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KCTMO continued to use Grenfell fire risk assessor after blaze
The consultant who carried out the last fire risk assessment (FRA) of Grenfell Tower has checked the fire safety of at least 21 other blocks managed by Kensington and Chelsea Tenant Management Organisation (KCTMO) since last July.
Carl Stokes, sole shareholder and consultant at CS Stokes and Associates, was paid £244,318 by Kensington and Chelsea Council between 2010 and 2017 to carry out FRAs on its housing stock.
Inside Housing revealed him as the assessor of Grenfell Tower in June last year, two weeks after it was destroyed in a devastating blaze which claimed 71 lives.
And FRAs now published on the council’s website show that Mr Stokes continued to assess blocks in the months following the fire on behalf of KCTMO.
The FRAs also reveal that three blocks neighbouring Grenfell – not assessed by Mr Stokes – were deemed to have ‘high risk’ issues in assessments by another firm of risk assessors following the fire.
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The council has committed to publishing more than 650 FRAs over the next 12 months.
Mr Stokes does not currently appear on the registers of any of the UK’s accreditation bodies – the Institution of Fire Engineers, the Institute of Fire Safety Managers, Warrington Certification and the Institute of Fire Prevention Officers.
None of the FRAs he carried out among those published are high-level ‘Type 4’ assessments which check fire safety inside flats. All the blocks were given a fire hazard rating of ‘medium’.
They are all dated between July and August 2017.
KCTMO, which managed the borough’s stock until this month, has been approached for comment.
Kensington and Chelsea Council said it had commissioned an audit of existing FRAs for its blocks and started a new programme of assessments, being carried out by firm Turner & Townsend.
The FRAs published for Barandon Walk, Hurstway Walk and Testerton Walk on the Lancaster West Estate were carried out by Ross Braidley of compliance consultancy FCS Live. Mr Brady is registered with the Institution of Fire Engineers.
He identified ‘high risk’ fire safety issues requiring immediate action in each of the blocks, relating to escape routes being blocked off by work on Grenfell Tower following the fire, and insufficient smoke ventilation.
A spokesperson for Mr Stokes said it would be inappropriate for him to comment while the Grenfell Tower Inquiry is ongoing.
Update: at 17.39pm, 19.02.18: A statement from Mr Stokes’ spokesperson was added to the story.
