Safety checks are taking place on thousands of buildings after fears there could be a “second wave” of Grenfell fallout.
Housing Secretary Robert Jenrick has ordered an urgent investigation into homes and public buildings clad in a material known as K15.
They had been certified safe – but it has since emerged that fire checks were flawed.
Whitehall officials have not identified which buildings are affected, but they could include homes, schools and hospitals.
Kingspan, which makes K15, withdrew safety warrants for the material last October after admitting “inaccuracies” in its fire tests.
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A small amount of K15 was used in Grenfell’s cladding. Mr Jenrick’s new safety investigation has stunned MPs, fire chiefs and councils.
It follows the leasehold scandal, which has seen 1.5 million people living in flats with Grenfell-type cladding unable to sell their homes unless they pay for expensive renovations.
One MP said: “We don’t know the full implications yet. But it’s huge.”
And Labour housing spokesman Mike Amesbury added: “This revelation could add up to a second wave of the Grenfell tragedy fallout. It adds to the fear and confusion over fire safety across the country.”
The Housing Department has issued an alert over the use of K15 and warns: “Fire safety professionals and buildings control bodies should review their records to check that any assessments carried out using these tests are identified and revisited.”
An inquiry into the 2017 Grenfell Tower blaze, which killed 72 people, has heard evidence that in a safety test in 2007 a cladding system incorporating K15 burned “very ferociously”.
Last week, the local authority building control inspector who issued a certificate for the use of K15 at the tower told the inquiry he had been misled.
