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KCTMO appointed 'competitively priced' fire risk assessment consultant
The organisation managing Grenfell Tower appointed a company to carry out its fire risk assessments at the “most competitive price” in 2010, board papers reveal
The papers, which detail board meetings of the Kensington and Chelsea Tenant Management Organisation (KCTMO), show the organisation settled on a consultancy which “was willing to challenge the fire brigade on our behalf if he considered their requirements to be excessive”.
Grenfell Tower was destroyed in the worst tower block fire in the sector’s history on Wednesday, with the building’s fire risk assessment thrown sharply into the spotlight as a result.
There are no legal requirements on who should carry out fire risk assessments or what qualifications they should hold.
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The papers show KCTMO decided in a meeting of the board in May 2010 “to see if a more competitive price could be obtained” for fire risk assessments of their medium-risk buildings.
According to the BBC, Grenfell Tower had a medium risk rating in 2016.
A report to the board by Janice Wray, health and safety advisor at KCTMO, on fire risk assessments, noted that Salvus Consulting had carried out assessments on 100 potentially high-risk properties.
It continued: “It has been agreed that we should seek to appoint a consultancy partner to carry out the medium-risk programme following competitive tendering.”
In a subsequent meeting in July 2010, another report by Ms Wray announced that a new consultant had been found, who “offered the best quality and also the most competitive price”.
It is unknown who the new partner was, or whether they carried out the last recorded full fire risk assessment on Grenfell Tower in 2015.
Ms Wray’s report refers to them only as “he”. The minutes from a December 2010 meeting note that the consultant “was willing to challenge” the fire brigade over “excessive requirements”.
According to the minutes of the May meeting, the London Fire Brigade indicated “that it was comfortable with this approach, provided that standards were maintained”.
Information obtained by Inside Housing under the Freedom of Information Act indicates that Grenfell Tower last received a full fire risk assessment in December 2015, before a full refurbishment of the building was completed.
No one from KCTMO, the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea or the London Fire Brigade was available to comment.
Thirty deaths have been confirmed from the blaze, with dozens of people still missing.
