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Grenfell Tower fire in North Kensington - news and discussion

MrSki said:
I think it will be about obeying the tory whip but worried about her electorate. Well out to lunch whatever. :mad:
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Oh, agrreed, absolutely, but she must have realised there will be no shortage of people pointing this out to voters in Kensington, and I think we can assume those voters can read, and had what you might call a fairly strong reason to take an especial interest in that bill.
Tory being wanker = no surprise.
Tory defending a mega-marginal, gifting her opponents the most spectacular open goal = bit more surprising
 
The Inquiry resumed hearings on Monday after it's August break. First up was Zak Maynard, the Managing Surveyor for Rydon, the main contractor on the refurbishment. Then the first two witnesses from Harley, the specialist cladding design and construction sub-contractor. Managing Director Ray Bailey for two days and then Commercial Director Mark Harris.

As in previous weeks various strands emerged across the evidence given by different people. The weekly BBC podcasts remain the best overview each week.

Here are the Inside Housing Grenfell diaries for this week and for the last week before the summer break. (Paywalled so archived).

Grenfell Tower Inquiry diary week eight: ‘It haunts me that it wasn’t challenged’ (w/e 31/7)

Grenfell Tower Inquiry diary week nine: ‘All I can say is that you will be taken out for a very nice meal very soon’ (w/e 11/9)

Next week more witnesses from Harley.
 
Literally nothing that has come out so far has surprised me in the slightest. In fact I predicted as much. Everyone knew, everyone turned a blind eye. Looks like there might also have been some usual construction industry bribery / corruption as well.

As sure as night follows day...
 
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MrSki said:
They were not lost. They were destroyed. :mad: Another fucking crime.
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Daily news outlets are struggling to find 'relatable' stories and this one is a classic example of something which isn't nearly as interesting as it seems. The guy in question left the employment of Harley, the specialist cladding design and construction subcontractor, in March 2016. So before the completion of the refurbishment and over a year before the fire. He was allowed to keep his work laptop on condition that he deleted anything related to his employment. Somehow this material also got deleted from the company server as well. His boss, when asked about this, suggested the guy had 'arranged for this to be done'. Questioned about it the guy himself said he didn't have access to the company server and hadn't done so. Whatever actually happened it seems far from clear that it happened in order to 'cover up' anything regarding the fire.

It's also not clear to me what 'incriminating' material would have been involved. The picture that has emerged from the Harley evidence so far is that this guy was named 'project designer' for the Grenfell refurbishment, in his words, "to reassure" main contractor Rydon that Harley were on top of things while "a project team was pulled together". His company CV was 'enhanced' before being supplied to Rydon, according to him without his knowledge. (Enhanced CVs is something of a recurring theme). During the period between 2014 and 2015 that he was nominally 'design manager' on the refurbishment for Harley, the bulk of his time seems to have actually been spent on two other contracts, one of which reportedly had time consuming 'issues'. He doesn't seem to have had any role at all in the contract negotiation or documentation regarding the Grenfell refurbishment, and he doesn't seem to have had a very significant role in the production of Harley's construction drawings beyond (not very diligently exercised) oversight. He had no role overseeing work on site. In early 2015 other people (still to give evidence) took over his functions for the remaining year of the refurbishment contract.

In the scale of things to be suspicious or outraged about I don't rate this lost data as very significant at all.

As a structural engineer he had little expertise to contribute as regards fire safety issues. By his account he had no knowledge of previous cladding fires, despite attending a seminar that contained a presentation about them. He managed to fail to spot potential red lights in the documentation he saw about the materials used. Like the others involved he didn't question the issue of missing cavity barriers when this came up and a consensus developed that this was acceptable. And he had the same conviction as everyone else that fire safety was some other fuckers concern. But he isn't, as far as I can see, anything more than a fairly small cog in a set of much larger failures, and the contents of his computer weren't needed for his shortcomings and those broader failures to be perfectly clear
 
Last week the Inquiry heard from three witnesses who worked for Harley Facades, the specialist cladding design and construction sub-contractor. First Mike Albiston, who worked as an estimator pricing the elements of Harley's bid and then worked on the search for cost savings. Then Daniel Anketell-Jones, nominally Harley's 'design manager' from 2014 to 2016, and lastly Kevin Lamb, a freelance designer brought in as 'project designer' (his view) or 'lead designer' (his bosses view).

