Grenfell Tower building firm decided refurb project ‘didn’t need a fire consultant’ two years before blaze that killed 72
- Grenfell contractor Rydon decided refurb project ‘didn’t need a fire consultant’
- Simon Lawrence was involved in revamp between June 2014 and October 2015
- He says not hiring fire safety consultants was standard practice for Rydon work
The main contractor on the refurbishment of Grenfell Tower ‘came to the conclusion’ that the project ‘didn’t need a fire consultant’, the inquiry into the blaze has heard.
Rydon had considered recruiting a specialist to oversee plans for the lower four floors of the west London tower block, but eventually decided it was not necessary.
The company’s contracts manager, Simon Lawrence, told the hearing on Monday: ‘The initial intention regarding fire consultants was for the lower four floors.
The main contractor on the refurbishment of Grenfell Tower ‘came to the conclusion’ that the project ‘didn’t need a fire consultant’, the inquiry into the blaze has heard
‘The cladding, in our view, at the time was less of a risk than the lower four floors because of the means of escape.
‘We thought that it might be a good idea to have a fire consultant for those lower four floors but, as the design progressed, we ultimately came to the conclusion we didn’t need that fire consultant for the lower four floors.’
Mr Lawrence – who was involved in the revamp between June 2014 and October 2015 – could not remember when this decision was made but added that not hiring specialist fire safety consultants was standard practice for Rydon work, including on previous jobs involving high-rise overcladding.
Minutes from meetings in June, July and September 2014 indicate that Mr Lawrence was the individual responsible for the appointment of fire consultants on the Grenfell project.
Minutes from meetings in June, July and September 2014 indicate that Simon Lawrence (above) was the individual responsible for the appointment of fire consultants on the Grenfell project
Asked by inquiry lawyer Richard Millett QC whether that was included as a ‘placeholder’, Mr Lawrence insisted that ‘we intended to look into’ the appointment of a consultant and ‘it wasn’t just an off-the-cuff comment’, but thought that the autumn of that year ‘would be fairly early on for us to decide whether we actually needed that input or we didn’t need that input’.
The inquiry into the 2017 blaze which killed 72 people has previously heard that Rydon was ‘reliant on others’ to check compliance with fire safety rules.
Last week, when Mr Lawrence was asked about Rydon’s processes to supervise the overall project and make sure the works were being completed with safe materials, he said: ‘I think it would be using a competent design team, competent specialist contractors, backed up by building control and all the layers within.’
He agreed that this boiled down to ‘a reliance on others’ and his written witness statement to the inquiry added that ‘at no point’ did he ‘have any reason to believe’ materials used in the tower block’s refurbishment did not meet legal requirements.