https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-50237732

"The first firefighters into the flat realised something was wrong
Crew manager Charles Batterbee and firefighter Daniel Brown entered Flat 16 at 01:14 BST. They blasted the fire with a jet of water and then saw the fire had already spread from the kitchen to the outside.

This is the first evidence that Grenfell's refurbishment was contributing to the unfolding disaster. Hot material deformed the uPVC window and that created a cavity through which hot gases escaped."

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-51256738
" None of the companies involved in the refurbishment of Grenfell Tower have accepted responsibility for the deadly fire, an inquiry has heard.

Firms expressed "no trace" of accountability despite previous findings that the work did not comply with building regulations, counsel to the inquiry Richard Millett QC said.

His remarks were at the start of the inquiry's second phase, which will look at issues like the block's cladding."

Very curious:

https://www.bdonline.co.uk/news/grenfell-inquiry-studio-e-cant-afford-legal-team/5103959.article
"The architecture practice at the centre of the Grenfell Tower tragedy cannot afford legal representation for the public inquiry and has had to make “difficult decisions” about how to engage with the process, the resumed hearings have been told.

On the first day of the Grenfell Inquiry’s second phase investigations, panel chair Michael Moore-Bick was told that Studio E was keen to engage with the process but did not have the resources to hire a full team of lawyers or even study all of the inquiry documents."

https://www.architectsjournal.co.uk/news/grenfell-inquiry-studio-e-defends-its-role-on-tower-block-refurbishment/10046137.article
"In its evidence, Studio E – represented by lawyer Prashant Popat – argued that *building regulations* had permitted the ’‘routine use’ of unsafe cladding on buildings ‘for many years’.

*Popat added that the architect did not know 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’.*. "

A handy check list

To help readers keep check on who did what regarding the 2016 Grenfell Tower refurbishment and re-cladding we offer a list of the organisations involved.
Studio E – the architect

Rydon Maintenance – the design and build contractor

Harley Facades – the cladding subcontractor

Exova – the fire safety engineer

CEP – the fabricator of the aluminium composite material (ACM) panels

Artelia – the employer’s agent, quantity surveyor and CDM co-ordinator

Royal Borough of Kensington & Chelsea’s Building Control department

Kensington & Chelsea Tenant Management Organisation (TMO) – the client

Arconic – made and sold the ACM panels

Celotex – made and sold RS5000, the polyisocyanurate, or PIR, insulation used under the ACM panels

Kingspan – made and sold K15 Kooltherm insulation material

Siderise – made and sold the cavity barriers

Aluglaze – the window infill panels

BBA – certified Arconic’s ACM panels and Kingspan’s K15 Kooltherm

LABC – certified both the K15 Kooltherm and the 15RS5000 insulation.

"Of the building products, Mr Mansfield said: “We will be particularly interested in: first, the key tests that these products underwent, particularly the Arconic ACM panels with the polyethylene core and the Celotex and Kingspan insulation; second, their resultant fire classifications; third, how those tests and classifications were represented by the manufacturers to their markets and to the two certification bodies, the LABC and the BBA; fourth, the relevant certificates issued by the BBA in the case of the ACM panels and Kingspan’s K15 Kooltherm product, and the LABC in the case of both K15 Kooltherm and the RS5000 insulation; and last, how those certificates were represented by the manufacturers to their markets, their buyers.”

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2020/jan/28/grenfell-tower-refurbishers-knew-cladding-would-fail-inquiry-told
"The architect, builders and fire engineer who worked on the disastrous Grenfell Tower refurbishment knew the cladding system would fail in the event of a fire more than two years before 72 people were killed, according to emails revealed at the public inquiry on Tuesday.

Staff at architects Studio E, the fire engineer Exova, the facade installer Harley, and Rydon, the main contractor, discussed how the cladding system they were planning to wrap around the 120-home apartment block was likely to fail in the event of a fire."

“Metal cladding always burns and falls off,” an architect emailed a fire engineer in spring 2015. An employee of the facade installer told a colleague: “As we all know, the ACM [the combustible cladding panels] will be gone rather quickly in a fire!”

They are "Pleading the Fifth"

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2020/jan/29/grenfell-inquiry-thrown-into-confusion-over-legal-move-by-witnesses

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fifth_Amendment_to_the_United_States_Constitution
"The self-incrimination clause provides various protections against self-incrimination, including the right of an individual to not serve as a witness in a criminal case in which they are the defendant. "Pleading the Fifth" is a colloquial term often used to invoke the self-incrimination clause when witnesses decline to answer questions where the answers might incriminate them."