Weekly BBC podcast in the usual place. And here's this week's Inside Housing weekly diary (paywalled so archived).
Grenfell Tower Inquiry diary week 10: ‘As we all know, ACM will be gone rather quickly in a fire!’

So far we've only heard from four of the companies involved (architects Studio E, fire consultants Exova, main contractor Rydon and the first witnesses from Harley), and it's already getting a little complicated distinguishing the various runners and riders on the 'merry-go-round of buck passing', let alone keeping straight the contradictions in their evidence. The BBC podcast does a pretty good attempt at this, as well as explainig the technical and background stuff, but it is of course a podcast. Not everyone likes the format, and it's difficult to look things up. So as a bit of fun (other definitions of the term fun are available) here's an unofficial transcript of this weeks episode.
 
Last week the Inquiry heard from employees of Harley, the specialist cladding subcontractor (namely the managing directors son who was employed as onsite project manager having worked on one previous contract); of CEP the fabricators who made and supplied the combustible cladding panels; of Max Fordham the building services engineers who amongst other things suggested the level of insulation to be employed and first mentioned Celotex; and the TMOs clerk of works (or as he saw it site inspector).

BBC podcast up as usual.
Here is an unofficial transcript of this weeks podcast for those who prefer text.
Week 11 (w/c 21st Sep)

This was the third week of evidence from Harley. It makes sense to see it in relation to the two previous weeks so here are unofficial transcripts of the previous two BBC podcasts :
Week 9 (w/c 7th Sep)
Week 10 (w/c 14th Sep) - This replaces the link in my last post.

And here's Inside Housing's Weekly Diary (paywalled so archived)
Grenfell Tower Inquiry diary week 11: ‘Did you get the impression that Grenfell Tower was a guinea pig for this insulation?’
 
Last week's witnesses were
  • one of the partners in John Rowan who supplied the one-day-a-week clerk of works employed by the TMO;
  • the two partners in Osborne Berry who carried out the cladding and external window installation as subcontractors of Harley Facades;
  • the director of SD Plastering who, amongst other things, were subcontracted by Rydon to install the internal window trims completing the sandwich of inflammables around the windows;
  • and the Building Control officer who failed to see any of it.
BBC podcast in the usual place. Here's an unofficial transcript of it for those who prefer text. And here is this week's Inside Housing Grenfell Diary (paywalled so archived).

Grenfell Diary Week 12: ‘Would you accept that was a serious failing on your part?’

Next week: Monday morning another former RBKC officer, the Building Control Manager at the time of the fire.
The rest of the week various witnesses from Artelia who were employed by the TMO as employer's agent, quantity surveyor and CDM co-ordinator. They were pretty scathing about the TMO in their opening statement. The TMO has still to give evidence. We are in the final weeks of Phase 2 module 1 which, barring further interruptions, is due to end this month.

[ETA later on]

Having done some more transcripts of BBC podcasts I figured rather than leave links scattered through the thread it would be sensible to collect them together. Here's a simple page with links to :
  • A list of what each of the Inquiry Phase 2 modules will deal with
  • A list of the module 1 hearings since January, including who gave evidence each day and a link to the official transcripts.
  • A list of the unofficial transcripts of BBC podcasts done so far (with 5 new ones).
  • A list of the links to the Inside Housing Grenfell Diaries to date
 
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Last week's witnesses were
  • the former head of RBKC Building Control
  • three employees of Artelia, the employers agents, CDM coordinators and quantity surveyors employed by the TMO.
(Amongst other things some interesting further detail about the discussions the TMO had with Rydon about cost cutting while tendering was still underway. Artelia say that had they known the nature of these it could have led to the tender process being voided. And more detail about the unhappiness with Rydon's peformance during the contract).

BBC Podcast here. An unofficial transcript of the podcast here. And this week's Inside Housing Grenfell Diary is here:
Grenfell Tower Inquiry week 13: ‘Value for money is to be regarded as the key driver for the project’

The Inside Housing diary doesn't deal with the evidence from RBKC Building Control.
Inside Housing's account of that is here (although FWIW I think the account in the BBC podcast is better) :
Head of RBKC building control denies ‘culture of bullying’ at the council

There are now unofficial transcripts of most of the BBC podcasts for this module of the Inquiry here.

Starting on Monday witnesses from the TMO. I expect this to be an interesting week.
 
