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Fire risk assessor for Grenfell Tower revealed
The last fire safety consultant to assess Grenfell Tower, who received almost a quarter of a million pounds from Kensington and Chelsea Council, "is confident that its fire risk assessment work was carried out to the highest professional standards".
Carl Stokes, director, sole shareholder and only consultant at C S Stokes and Associates – a fire safety consultancy contracted by the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea (RBKC) for the past seven years – spoke to Inside Housing about his work on Grenfell Tower, which was destroyed two weeks ago in a fire. At the last estimate, the blaze had claimed 79 lives.
C S Stokes and Associates received £244,318 over seven years from RBKC, starting in November 2010, when Mr Stokes was hired as the fire risk assessor for Kensington and Chelsea Tenant Management Organisation (KCTMO) – which managed Grenfell Tower – and continuing until the most recently recorded financial period.
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According to his website, he has been an independent fire risk assessor for seven years, the same length of time for which he has been contracted by RBKC.
He was contracted after the board of KCTMO decided to seek “a more competitive price” for their fire risk assessor. The board ended its contract with Salvus Consulting, which had just carried out a fire risk assessment on Grenfell Tower, rating it “normal”.
This assessment was made shortly before a non-fatal fire in Grenfell Tower in April 2010, which did not spread beyond the lift lobby where it started, set off a block-wide fire alarm and activated the smoke extraction system.
Mr Stokes replaced Salvus Consulting, and was described at the time as being available for “the most competitive price” and praised for being “willing to challenge the Fire Brigade… if he considered their requirements to be excessive”.
It is not known how often Mr Stokes assessed Grenfell Tower, but Inside Housing has seen a copy of his fire risk assessment of the building in 2012.
In that assessment, he noted the absence of either “sandwich panels” on the building or “unusual elements of building construction that were considered to add an additional contribution to the fire risk”.
This was four years before composite panels were installed in a refurbishment completed in 2016. The panels failed fire safety tests and have since been linked to the spread of the fire.
Mr Stokes was referred to as “the TMO’s fire risk assessor” in an RBKC board meeting in 2013, and has received regular payments since November 2010, amounting to a total of £244,318.
According to information obtained under the Freedom of Information Act by Inside Housing, the last full fire risk assessment of Grenfell Tower was in 2015, before a refurbishment was complete.
Board papers from November 2016, however, after the works had finished, indicate that there was “close liaison with LFB [London Fire Brigade] and [the] fire risk assessor throughout the duration of the project”.
A spokesperson for KCTMO has claimed a full risk assessment was carried out in June 2016, although it has been unable to provide documentation or explain the discrepancy in Kensington and Chelsea records.
Mr Stokes has confirmed to Inside Housing that he was the independent fire risk assessor of Grenfell Tower between 2012 and 2016.
Mr Stokes’ website gives various qualifications for his work, including “19 years fire safety experience with local fire authority, in enforcement and auditing roles, seven years as an independent fire risk assessor”.
Updated on 27.6.17: After this story was published, a spokesperson for C S Stokes and Associates Ltd. passed on the following statement:
“The risk assessments, complete with recommendations, were returned to RBKC TMO. It is important to highlight that the building’s refurbishment and structural alterations were overseen and managed by the local authority Building Control Department under the Building Regulation process.
“CS Stokes and Associates Ltd is confident that its fire risk assessment work was carried out to the highest professional standards. Director Carl Stokes has 19 years’ fire safety experience with local Fire Authorities, in enforcement and auditing roles and eight years as an independent fire risk assessor and fully stands by the recommendations made in his risk assessments.
“CS Stokes and Associates Ltd would also like to offer its deepest condolences to the victims, their families and all those affected by this tragic incident."