2. This letter was sent against the background of an understanding that similar undertakings
had been sought and granted in the majority of public inquiries in recent years. It was signed
by the following:
a. Jonathan Laidlaw QC, Alexandra Tampakopoulos and Paul Renteurs (Counsel
for Harley Façades)
b. Malcolm Galloway (Counsel for Zak Maynard, Gary Martin, Daniel Osgood and
Katie Bachellier)
c. Alice Jarratt (Counsel for KCTMO)
d. Prashant Popat QC (Counsel for Studio E)
e. Jay Shah, Alan Hobden and James Hay (for Osborne Berry)
f. David Whittaker QC and Nikita McNeill (Counsel for Kevin Lamb

The purpose of the Inquiry is now being compromised to avoid compromising any future Legal Action being pursued by the Police.

Suspend the Inquiry and let the Police proceed?

https://www.grenfelltowerinquiry.org.uk/news/update-inquiry-27
"Update from the Inquiry
The Inquiry has written to core participants with an update on its module 1 schedule.

The start date of module 1 oral evidence has been put back in the light of the application asking the Inquiry to consider seeking an undertaking from the Attorney General.

On Monday, the panel will hear submissions from Counsel for the bereaved, survivors and resident core participants and from Counsel to the Inquiry on the application. The Chairman has confirmed that the Inquiry will not hear evidence on Tuesday. Whether it will be necessary to put the start of oral evidence back further will depend upon the outcome of the application.

A further update will be provided once the panel's ruling is available.

Posted on: 31 January 2020"

Suspend the Inquiry, go straight to Criminal Prosecutions.

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2020/jan/30/people-who-worked-on-grenfell-tower-could-face-life-sentences
"Detectives have said they will not consider whether or not to pass a file recommending prosecutions to the Crown Prosecution Service until after the inquiry has concluded. That means any trials could be at least two years away.

Some of the bereaved and survivors have said they would prefer to see justice though the criminal courts than the public inquiry and so would prefer the police investigation to come first."

https://www.bdonline.co.uk/news/architect-signed-off-non-compliant-drawings-grenfell-inquiry-told/5104069.article
Studio E accused of leaving inexperienced architect ‘to sink’

"Grenfell Tower recladding project architect Neil Crawford has been accused of signing off design drawings from the façade contractor that did not comply with Building Regulations.

The claim emerged in a written opening submission to the Grenfell Tower Inquiry on behalf of some of the bereaved survivors and residents.

The statement also accused his employer, Studio E, of leaving the inexperienced staffer “to sink on his own” as the project wore on.

The statement – which Studio E is expected to dispute as the 18-month inquiry progresses – said that from about August 2014, lead architect Bruce Sounes “seems to have stepped back from day to day involvement, leaving the project in the hands of Crawford”.

It added: “Crawford was not a fully qualified architect and lacked the necessary experience, but was left to sink on his own.

“He seems, judging from his witness statement, to have taken the view that Studio E now had a very limited design role, but this was not what their novation provided.”

It said facades contractor Harley – in the person of self-employed designer Kevin Lamb – began to prepare detailed design drawings but did not appear to consider all aspects of the cladding design, such as the Celotex specification, as they were required to.

“Their design should have taken into account, and complied with, a full fire safety strategy, but there was none such available,” said the residents’ statement.

It goes into granular detail about what it claims was the sequence of events leading to decisions about the façade design and materials that were to prove catastrophic. On June 14, 2017, fire spread rapidly up the façade of the 24-storey block of flats, resulting in the death of 72 people."

https://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-britain-fire-grenfell/survivors-of-londons-grenfell-fire-denounce-sabotage-of-public-inquiry-idUKKBN1ZX1WO
"LONDON (Reuters) - Bereaved families and survivors of London’s 2017 Grenfell Tower fire, which killed 72 people, on Monday accused those responsible for wrapping the building in combustible materials of trying to sabotage a public inquiry into the disaster.

The blaze that destroyed the 23-storey social housing block, owned by the wealthy borough of Kensington and Chelsea, was Britain’s worst in a residential building since World War Two.

The public inquiry has established that a flammable cladding system fitted to external walls during a recent refurbishment was the key factor in the unstoppable spread of the fire.

Contractors involved in the refurbishment had been due to start giving evidence on Monday, but that was postponed after some made a last-minute request for guarantees that they would not be prosecuted over anything they told the inquiry.

“The timing of this application appears disingenuous and an attempt at sabotage,” Stephanie Barwise, a lawyer representing some of the survivors and bereaved families, told the inquiry on Monday, describing her clients as outraged.

Many in the Grenfell community have called for those responsible for the condition of the building to face criminal prosecution.

Police conducting a separate investigation have said they are considering charges including gross negligence manslaughter and corporate manslaughter but will not announce any decision until the public inquiry has ended.

