Kensington town hall chiefs say sorry over Grenfell

By Julia Gregory BBC Local Democracy Reporter

Kensington and Chelsea council has apologised for failings in its building control which led to staff signing off the work on Grenfell Tower – including the cladding which proved so fatal in June 2017.

The council told the Grenfell Tower Inquiry that its building control had failed to  request “comprehensive details of the cladding including the crown (top of the tower),”  its lawyer James Maxwell-Scott said,

He added: “Building control failed to identity that the insulation materials used in the cladding system were not of limited combustibility”

He said this meant it did not satisfy safety requirements.

And residents were shocked to hear the council admit it had failed “to retain” building control records for the refurbishment of Grenfell Tower.

He outlined that companies can use council or private building control experts to check buildings.

“If there have been design failings up until then building control can act as a last line of defence,” said Mr Maxwell-Scott.

Council leader Elizabeth Campbell and deputy leader Kim Taylor-Smith were present to hear the opening statement.

The council said up and down the country there are hundreds of buildings with cladding on them which do not comply with building regulations.

Mr Maxwell-Scott said: “So that last line of defence, together with all previous lines of defence have failed.

“This is not just a local problem. It is a national problem and it will require national solutions.”

He said since the disaster which claimed the lives of 72 residents, the  council has changed its building control service.

Bereaved and survivors group Grenfell United said the council’s opening statement was “insulting”.

Its statement said: “RBKC do not get any credit for their statement this morning – it is insulting to survivors and bereaved families for them to suggest they are being honest about their role in our suffering.

“There is no confession here – barely any honesty and certainly no true remorse. They have no choice but to accept that it was a total failure for their building control to sign off the refurbishment. Sir Martin Moore Bick made the finding in phase one in the inquiry that the tower was not compliant with building regulations.

“They simply are unable to argue against such a clear finding. And they have not opened up about all the other ways they were disturbingly reckless in the project from start to finish and how they treated us before and after the fire.

“It is insulting to us that they are trying to argue that despite signing off a building that was a death trap they should not share any responsibility for it. This argument makes them no better than all the companies we have heard this week, passing the buck and minimising their own role in the disaster.”

Council opposition leader Pat Mason said: “They made those admissions about building control, they could not avoid making them. They were forced to make those admissions .”

He said after deregulation “fire building regulations that we have now got are utterly deficient”.

Meanwhile bereaved relatives have spoken at their disgust at the revelations so far in this second phase of the Inquiry.

Byron Hewitt’s uncle Raymond “Moses” Bernard sheltered six people in his top floor flat in the Tower.

Mr Hewitt said: “I find what I’ve heard quite appalling.

“It’s revolting.”

He said it was hard to listen to the evidence coming out of the inquiry about the companies which were aware of problems with the cladding several years before it was put on Grenfell Tower.