Rydon’s senior manager on the Grenfell recladding job admitted the firm relied on specialist subcontractors and designers to fulfil its contractual obligation to ensure the project was safe.

Simon Lawrence also said Rydon lacked the in-house expertise to check the work of these sub-contractors and relied on third parties for this as well.

Ultimately it was relying on the local authority’s building control department to sign off the work, he said.

In evidence to the Grenfell Inquiry, Lawrence also admitted he did not know cavity barriers were needed around windows or that insulation on buildings above 18m had to be of “limited combustibility” – a term he said he had not fully understood at the time.

…