Lurdan said:
Last week's witnesses were
  • the former head of RBKC Building Control
  • three employees of Artelia, the employers agents, CDM coordinators and quantity surveyors employed by the TMO.
(Amongst other things some interesting further detail about the discussions the TMO had with Rydon about cost cutting while tendering was still underway. Artelia say that had they known the nature of these it could have led to the tender process being voided. And more detail about the unhappiness with Rydon's peformance during the contract).

BBC Podcast here. An unofficial transcript of the podcast here. And this week's Inside Housing Grenfell Diary is here:
Grenfell Tower Inquiry week 13: ‘Value for money is to be regarded as the key driver for the project’

The Inside Housing diary doesn't deal with the evidence from RBKC Building Control.
Inside Housing's account of that is here (although FWIW I think the account in the BBC podcast is better) :
Head of RBKC building control denies ‘culture of bullying’ at the council

There are now unofficial transcripts of most of the BBC podcasts for this module of the Inquiry here.

Starting on Monday witnesses from the TMO. I expect this to be an interesting week.
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Thesee are useful updates. Please keep on posting them.
 
Contemptible.

Paul Dunkerton, a project manager for the Kensington and Chelsea Tenant Management Organisation, told colleagues in a March 2013 email that Ed Daffarn, who later escaped from the burning tower, was one of two “main antagonists on the Lancaster West Estate regarding Grenfell Tower”.​
​
Daffarn, who later predicted that “a serious fire in a tower block … is the most likely reason that those who wield power at the KCTMO will be found out and brought to justice”, had asked the TMO to update residents about the progress of planning applications for the refurbishment.​
​
“Perhaps my choice of words wasn’t great,” Dunkerton told the inquiry. “But they were more vocal than other residents and leaseholders in the tower.”​
​
The inquiry previously heard that an executive at Rydon, the main contractor, described Daffarn and other residents as “rebels” when they questioned the quality of works, and complained that they were “persistent and aggressive”.​

There's more:

The inquiry saw a draft of a newsletter to be sent to residents about the refurbishment which included figures about how many people said they wanted new windows that they could clean themselves. The majority said they did, but the final leaflet sent out said: “You do not have a clear preference about whether residents should clean the windows or the TMO.”​
​
A newsletter item summarising responses from a residents’ questionnaire about the cladding reported: “There is no clear opinion on the colour or type of cladding.”​
​
But the inquiry heard that no one had been asked about the type of cladding, only its colour. The combustible plastic-filled panels that were eventually used were the main cause of the spread of fire, the inquiry has already concluded.​
​
Asked to explain the discrepancy, Dunkerton said the draft newsletter was sent to his manager, Mark Anderson, and the TMO’s communication team, and that might explain it.​

:mad:

www.theguardian.com

Grenfell landlord called safety campaigner an antagonist, inquiry told

Tenant organisation singled out Ed Daffarn, who later escaped the burning tower
www.theguardian.com www.theguardian.com
 
Boris has appointed a new panel member for Phase 2 of the Grenfell Inquiry, to replace the one who stood down in January.

Official statement and correspondence:
Ali Akbor OBE appointed to the Grenfell Tower Inquiry Panel - GOV.UK

[He] will start reading into the work of the Inquiry immediately and will join the Panel from 2 November. Ali will sit for the duration of the Inquiry and, alongside his two fellow panel members, will be jointly responsible for the whole of the Inquiry’s Phase 2 work.
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Mr Akbor is the CEO of Leeds based Unity Homes & Enterprise.
 
Last week the first four witnesses from Kensington and Chelsea TMO :
  • Paul Dunkerton the TMO's first project manager on the Grenfell refurbishment.
  • Mark Anderson the TMO's director of assets and regeneration from 2011 to February 2013.
  • David Gibson the TMO's head of capital investment from 2013 to 2016.
  • Claire Williams the TMO's project manager on the Grenfell refurbishment from September 2013 onwards.
BBC podcast here. Unofficial transcript of the podcast here. (Previous weeks transcripts here).

Inside Housings Grenfell diary for this week (paywalled so archived):
Grenfell Tower Inquiry week 14: ‘Did it not occur to you at this point that your budget was simply too low?’
(Previous weeks diaries here)

Next week Claire Williams is due to continue giving evidence on Monday and Peter Maddison of the TMO on Tuesday and Wednesday.

