A WORCESTER-owned firm fabricated the rainscreen panels and windows that covered fire-hit Grenfell Tower, has released a statement.

John Cowley, the managing director of CEP Architectural Facades which is owned by Worcester-based Omnis Exteriors, says it fabricated the panels and windows for Grenfell Tower's cladding sub-contractor, that carried out work on the £8.6 million refurbishment of the 24-storey London tower in 2015.

The firm stresses CEP did not manufacture Reynobond, the cladding material specified by the design and build contracting team - but says it is wrong to point to individual materials or components anyway.

Instead, the firm says authorities should focus attention on the design of the building's entire exterior refurbishment, rather than individual components.

Latest reports in the national media suggest at least 58 died in the blaze at the west London tower on Wednesday.

Mr Cowley said: "It is critical to consider the whole system including insulation materials, fire barriers, fixings and railings and you also need to look at the overall design and quality of installation.

"We prefer systems which have been designed and tested in controlled conditions so that we know they are robust and fit for purpose.

"In the US you can't build a structure taller than 40 feet without testing the whole system in a fully rigged environment.

"Whilst we do design and supply whole systems, in this case we were one part of the jigsaw with components coming from a variety of suppliers, working with materials and specifications determined by the contractors.

"Clearly, we will participate fully in any investigation and we will co-operate with the authorities to ensure something like this could never happen again."