TORY DONOR BACKS CLADDING FIRM
Private equity tycoon owned a stake in refurb company
A TORY donor’s private equity firm were big investors in the construction company accused of saving £5000 with cheaper, more flammable cladding at Grenfell Tower.
Mayfair-based Coller Capital owned a fifth of Rydon Construction, via a partnership based offshore in Jersey, when work started on the £8.6million refurbishment at the block in 2014.
Coller boss and founder Jeremy Coller donated £15,000 to the Tory party in July 2015.
Omnis, who supplied Reynobond panels for the project, confirmed they sold the version costing £2 a square metre less than the more fire-resistant option.
It is just this type of choice that was covered by Part B of the review of fire regulations Theresa May’s chief of staff Gavin Barwell promised the Commons in October.
It covered external cladding and contained this requirement: “External walls of the building shall resist the spread of fire over the walls and from one building to another, having regard to height, use and position of the building.”
A salesman for US-based Reynobond said the more expensive FR version of their cladding was fire resistant, while the PE version, believed to have been used at Grenfell, was plastic.
But the deadly inferno, subject to a criminal investigation, has been linked to the tower’s exterior coating after the fire spread so rapidly.
At least 20 more London council and housing association tower blocks – ranging from 11 to 23 storeys – have been fitted with the cladding by Harley Facades, sub-contracted by Rydon to install Reynobond PE cladding at Grenfell Tower.
Nobody has so far said who was responsible for choosing the cladding at Grenfell.
The cheaper plastic-filled cladding has been banned in Germany on towers over 72ft since the 80s and since 2012 in the US on buildings higher than 40ft. But it is legal in the UK. Coller, who had no operational control, bought a stake in Rydon in 2010
At this time, we’re not aware of any link between the fire and the exterior cladding HARLEY FACADES
as part of a £332million deal with Lloyds. They became the major 70 per cent partner in Jersey-based Cavendish Square Partners, who in turn owned a 30 per cent stake in Rydon Holdings, the parent firm of Rydon Construction.
Last year, Rydon’s profits leapt nearly 40 per cent to £10.3million and £8.4million went to shareholders, said CorporateWatch. Rydon bought back shares owned by Cavendish for £6.2million in December 2015.
It is believed more than £4million of this went to Coller Capital.
A Coller spokesman said: “Coller was a minority shareholder in Rydon to 2015 and had no operational control.”
Rydon insist the Grenfell Tower work “met all required building control, fire regulation and health and safety standards”.
But Tories are facing criticism for delaying promises to carry out the review of fire regulations after a fire in 2009 which killed six people in Lakanal House, Camberwell, South London.
Former Housing Minister Barwell is being blamed for the hold-up. He told the Commons in October that part B of the building regulations, which cover fire safety, would be reviewed, but his department have not published any papers.
Concerns about cladding and fires date back to at least 1999, when a blaze hit a 14-storey block in Irvine, killing pensioner William Linton. A report on the tragedy by the environment, transport and regional affairs committee in 2000 stated: “We believe all external cladding systems should be required to be entirely noncombustible, or to be proven not to pose an unacceptable level of risk in terms of fire spread.” There is no requirement for exterior cladding on high-rise buildings to be non-combustible. It is thought there may be 30,000 buildings in the UK with panels similar to Grenfell’s. Omnis Exteriors confirmed they supplied cheaper Reynobond PE cladding, not the FR “fire resistant” type – to firms at Grenfell Tower. Director John Cowley said: “We supplied components for a system created by the design and build team on that project.” Harley Facades, the company who fitted the panels to Grenfell Tower, said: “At this time, we are not aware of any link between the fire and the exterior cladding.”