The Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea (RBKC) has voted to ban more companies from being used on any council projects after a review of the Grenfell Tower Inquiry phase two report.
In 2021 the local authority, which covers North Kensington where the tower was located, prohibited the use of Rydon, Arconic, Celotex and Kingspan on its projects, including in any work carried out by subcontractors.
On Wednesday evening (11 December) the council’s leadership voted to renew its ban on those companies and extended it to include Harley Facades, Exova UK, Artelia Projects and “any other Rydon Group company”. RBKC’s decision will also bar use of products supplied by Siderise Insulation and CEP Architectural Facades.
A report issued by council officers said the council had a policy of not engaging with companies that had been “shown by the phase two report to have been highly incompetent, or conducted themselves dishonestly or in a way which was misleading, when either marketing their products or in complying with legal or contractual requirements, and this contributed to the Grenfell Tower fire or its spread” or who were “not candid before the Grenfell Tower Inquiry”
The Grenfell Inquiry phase two report said Harley “failed in many respects to meet the standards to be expected of a reasonably competent cladding contractor and it too bears a significant degree of responsibility for the fire”.
The inquiry’s report added that fire engineer Exova “bears considerable responsibility for the fact that Grenfell Tower was in a dangerous condition on completion of the refurbishment”.
It failed to produce a final version of the fire safety strategy for the refurbished building and failed either to draw that fact to the attention of the design team or to warn it about the potential consequences, the report said.
Rydon was the main contractor on the refurbishment and was also said to have “considerable responsibility” for the blaze.
Artelia was a consultant to Kensington and Chelsea’s tenant management authority during the refurbishment.
The inquiry phase two report noted that Siderise manufactured the Lamatherm cavity barriers used in the refurbishment.
It added: “Although there is no evidence of any dishonesty on its part, some aspects of its marketing materials gave cause for concern. It also supplied cavity barriers for use in voids larger than those for which they had been tested.”
Specialist CEP Architectural Facades fabricated Reynobond panels into cassettes that were provided by Arconic and installed on the tower by Harley Facades during the tower’s refurbishment.
CEP Architectural Facades Ltd has been dormant at Companies House since a revamp of parent company, Xerxes Equity Ltd, at the end of 2017. It became part of System Building Products Ltd, which went into administration in May 2020.
The council said it would have barred Studio E from work too, if the architectural practice had not fallen into liquidation.
Construction News asked for clarification about why CEP Architectural Facades has been banned, despite being a dormant company. A council spokesperson said dormant companies have been included as they could be revived in future.
As well as products made by specific companies, the ban extends to products using “any Kingspan, Celotex, Arconic, Siderise or CHP (sic) Architectural Products branding”.
The local authority itself was also criticised by the inquiry, including over its building control department failing to ensure the design of the Grenfell Tower refurbishment complied with building regulations, and that its response to the tragedy caused a breakdown in the relationship it had with residents.
It has accepted the findings and since commissioned reviews of both its internal culture and complaints process, and committed to involve residents in the selection of companies on contracts.
Introducing the motion, lead councillor for housing Sof McVeigh said: “It is absolutely essential that we’re doing this, the ban on certain contractors that were involved with the terrible Grenfell tragedy. It’s absolutely the right thing to do.”
The local ban comes as Whitehall is reviewing banning companies named in the Grenfell report from winning public contracts.
It said in November that it sent initial warning letters to 49 organisations named in the phase two report “as the first step to stopping them being awarded government contracts”.
After being asked about being banned by the council, Siderise issued CN with a general statement in response to the Grenfell Tower Inquiry phase two report, expressing sympathy for victims and survivors of the fire.
It added that “there was no criticism in respect of the performance of our products. Further there was no finding by the inquiry that our cavity barriers should not have been used in the refurbishment, nor any finding that their performance caused or contributed to the spread of the fire.
“We remain committed to the building safety agenda, and to providing the highest levels of technical support to those designing and constructing buildings across the globe, with our Mission to Go Beyond, creating safer buildings.”
Arconic also reissued its statement in response to the inquiry report, which said it remembers the victims and their families and friends. It added: “AAP [Arconic Architectural Products] cooperated fully with the work of the inquiry and will continue to engage with further legal processes. Together with other parties, AAP has made financial contributions to settlements for those affected, as well as to the restorative justice fund.”
It reiterated its position that its ACM sheets were safe to use, legal to sell and tested regularly, and said it did not conceal information from or mislead any certification body, customer or the public.
An Artelia spokesperson said: “We are not aware of any ban. Any ban would be unjustified.”
Other companies named by the council have been contacted for comment.
