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The Building Research Establishment (BRE) could not have missed fire-resisting panels that were used on a test rig for the insulation installed on Grenfell Tower and not declared in the test report, the inquiry has heard.
Patrick Jones, a self-employed cladding installer who installed Celotex’s material for a May 2014 test, claimed that neither Celotex nor the independent testing house BRE could have missed magnesium oxide boards on the test rig.
Phil Clark, burn hall manager at the BRE at the time, denied any knowledge of the use of the panels, despite the suggestion that this was “not credible” by the barrister cross-examining him for the inquiry.
Mr Jones recalled being instructed by Celotex’s Jonathan Roper to install the fire-resisting boards. The panels were installed to assist the system in passing the test, which Celotex would go on to claim cleared its RS5000 product to be used on towers over 18m tall.
During the construction Mr Jones said “there were people around most of the time” testing and checking the rig.
“I was fully aware that they recording and testing and watching everything that we did, so I just took it that they knew,” he said.
Rachel Sullivan, junior counsel to the inquiry, said: “Would it have been possible, given what you’ve described about people being around, in and out all the time, for you to have installed something without the BRE or Celotex knowing it was there?”
“No,” Mr Jones responded.
In addition Mr Jones said there was no pressure from Celotex to make sure the magnesium oxide boards were covered up as quickly as possible. He said: “There was definitely nothing underhand that was going on in that respect – the BRE staff could have seen it at any point in time.”
He added: “It could have been visible for half an hour, it could have been visible for several hours.”
Guidance in force at the time of the Grenfell Tower fire meant that the large-scale test only cleared the precise system tested by Celotex for use on high rises. But concealing the use of the boards meant no one could accurately replicate the system.
Earlier in the day, Stephen Howard, a manager at the BRE, maintained that the oversight in relation to the magnesium oxide boards was genuine.
The inquiry was shown a picture, included in the draft test report for Celotex RS5000, which clearly showed white magnesium oxide panels left on the rig after the fire test.
Richard Millett, lead counsel to the inquiry, asked Mr Howard how it had been missed. Mr Howard said: “The report is going back and forward a number of times. We are at a drafting stage so they just keep going through loop until they are satisfied. It may have been that I had just not spotted it at this stage.”
Mr Millett replied: “I feel bound to suggest to you that you did spot it at this stage as part of your careful check of the precise components of the rig and decided to ignore the presence of that white banding [the magnesium oxide].”
Mr Howard denied this suggestion.
Mr Howard was also forced to defend his impartiality in his role at the BRE after the inquiry revealed emails between him and Mr Roper of Celotex deciding on how to word a ‘letter of comfort’ Celotex was seeking while it awaited confirmation of a passed BS 8414 test.
After asking for and receiving the initial letter, Mr Roper suggested some further edits, to which Mr Howard agreed.
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