Seems no-one involved in the erection of the cladding on this tower block is now prepared to accept responsibility for it !!! Grenfell architect says 436 buildings had same cladding as it shirks responsibility Zoe DrewettMonday 27 Jan 2020 2:23 pm Share this article via facebookShare this article via twitterShare this article via messenger Survivors’ groups have said phase two of the inquiry must focus on who is to blame for the ‘devastating refurbishment’ of the building in 2016 (Picture: PA; Getty) The second phase of the Grenfell Tower disaster inquiry has begun with firms involved in refurbishing the block refusing to take any blame. Architects, contractors, fire safety engineers and cladding manufacturers have all absolved themselves of responsibility and are instead engaged in ‘a merry-go-round of buck-passing’ the inquiry was told. Since the Grenfell atrocity, which killed 72 people, it has emerged 436 other buildings built above 18 meters were clad in the same Aluminium composite material blamed for helping the fire to spread so quickly up the building. Phase two will consider how the high-rise block came to be wrapped in the flammable cladding, which phase one found was the ‘principal’ reason for the rapid spread of flames. Material used in the cladding that covered Grenfell was the cheaper, more flammable version of two available options, an investigation by the Guardian later found. Survivors’ groups have said the inquiry must focus on who is to blame for the ‘devastating refurbishment’ of the 25-storey building between 2012 and 2016. But lead counsel to the inquiry, Richard Millett QC, said in his opening remarks: ‘With the sole exception of Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, not a single core participant involved in the primary refurbishment of Grenfell Tower has felt able to make an unqualified submission against its own interests.’ Material used in the cladding that covered Grenfell was the cheaper, more flammable version of two available options (Picture: Getty) Protesters near Paddington station in West London, where the inquiry has resumed (Picture: Getty) Phase 2 will consider how the high-rise block came to be wrapped in flammable cladding, which phase one found was the ‘principal’ reason for the rapid spread of flames (Picture: PA) He added: ‘With that solitary exception Mr Chairman, one finds in those detailed and carefully crafted statements no trace of any acceptance of any responsibility for what happened at Grenfell Tower. ‘Not from the architects, not from the contract managers, main contractors. ‘Any member of the public reading those statements and taking them all at face value would be forced to conclude that everyone involved in the refurbishment of Grenfell Tower did what they were supposed to do and nobody made any serious or causative mistakes. ‘All core participants who played a material part in Grenfell Tower have laid out a detailed case that it relied on others, and how in no way was the work it did either substandard or non-compliant (with building regulations). ‘In every case, what happened was – as each of them would have it – someone else’s fault.’ Today, the lead architect for the Grenfell Tower refurbishment said it had ‘no knowledge’ that any of the materials used were unsafe and could lead to the deadly inferno. Survivors’ groups demand someone take responsibility yet so far firms involved in the refurbishment have ‘passed the buck’ (Picture: Getty) Protesters outside the inquiry in London today (Picture: PA) A statement read to the inquiry on behalf of architects firm Studio E said the company will, ‘where it should, accept any criticisms levelled against it’. Prashant Popat QC, on behalf of Studio E, said the company ‘did not have any knowledge that the products used on the tower were unsafe, and there was no information available to it, or, as it understands, to other architects and designers which would have reasonably alerted it to any lack of safety.’ The statement read to the inquiry added: ‘Studio E does believe that the relevant regulatory system was not fit for purpose and appears to have permitted the routine use of unsafe cladding materials on buildings for many years.’ He used the shocking total of 436 other buildings built with the same cladding as evidence of its widespread use. Mr Popat concluded by expressing the ‘heartfelt condolences and sympathies’ of Studio E, of which there were 45 employees at the time of 2014 and nine currently. Mr Millett slammed Studio E and other organisations involved in the 2016 Grenfell refurbishment for their failure to take responsibility. 72 people died in the Grenfell Tower fire in June 2017 (Picture: Getty) Sir Martin Moore-Bick leads the Grenfell Tower fire public inquiry, which entered its second phase today (Picture: Getty) He said: ‘Those who escaped from the burning building with their lives or lost loved ones and all that they possess in that fire are owed at the very least an honest and complete account from those witnesses who are in a position to explain why it happened.’ Just days before the opening of the inquiry’s second phase, newly-appointed panel member Benita Mehra resigned after being linked to the charitable arm of the firm which supplied the block’s deadly cladding. Ms Mehra, an engineer, had been appointed to replace academic Prof Nabeel Hamdi as an expert panellist for the second phase of the inquiry. But victims’ families raised concerns to the prime minister about her former role as a president of the Women’s Engineering Society, which received funding from the Arconic Foundation for an apprentice conference. Arconic supplied the cladding on the outside of the west London tower block, which caught fire on 14 June 2017. Michael Mansfield QC, representing victims, said there has been ‘a stunning silence’ from the Prime Minister and the Cabinet Office on the resignation. He added there had been ‘not a word about whether there is going to be a replacement’.
