Carlton Building Plastics Ltd, the family business where the managing director is Croydon Mayor Jason Perry, sells a range of uPVC cladding with little information, or warning, about how flammable and dangerous the products might be.
Plastic cladding: Mayor Jason Perry’s family business offers uPVC cladding for sale on its website
When Perry was elected as Mayor of Croydon in 2022, he won on a manifesto that promised to “fix the finances” of the bankrupted borough. His company’s latest financial figures suggest that he is not even capable of running his own business competently.
Since becoming Mayor of Croydon, for which he is paid £82,000 per year by the council, Perry has used the anniversary of the Grenfell Tower fire, in which 72 men, women and children perished, to promote himself as a compassionate and caring civic leader.
“We lit up the Town Hall in green and observed a minute’s silence in remembrance of all those who lost their lives and those whose lives were changed forever on that terrible day. We will never forget them, and my thoughts and deepest condolences go to them and their families,” Perry said on the council website in June 2023.
In January 2025, Perry’s Carlton Building Plastics is flogging flammable plastic cladding.
“PVCu cladding provides a protective layer over walls whilst also presenting a decorative finish resembling traditional timber applications,” Perry’s business’s website says.
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“Much like timber, PVCu cladding can be easily cut and installed using traditional tools.” Which is nice.
“Just click on the image below which best suits your requirements to see more details.”
Nothing is said on Perry’s business website about the material’s flammable qualities, nor of how dangerous uPVC can be.
In August 2023, at Moss Hall Grove in Barnet, there was a blaze which spread rapidly and despite the efforts of firefighters, destroyed four council houses. The houses all had plastic cladding similar to that being sold by Perry’s Carlton Building Plastics.
While the manufacturer’s brochure tells you that the PVC product being sold by Carlton Building Plastics conforms to fire resistance classification D-s3, d2, it doesn’t tell you what that means. Nor does Perry’s company website.
Hard sell: the page from Jason Perry’s company website makes no mention of the flammable properties of the plastic cladding he’s selling
Cladding with a D-s3, d2 fire rating is combustible and may contribute to fire:
- D: indicates that the material is combustible and contributes to fire
- s3: Indicates that the material produces substantial smoke during the first 10 minutes of exposure to fire
- d2: Indicates that the material produces significant flaming droplets or particles during the first 10 minutes of exposure to fire
According to one construction industry professional, the uPVC cladding sold by Perry’s company is “better than wood”, and “nobody is arguing for the banning of timber cladding, windows, frame nor any other wooden materials”.
Fire risk: four council houses, fitted with plastic cladding, were destroyed in Barnet in 2023
The plastic cladding can be “self-extinguishing”: “That is, it requires a source of ignition to continue to burn.”
Its use on two- or three-storey houses is also not regarded as potentially as much of a dangerous hazard as the use of similar cladding products on taller buildings, such as residential tower blocks, where the options for evacuation in the event of fire are much less.
Nevertheless, following the Moss Hall Grove blaze, Barnet Council announced that they would strip uPVC cladding from 153 council properties.
That prompted Housing Today, the “trusted media brand of the Chartered Institute of Housing”, to make a series of Freedom of Information requests to discover the extent of the problem. Croydon’s response at the time was that up to 703 of its low- and medium-rise blocks could have uPVC cladding, but it couldn’t confirm the exact numbers as stock condition surveys were still underway.
Given the obvious concerns over the use of plastic cladding, we invited Croydon Mayor Jason Perry to explain what action his council is taking to remove plastic cladding fire risks from the borough. No response had been received by the time of publication.
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There is a lot of plastic cladding around. Of less interest in Croydon than Corrupt Croydon’s Mayor, Piss Poor Perry’s own firm, but Angel Plastics, based in Sutton, advertise their plastic building products occasionally on Radio Jackie (the sound of SW London and Surrey, apparently).
A firm called Charlton plastics sells things made of plastic, ffs is that the best you can do
The firm is called Carlton Building Plastics, and is selling inflammable material to unsuspecting customers
Whoever voted for this man to be mayor must be so glad. What a surprise, he has no conscience. He is so two faced and self serving it is sickening. Ask yourself , Has this man actually done any good for croydon ? or does he just continue to follow in the footsteps of others and see it dissipate bit by bit , year on year.
Living in a block of flats on Tollers Estate many years ago. I can attest that uPVC cladding is not self-extinguishing, but very much self-igniting, once a fire starts. The ground floor flat opposite ours burned freely, damaging the flats above and emitting awful fumes, from which at least one person in the flats opposite suffered breathing problems, and was taken to hospital. The cladding has not been removed.
Were/are these council homes, Jenny?
Yes. Nowadays. I guess a number have been bought under right to buy, although that would be leasehold, not freehold, so the external cladding i presume woyld be still under the council’s control.
“Under the council’s control”.
And the council run by a plastic cladding salesman is doing nothing about it. How odd.
With Perry, you couldn’t make it up!
How did this disaster ever get elected?