Assuming that timetable is held to, the first of the Inquiries expert witnesses, architect Paul Hyett, will be giving evidence on Thursday. The report he produced will be published then.

AFAIK there are two further expert witnesses for this module, Barbara Lane, who I think has produced three reports, and Beryl Menzies who has produced a report on the Council's Building Control. The intention is evidently to conclude module 1 the week after next, and to begin Module 2 on Monday November 2nd with the Inquiry's new panel member taking part.
(What are these modules?)
 
Have we had:

www.theguardian.com

Grenfell Tower landlord had 'secret' meeting on cost cutting, inquiry told

£800,000 of refurbishment savings agreed ‘offline’ with contractor Rydon, including cheaper cladding
www.theguardian.com www.theguardian.com

The Grenfell Tower landlord held a secret meeting to cut refurbishment costs – including discussing the switch to cheaper cladding – despite being warned by lawyers that it would break procurement law and could void the main contract, the public inquiry into the disaster was told.

David Gibson, head of capital investment at the Kensington and Chelsea Tenant Management Organisation (KCTMO), which operated the council tower block for its owner, the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, organised a “secret” and “offline” meeting with the contractor Rydon in which they agreed more than £800,000 in savings, he told the inquiry on Thursday.

The 18 March 2014 meeting was not minuted, but Rydon subsequently agreed to drop landscaping works, cut the cost of windows, and switch more expensive zinc cladding panels for the aluminium alternatives which became the main cause of the spread of the June 2017 fire that claimed 72 lives.

The exercise cut the budget from £9.2m to £8.4m. The £293,368 saving on cladding amounted to less than £2,500 per apartment.
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All totally above board then.
 
Interesting developments at the start of the hearing this morning. Apparently, late on Friday afternoon the solicitors acting for the TMO informed the Inquiry that Peter Maddison, the TMOs Director of Assets and Regeneration between 2013-16, had just remembered he still had a set of work notebooks and diaries which hadn't been disclosed, either to the Inquiry or the Police. The Inquiry is scrambling to assess and disclose this material - several hundred pages - to core participants.

Since Maddison was due to start his evidence tomorrow morning this has created a scheduling problem. The Inquiry team have proposed that after asking Maddison about his failure to disclose this material tomorrow morning, the hearing is then adjourned until Wednesday. This is to give core participants time to respond to these documents. Maddison will then be giving evidence for the rest of this week and probably the start of next. The Inquiry's expert witnesses will then give evidence which will carry over into the following week. This revised timetable is still subject to discussions with core participants.

Once Claire Williams (the TMOs project manager for the refurbishment), resumed giving her evidence she was asked about notebooks. She revealed that she had handed one notebook covering 2017-18 to the TMOs solicitors but that she had "binned" her other notebooks when clearing her desk at the time she left the TMO in May 2018. This led to some sharp questioning during which she stated that nobody had instructed her about retaining relevant material. Whether or not what she says about this disposal is true, it raises very uncomfortable questions for the TMO, and also for the solicitors who were advising it at the time. (Apparently not the same ones acting for it now).

Later in her evidence a set of cost spreadsheets came up which it appeared the Inquiry also hadn't received from the TMO's current solicitors. And earlier. in addition to Maddison's notebooks and diaries, it was stated that another relevant document about resident involvement in the tender process had only just been disclosed. This all gives the impression of a rather deeper issue than just Ms Williams notebooks.
 
Lurdan said:
Interesting developments at the start of the hearing this morning. Apparently, late on Friday afternoon the solicitors acting for the TMO informed the Inquiry that Peter Maddison, the TMOs Director of Assets and Regeneration between 2013-16, had just remembered he still had a set of work notebooks and diaries which hadn't been disclosed, either to the Inquiry or the Police. The Inquiry is scrambling to assess and disclose this material - several hundred pages - to core participants.

Since Maddison was due to start his evidence tomorrow morning this has created a scheduling problem. The Inquiry team have proposed that after asking Maddison about his failure to disclose this material tomorrow morning, the hearing is then adjourned until Wednesday. This is to give core participants time to respond to these documents. Maddison will then be giving evidence for the rest of this week and probably the start of next. The Inquiry's expert witnesses will then give evidence which will carry over into the following week. This revised timetable is still subject to discussions with core participants.