Begun in September 2017, the inquiry aims to establish exactly what went wrong at Grenfell Tower, why it happened and who was responsible. Previously, the contractors and officials involved in the refurbishment had indicated they would cooperate fully in the interest of uncovering the truth.

Instead, Barwise and other lawyers argued, they had waited until the 11th hour to throw a curve ball, inflicting new anguish on the families just as the long-awaited moment of accountability was supposed to arrive.

DIFFICULT CHOICE
The inquiry chairman, retired judge Martin Moore-Bick, now faces a difficult choice. If he agrees to the contractors’ request, he risks alienating the Grenfell community. If he rejects it, he faces the prospect of key witnesses refusing to answer questions, citing their right not to self-incriminate.

Richard Millett, a lawyer representing the inquiry itself, condemned the timing of the request, but said that on balance, it was in the inquiry’s interest to grant it.

“Without it, you will not get the truth,” he told the chairman.

A lawyer representing the Metropolitan Police said the force would not give a view because it did not want to be seen to be trying to influence the gathering of evidence.

Barwise said it was impossible to know how any guarantee regarding evidence to the inquiry, if given, might affect subsequent prosecutions, which was one of the reasons why her clients were so upset about the request.

After hearing submissions from all the lawyers, Moore-Bick adjourned the hearing indefinitely to consider what to do.

The request came from current and former employees of Rydon Maintenance Ltd, the main contractor in charge of the refurbishment, as well as from Harley Facades Ltd, a sub-contractor that dealt with the cladding.

The same request was also made by Kensington and Chelsea Tenant Management Organisation, which used to manage social housing in the borough and was stripped of its responsibilities after the fire.

Certain survivors have alleged that official neglect of their ethnically mixed, largely low-income community had played a part in the tragedy, and that warnings from residents that there were fire hazards in the tower had been ignored."

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-51404218

The reasons for having a Public Inquiry have now been reduced to a level of pointlessness.

It would be better for survivors and the families of victims, to proceed with Criminal Prosecutions, so that Justice can be seen to have been done and to prevent further deaths caused by the incompetence of highly paid experts.

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2020/feb/10/charges-possible-over-grenfell-tower-refit-says-inquiry-chair

"People involved in the refurbishment of Grenfell Tower are facing possible charges of fraud and conspiracy to defraud, according to the chairman of the public inquiry into the disaster that claimed 72 lives.

Sir Martin Moore-Bick has told the attorney general, Geoffrey Cox, that during forthcoming hearings examining the marketing of the combustible cladding and insulation that spread the fire, witnesses are “very likely” to be asked to discuss issues involving potential fraud offences.

The inquiry had already heard that witnesses could face criminal prosecution under the Health and Safety at Work Act and in some cases could be charged with manslaughter or corporate manslaughter.

Moore-Bick revealed the possibility of fraud charges in an application to Cox for an undertaking that witnesses’ oral evidence would not be used against them in criminal proceedings."

Use of the words" fraud and conspiracy" suggests some decisions were not made because of incompetence.

https://www.grenfelltowerinquiry.org.uk/news/update-inquiry-32

"Update from the Inquiry
The Inquiry has written to core participants with an update on the application for an Attorney General's undertaking.

The Inquiry has received an indication that the Attorney General will aim to make a decision regarding the undertaking in the week commencing 24 February 2020.

The Inquiry hopes therefore to be able to resume on 2 March 2020. The Inquiry will provide an updated timetable once it has been finalised.

Posted on: 18 February 2020"

If they are not obliged to give evidence to the Inquiry, they can be required to answer in a Court.

The project should not have got on to the Architects Drawing Boards.

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2020/mar/02/grenfell-tower-inquiry-halted-by-protesters-calling-it-a-cover-up

"The designers of the disastrous Grenfell Tower refurbishment were selected despite never having carried out similar work and admitted they were so “green on process and technicality” they would have to undergo rapid training."

"The public inquiry heard that Studio E Architects was chosen without any competitive procurement process, interview or design competition and its founder, Andrzej Kuszell, could not recall any competence check being carried out. He admitted his firm would not have been selected if there had been a contest."

" Internal project emails released for the first time also revealed that early budgets were considered too low by the architects and that the fee they were being offered of no more than £99,000 – kept low to avoid putting the contract out to tender under public procurement rules – would not cover all the work they needed to do."

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2020/mar/04/grenfell-engineers-set-out-to-massage-fire-safety-plan-inquiry-told

"Engineers working on Grenfell Tower set out to “massage” the fire safety strategy to get it past official checks, and privately admitted plans to refurbish the building were making “a crap condition worse”, the inquiry into the disaster that killed 72 people has heard.

A senior fire engineer working on the refurbishment for consultant Exova Warrington Fire said in an internal email that the proposal to add additional flats around a single staircase in the 1970s block was “not great”.

