was not applicable for the partnership to maneuver ahead.”

Mercedes boss Toto Wolff had stated final week that he would meet survivors of the hearth after apologising on behalf of his group for any misery attributable to the sponsorship deal.

Kingspan stated in an announcement final week it had performed no position within the design of the cladding system on Grenfell Tower, the place its K15 product constituted roughly 5% of the insulation.

It added that this “was used in its place product with out Kingspan’s information in a system that was not compliant with the buildings laws.”

(Reporting by Conor Humphries; Editing by Rohith Nair)