Once Claire Williams (the TMOs project manager for the refurbishment), resumed giving her evidence she was asked about notebooks. She revealed that she had handed one notebook covering 2017-18 to the TMOs solicitors but that she had "binned" her other notebooks when clearing her desk at the time she left the TMO in May 2018. This led to some sharp questioning during which she stated that nobody had instructed her about retaining relevant material. Whether or not what she says about this disposal is true, it raises very uncomfortable questions for the TMO, and also for the solicitors who were advising it at the time. (Apparently not the same ones acting for it now).

Later in her evidence a set of cost spreadsheets came up which it appeared the Inquiry also hadn't received from the TMO's current solicitors. And earlier. in addition to Maddison's notebooks and diaries, it was stated that another relevant document about resident involvement in the tender process had only just been disclosed. This all gives the impression of a rather deeper issue than just Ms Williams notebooks.
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would conspiracy to pervert the course of justice be a possible remedy?
 
Inside Housing's story about this mornings developments (archived)
KCTMO project manager admits destroying evidence relating to Grenfell refurbishment after fire

To reiterate what I said above I got the impression that the issue of failure to disclose seems to go somewhat deeper than Ms Williams actions. I imagine Mr Maddison will be questioned closely about this tomorrow and I would assume the issue of how the Inquiry's requirements were conveyed to him will be tackled. (As I understand it he left the TMO before the refurbishment was completed).

Pickman's model said:
would conspiracy to pervert the course of justice be a possible remedy?
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Given that this is emerging from admissions freely made by these fuckers it seems a rather odd sort of conspiracy to me. Nonetheless I imagine the Police will be planning some interviews.

Ms Williams still has to give evidence about the email she sent Rydon in 2014 saying
“Simon, I’m just writing to get clarification on the fire retardance of the new cladding – I just had a ‘Lacknall’ moment.”
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and why she didn't appear to follow it up when she got no reply.
 
Lurdan said:
Inside Housing's story about this mornings developments (archived)
KCTMO project manager admits destroying evidence relating to Grenfell refurbishment after fire

To reiterate what I said above I got the impression that the issue of failure to disclose seems to go somewhat deeper than Ms Williams actions. I imagine Mr Maddison will be questioned closely about this tomorrow and I would assume the issue of how the Inquiry's requirements were conveyed to him will be tackled. (As I understand it he left the TMO before the refurbishment was completed).



Given that this is emerging from admissions freely made by these fuckers it seems a rather odd sort of conspiracy to me. Nonetheless I imagine the Police will be planning some interviews.

Ms Williams still has to give evidence about the email she sent Rydon in 2014 saying

and why she didn't appear to follow it up when she got no reply.
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the master criminal always makes one fatal error and theirs is to freely admit to all manner of peculiar behaviour when they've had three years to get their stories straight
 
7bkfP8i.png
 
“You binned them even though you knew by that time there was already on foot a public inquiry?” asked inquiry chair Sir Martin Moore-Bick.

“I believe I looked at them and they were notes. Everything that was in there, I would have thought is actually documented elsewhere,” she replied.

“I think I just tidied out the desk,” she added. “I would have looked at them and thought nothing here that isn’t informal evidence. And so I got rid of them.”

“Can you explain why there’s nothing in any of your witness statements about your record keeping and in particular your decision to destroy records relating to the project that you’ve had in your possession?” (Counsel to the Inquiry) Mr Millett asked.

“There was nothing underhand about it – I was clearing my desk. I looked and decided that everything that was in there… was of little value,” she replied.

“Did you ever inform the Metropolitan Police that you had destroyed documents which were relevant to their investigation?” asked Mr Millett.

“No, I didn’t, because it’s not occurred to me. Today is the first time that I’ve ever really had a conversation about it,” she said. “They weren’t destroyed. I didn’t rip pages out of them… So it wasn’t a conscious ‘I’m hiding anything’ decision. It was, ‘I’m clearing my desk’.”

“Well, they were destroyed, you binned them,” said Mr Millett.

“I put them in the bin, yes,” replied Ms Williams.
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Source: KCTMO project manager admits destroying evidence relating to Grenfell refurbishment after fire, Peter Apps, Inside Housing, 19 October 2020


34580150-8856095-image-m-14_1603131008721.jpg


(Source: as stated in image)

Claire Williams, former project manager of the Grenfell Tower refurbishment for Kensington & Chelsea Tenant Management Organisation.

Perverting the course of justice carries a maximum sentence of life imprisonment.​
 
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