黑洞社区

Two site managers responsible for overseeing work at Grenfell Tower for refurbishment main contractor Rydon assumed the insulation material fitted around the block鈥檚 window areas was not a fire risk, the inquiry into 2017鈥檚 disaster has heard.

Gary Martin 鈥� who was a site manager on the project between July 2015 and March 2016 鈥� said he believed the foil-backed material used to cover the gaps between the building鈥檚 original window frames and the new windows in its cladding was a 鈥渇ire-resistant seal鈥�.

Martin鈥檚 comments were made in his written statement to the Grenfell Tower Inquiry, probing the causes behind the catastrophic blaze that claimed 72 lives.

But giving evidence at Thursday鈥檚 hearing he confirmed that he now understood the product to have been combustible insulation.

Inquiry barrister Kate Grange QC asked Martin what he had believed the material to have been at the time.

Martin told the inquiry that although he had not been 100% sure, he thought the foil-backed material was 鈥渟ome kind of fire-delay and smoke-deterrent鈥�.

Asked by Grange how he had come to that belief, Martin said it had been a 鈥減rocess of elimination鈥�.

He added: 鈥淚t had to be there for a reason, otherwise we wouldn鈥檛 have put it in.鈥�

Martin said that as the project had already commenced when he started in his role at Grenfell, the product was already being installed and he did not ask anybody what its purpose had been.

鈥淚s it right that you鈥檝e made an assumption that it was a fire-resistant product?鈥� Grange asked. Martin replied: 鈥淐orrect.鈥�

Martin said he accepted now that the product had been combustible insulation. He said that although his work had involved inspecting the areas around the windows of Grenfell Tower鈥檚 flats before new UPVC windows were fitted, he had only been checking for any gaps in the material installed.

Grenfell Tower Inquiry chair Sir Martin Moore-Bick鈥檚 first phase report on the disaster found that aluminium composite material (ACM) cladding panels 鈥� which had polyethylene cores 鈥� fitted to the block were the principal reason that fire spread so rapidly on 14 June 2017.

But his report said the presence of polyisocyanurate and phenolic foam insulation boards behind the ACM panels, and as components of the window surrounds, 鈥渃ontributed to the rate and extent of vertical flame spread鈥�.

The current phase of the inquiry is looking at the background to the refurbishment, which was completed in 2016. The project resulted in a structure that not only failed to 鈥渁dequately resist the spread of fire鈥�, as required by building regulations, but 鈥渁ctively promoted it鈥�, in Moore-Bick鈥檚 words.

Also on Thursday, former Rydon site manager Daniel Osgood was asked about his experience on the Grenfell Tower refurbishment.

Osgood worked for Rydon between March 2014 and April 2017, but was a site manager at Grenfell only between April and July 2015.

Barrister Grange questioned him about his witness statement, in which he said that fire-retardant materials had been used for the window trims and boxing-in.

鈥淥n what basis are you asserting that the materials were fire-retardant?鈥� she asked.

鈥淔rom my memory, it was a fire-retardant MDF board that was used,鈥� Osgood replied. However he stressed that his main experience had been on the 鈥減ilot鈥� flat for the project.

Osgood said he had never checked that the materials used to surround the windows were fire-retardant and that he had no memory of asking anyone else at Rydon whether it was the case.

Under further questioning he said he would expect that someone at Rydon would have made sure that the materials used to fill the window surrounds did not breach the fire compartmentation of each flat in the building.

鈥淚 was under the impression that everything had to be 100% fire-proof or it couldn鈥檛 go on,鈥� Osgood said.

He subsequently said he did not know that different kinds of insulation 鈥� such as phenolic or mineral wool 鈥� had different fire-perfomance characteristics.

The Grenfell Tower Inquiry is pausing its hearings for a summer break next month, resuming in September.