黑洞社区

This week saw the Grenfell Inquiry鈥檚 barristers wrap up evidence from the consultants who worked on the ill-fated refurbishment as well as from the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea鈥檚 building control department.

Next week they will move on to hear from four members of the TMO team, which was the client on the upgrade that ended with the loss of 72 lives after a catastrophic fire in 2017.

黑洞社区 control

On Monday the inquiry heard from John Allen, the manager responsible for overseeing the work of building control surveyors at the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea (RBKC).

He denied there was a culture of bullying in his department or that it was overstretched despite the number of building surveyors being 鈥渟ubstantially reduced鈥� after a restructure.

John Allen denied there was a culture of bullying in his department or that it was overstretched 

These were claims made the previous week by John Hoban, the council inspector who approved the completed refurbishment as worthy of a compliance certificate, and who resigned a few weeks before the fire because of work pressures.

Allen also cast doubt on the number of projects Hoban said he was expected to oversee and which was, he said, affecting his health. Allen said: 鈥淥f those 130 there would be a number of those that hadn鈥檛 even started so that wasn鈥檛 like an inspection workload, and there was a number that hadn鈥檛 been inspected for 90 days.鈥�

Allen insisted he had 鈥渇ull confidence鈥� in Hoban despite his not having experience of high-rise residential overcladding projects. He believed Hoban would have considered the tower to be compliant with 黑洞社区 Regulations when he approved the production of the certificate.

But Allen also cautioned that builders and design teams were ultimately responsible for making sure structures complied with 黑洞社区 Regulations.

Allen was also shown an email which was sent to RBKC executive director of planning Graham Stallwood two days after the fire by former council building surveyor Robert Albrow.

Albrow said he wished to offer his 鈥渦nconditional support to the building control officer concerned鈥� following the fire and alleged that the council鈥檚 building control department was 鈥渁fflicted by a culture of bullying鈥� and that 鈥渟urveyors鈥� concerns are not taken seriously when they are raised鈥�.

His email alleged: 鈥淚 absolutely believe the management team would knowingly falsify and manipulate records to demonstrate there (sic) ends hanging the surveyor out to dry.鈥�

Allen said he recalled the email but disagreed with its 鈥渨hole essence鈥�.

Albrow acknowledged that he had been subject to a disciplinary process following an accusation of gross misconduct during his time at RBKC.

Artelia as consultant to the client

For the rest of the week the inquiry heard from staff at consultant Artelia which was appointed by the client, Kensington & Chelsea Tenant Management Organisation (TMO), to provide a range of advice and professional services.

First up was Simon Cash, the firm鈥檚 project director on Grenfell, who said he was 鈥渟hocked鈥� by 鈥渋rregular and improper鈥� communications between the TMO and main contractor Rydon before the latter was formally chosen as preferred bidder.

Cash said a 2014 tip-off to Rydon鈥檚 refurbishment director Stephen Blake that the firm was 鈥渋n pole position鈥� to be selected 鈥� before interviews with tender teams had even taken place 鈥� suggested the procurement was compromised and 鈥渃ould have voided the whole process鈥�, Cash said.

The inquiry heard there was a meeting between the TMO and Rydon a few hours before the official announcement in which the builder鈥檚 willingness to reduce its 拢9.2m bid in the event of its appointment was established by the client. The TMO needed to shave 拢800,000 off the bid because all the tenders had come in over its budget. It had chosen to reprocure the works because the original contractor, Leadbitter, was considered too expensive.

Cash said he had felt 鈥渟trong-armed鈥� by the TMO into producing a report making the case for a new procurement process just weeks after Artelia had argued for Leadbitter鈥檚 retention.

鈥淧eter Maddison and I had had a particularly strong conversation about the changes that had to be made,鈥� Cash said of the report.

鈥淗e was being very persistent and put a lot of pressure on us to make those changes. I was quite resistant because I felt that it was a true reflection of what had happened on the project.鈥�

Simon Cash was 鈥渟hocked鈥� by 鈥渋rregular and improper鈥� communications between the TMO and main contractor

Cash also said he became aware in 2015 that Blake and TMO director of assets and regeneration Peter Maddison had known each other for a long time and were having direct conversations that were leaving Artelia 鈥渙ut of the loop鈥�. But he said he had no concerns that either鈥檚 impartiality might be compromised.

The report was described in an email by Artelia鈥檚 Robert Powell 鈥� employer鈥檚 agent for the project 鈥� as 鈥減olitical lubrication鈥�. Cash and his colleague Philip Booth rejected this interpretation, with the latter saying Powell 鈥渨as quite flamboyant with his language sometimes鈥�.

On Wednesday the inquiry was shown a series of emails by Artelia鈥檚 Neil Reed, who took over from Booth as employer鈥檚 agent at a late stage on the Grenfell project, complaining about Rydon.

Writing to Cash in May 2016 he said he had never 鈥渨orked with a contractor operating with this level of nonchalance鈥� and warned the completion of the project was 鈥渂ecoming a farce鈥�.

Cash said the email did not cause him concern because it was a complaint about documentation and 鈥減rocess not the quality of their work鈥�.

It came just over a month after Reed had lodged a formal complaint with Rydon鈥檚 Blake, expressing 鈥渇rustrations and concerns about a number of current issues with the project鈥�.

Asking Blake to escalate his complaint, Reed wrote: 鈥淏oth the client team and consultant team hold a perception that Rydon could and should be doing more in the run-up to completion.鈥�

There were also frictions inside Artelia, with both Reed and Andrew Malcolm complaining about their colleague Paul Burrows鈥� failure to communicate well with the client about the handover of CDM documents.

Malcolm told him: 鈥淚 personally want to stop looking daft at client meetings for missing a deadline we (royal-Artelia-we) had 6 months+ to sort out, let alone any regulatory implications that may or may not have repercussions against Artelia鈥�.鈥�

Client ruled out hiring 拢30k design adviser

On Thursday Reed himself took the stand and was asked about the state of the project when he took over. He said it was 鈥渋n some delay and I would say distressed鈥�.

He described being surprised by the number of inappropriate design queries he received from Claire Williams, project manager at the TMO. He was also surprised by the number of design changes still being asked for by the client.

鈥淭here appeared to be significant ongoing change which would be quite unusual in month nine of a construction project,鈥� he said. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 going to cause some challenges and issues for the team to manage.鈥�

Inquiry barrister Kate Grange asked if he got the impression Williams was 鈥渟truggling to deal with design issues cropping up on the project and needed to reach out to you for help鈥�. Reed replied: 鈥淵es I can see that. Yes, possibly.鈥�

The inquiry heard that the TMO had ruled out hiring specialist technical or design advice for which Artelia would have charged around 拢30,000, preferring to handle the role in-house. Booth said Williams had done this partly to save money.

He was asked by Grange: 鈥淒id they expressly say that to you, 鈥榃e don鈥檛 want to incur the additional fees鈥�?鈥� Booth replied: 鈥淲ell, yes, they were very much about, do we need this role, you know, it鈥檚 30 grand or whatever it was.鈥�

Booth and Reed said the decision did not trouble them because the TMO was a large organisation with capable staff.

But a significant portion of Reed鈥檚 evidence focused on how he fielded repeated queries about the design from Williams which he described as 鈥渟cope creep鈥�.

Grange asked if the kind of queries the TMO raised with him were things a client design adviser could have assisted with, to which he said: 鈥淵es.鈥�

Next week Williams and her colleagues will have the chance to answer questions on these and other matters.

The inquiry is due to last around 18 months.