The email revealed that after having spoken to the architect, Bruce Sounes, about the plans in August 2012, Cate Cooney, a senior consultant at Exova, told a colleague: “Basically I have told him we can massage the proposal to something acceptable, with separation, lobbies etc, but that there are approval risks in the project on the ff shaft/MOE front.” FF normally means firefighting shaft, while MOE is used to abbreviate means of escape.

The email was sent four years before the refurbishment works were signed off by the building control department at the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, which also owned the 120-home block."

Leadsom did say eff off.....

https://order-order.com/2020/03/04/leadsoms-final-word-bercow-feud/

..... just not when she should have done so.

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2020/mar/09/designer-compares-grenfell-insulation-to-horsemeat-scandal
The firm that made the combustible insulation installed on Grenfell Tower deliberately misled architects about its safety as if selling horsemeat as beef, the public inquiry into the disaster has heard.

Neil Crawford, the lead designer for the architects Studio E, alleged Celotex “calculatedly sought to deceive” in the way it described the attributes of its foam insulation. “It’s masquerading horse meat as beef lasagne – and people bought it,” he said.

Some people "bought it", including him. The residents never got a choice, but paid for it.

https://www.insidehousing.co.uk/news/news/fire-engineer-signed-off-grenfell-assessment-as-fine-despite-omissions-assumptions-and-gaps-inquiry-hears-67068

The senior fire engineer who reviewed a fire safety strategy for Grenfell Tower ahead of its refurbishment signed it off as “fine” despite a series of “omissions and assumptions and gaps”, the inquiry into the fire heard today.

"The first word that comes to mind is
puke
Jul 7, 2020 at 12:53 PM tomo"

The first thought that came to many, was fraud with free cash, food, hotels etc. Being an actual resident of Grenfell Tower was irrelevant

https://www.mylondon.news/news/west-london-news/shameless-grenfell-fraudsters-who-conned-17108124

https://amp-theguardian-com.cdn.ampproject.org/v/s/amp.theguardian.com/uk-news/2020/jul/08/grenfell-tower-fire-engineer-did-not-look-cladding-plans?

Apart from their fees, what did the "Experts" care about, and did they know sufficient to understand anything anyway?

Someone from RBKC knew what they were talking about.....

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2020/jul/13/grenfell-architect-clashed-with-council-over-fire-prevention
"At the start of the public inquiry’s second week since resuming after more than three months of delay caused by coronavirus, it saw emails sent in March 2015 in which John Hoban, senior building control surveyor at the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea (RBKC), insisted the new wall structure needed to include fire-stopping to prevent flames spreading between floors for at least two hours. But Neil Crawford, an associate at Studio E Architects, replied that this was not needed and that cavity barriers would suffice.

“The subject of fire barriers is raising a lot of concern on site not least because of program and cost,” Crawford said. “We are all miffed as to why this detail is not a cavity barrier.”. "

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2020/jul/20/grenfell-firm-rydon-promised-five-times-to-appoint-fire-safety-advisers-inquiry-told

"The main contractor on the Grenfell Tower refurbishment secretly “pocketed” £126,000 while switching the cladding to cheaper, more combustible materials, the inquiry into the deadly fire at the building has heard.

Rydon was bidding for the project in March 2014 when it told the landlord of the council block that it could save £293,368 by switching from the originally specified zinc cladding to plastic-filled aluminium panels, which the inquiry has heard had “significantly worse” fire performance.

At the time, the Kensington and Chelsea Tenants’ Management Organisation (KCTMO) was trying to cut more than £800,000 from the costs and had told Rydon it was “in pole position” to win the contract.

Rydon knew that the actual saving from the switch would be £419,627, but kept this from the client and “took some of the savings for themselves”, possibly as additional profit, Simon Lawrence, Rydon’s contract manager, admitted to the inquiry."

https://www.building.co.uk/news/grenfell-inquiry-rydon-manager-admits-team-needed-more-design-expertise/5107156.article

"Former boss also quizzed on ‘cheap, incompetent subcontractors’ comments and claim one firm was ‘too good’ for the job

A senior staff member at the main contractor behind the Grenfell Tower refurbishment has accepted it lacked the ability to properly scrutinise design proposals for the project.

Simon Lawrence, who was contracts manager for Rydon for much of the refurbishment project, made the admission at the end of his fourth day of evidence to the inquiry into the 2017 fire at the west London block, which claimed 72 lives.

Lawrence, who left his role at Rydon in late 2015, responded to many lines of questioning during his evidence by highlighting that the firm had relied on the expertise of architect Studio E, facades specialist Harley, fire safety consultant Exova and Kensington & Chelsea Council’s building control officers to make sure that details of the refurbishment project were right."