Shane Lowry and Kingspan have 'mutually agreed' to end their sponsorship relationship following the damning findings of the Grenfell Tower Inquiry.
An inquiry into the 2017 disaster concluded that while the Cavan-based insulation company was not responsible for the fire that claimed the lives of 72 people, the organisation showed "complete disregard for fire safety" in how it marketed one of its products. In a short statement released by Lowry, the golfer said: “Kingspan and I have mutually agreed to discontinue our sponsorship relationship, which we believe to be the right decision for all concerned at this time.”READ MORE:Rising Irish golf star eyeing up pro ranks in 2024 after brilliant second half of the year2019 Open Champion Lowry had been sponsored by Kingspan since May 2017, one month before the Grenfell Tower fire.
A small amount of Kingspan’s insulation product, Kooltherm K15, was used on the Grenfell Tower building and, though not the reason for the blaze, the inquiry found that the company "knowingly created a false market in insulation" from 2005 onwards for use on buildings over 18 metres tall. It was noted how Kingspan did not withdraw that particular product from the market despite “disastrous” test results and the business’s “own concerns about its fire performance”, adding that the lack of knowledge within the industry around insulation and cladding fire safety testing had been "cynically exploited".