127 Harley, CEP, John Rowan and Partners and Max Fordham

The Grenfell Tower Inquiry Podcast

BBC

News

4.8 • 627 Ratings

🗓️ 25 September 2020

⏱️ 38 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

The Inquiry started this week with evidence from Ben Bailey, Project Manager for cladding specialists Harley Facades. In his mid-twenties at the time, he described how he changed the insulation material used and only carried out site inspections on three sides of the tower.

Jonathan White, a Clerk of Works, told the Inquiry he thought it was his job to check work on the refurbishment was presentable but that it was for building control to check the building complied with regulations.

The Sales Director at the cladding manufacturers CEP - Geof Blades, said he had limited knowledge of what the materials he sold were made of and that he did not check if the design met the building regulations.

Andrew McQuatt, the Project Engineer with Max Fordham suggested insulation for use on Grenfell Tower. He told the Inquiry he did not know it had the potential to be so unsafe.

Presenter / Producer: Kate Lamble Producer: Sharon Hemans Researcher: May Cameron

Transcript

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0:00.0	BBC Sounds, Music, Radio, podcasts.
0:05.2	Hello and welcome to the Grenfell Tower Inquiry podcast with me, Kate Lamble.
0:09.8	This week, the inquiry heard from four different witnesses, from four different companies,
0:14.5	all of them involved in the refurbishment of Grenfell Tower.
0:18.0	And what we learned was that none of the witnesses thought they were responsible for checking
0:22.0	whether the design or materials complied with the building regulations.
0:26.9	The fabricator which sold the cladding panels thought it was Harley facades who'd check the overall
0:31.8	design.
0:32.8	The Harley project manager was confident that the clerk of works was checking the installation
0:37.0	and the clerk of works thought checking the installation, and the
0:37.8	clerk of works thought compliance was building control's responsibility. Let's start with the
0:43.4	detailed evidence then. Ben Bailey was the 25-year-old son of Ray Bailey, the managing director
0:49.3	of specialist cladding company Harley Fassards. In February 2015, he was appointed project manager for
0:55.9	Harley's work on Grenfell Tower. A year earlier, Ben Bailey had graduated with a degree in business
1:01.7	and construction management. Did he get the job because he was your son? No. How can you
1:07.9	account for appointing a 25-year-old whose experience of project management had started when he was 23 for the position of project manager on the Grenfell Tower project?
1:19.9	His experience working on Merritt House.
1:23.2	All right.
1:24.1	Ben Bailey had worked both as a site and project manager at Merritt House in North London in 2014.
1:30.4	The high-rise block was fitted with cladding.
1:33.3	But Ben Bailey's experience was still limited.
1:35.9	Were you ever given any training or do you have any qualifications in relation to fire safety in the construction of buildings?
	...

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