Grenfell Tower revamp chief ‘said contractor would profit from cladding switch’
A manager on the Grenfell Tower refurbishment wrote his company would be “quids in” and could keep a larger share of the savings by switching to cheaper cladding, the inquiry into the blaze has heard.
Zak Maynard, commercial manager at main contractor Rydon, made the remark in a June 2014 email to senior colleagues during discussions about changing the tower’s proposed cladding system from zinc to combustible aluminium composite material (ACM), the inquiry heard on Monday.
The inquiry has previously heard that Rydon presented altered cladding figures to the Kensington and Chelsea tenant management organisation (TMO) in order to “pocket” some of the savings for itself to make up the shortfall from a £212,000 estimating error by one of its costing team.
External wall fitters Harley Facades had told Rydon there were savings of £419,627 to be made by choosing a “cassette” form of ACM – but Rydon presented the savings to the TMO as £293,368.
Similarly Harley had told Rydon it could save £576,973 by switching to “face-fixed” ACM, which Rydon presented to the TMO as a saving of £376,175.
During Monday’s proceedings it emerged that Harley Facades had also made a six-figure estimating error when calculating the savings for using ACM, meaning the savings for cassette and face-fixed were respectively around £160,000 and £200,000 less than quoted to Rydon originally.
Steve Blake, another manager at Rydon, suggested in an email to Mr Maynard that Rydon could “at some point in the future reverse pass it back up the chain”.
The inquiry’s chief lawyer Richard Millett QC asked Mr Maynard: “Is it fair to say that what he’s suggesting is you should organise the finances so that Harley’s costing error would be absorbed by the TMO?”
Mr Maynard said: “He’s saying back up the chain, so potentially yes.”
Another Rydon colleague suggested splitting the cost “50/50” with Harley as it was “their cock-up”.
An equal split with Harley would leave Rydon with a “100k gain” for face-fixed and a “47k gain” for cassette, Mr Maynard then wrote in an email, but he added a 50-50 deal was the “worst case position” and suggested they should offer Harley less.
After further discussions with Harley, Mr Maynard wrote an email to two Rydon colleagues saying: “First part of the battle … Now we will agree to give them 10% of the savings back and we are quids in!!”.
Asked to explain the message, Mr Maynard said: “If we don’t have to give them back as much as we thought we would have more profit.
“It’s just more profit.”
The inquiry continues.