Page 18 QQQ Daily Mail, Wednesday, March 4, 2020
Architect
didn’t read
Grenfell
blaze risks
The lead architect on the
Grenfell Tower refurbish-
ment yesterday admitted he
did not read key fire regula-
tions during the project.
Bruce Sounes said he was una-
ware about concerns over using
combustible cladding – despite
accepting fire safety was ‘funda-
mental to the work of an archi-
tect’s practice’.
he told the public inquiry into the
Grenfell tragedy no one at his firm
did a compliance check on materi-
als used in the refurbishment.
Asked whether he knew about the
specific fire risks of the aluminium
panels used on the block, he said:
‘No. I thought their melting tem-
perature was quite high.’
The cladding has already been
identified by the inquiry as one of
the main reasons that the 2017 fire
spread so quickly, claiming 72 lives.
Giving evidence yesterday, Mr
Sounes said he did not know thatthe insulation used in the cladding
system was required to be of lim-
ited combustibility to comply with
tall building regulations.
he also said he had no knowledge
of previous cladding fires on high
rises in the UK or in Dubai.
Mr Sounes, an associate at Studio
e Architects who was the initial
project leader, admitted he had no
professional experience in working
on residential buildings.
And he said his only previous
knowledge of the cladding products
used on Grenfell was while studying
to be an architect in South Africa.
It also emerged only one member
of the Studio e team previously
worked on high-rise residential
buildings – and he was not a quali-
fied architect.
Mr Sounes was shown a diagram
of different building classifications
relating to blocks over 18 metres.he was asked by Kate Grange QC,
counsel to the inquiry: ‘Were you
aware that there might be different
rules that applied to buildings over
18 metres?’
he replied: ‘No. I was aware they
may exist, but I did not refer to [the
document] at the time.’
When asked whether he read Gov-
ernment guidelines on building and
fire regulations, he said: ‘I referred
to it on occasion but I certainly
didn’t read it from start to finish.’
Mr Sounes was also shown a dia-
gram of how fire can spread up the
external cladding of a building.
When asked whether he saw a dia-
gram like this during the Grenfell
project, he said he had not.
he added: ‘We didn’t know there
was any concerns regarding compli-
ance [of the cladding].’
earlier Mr Sounes said he had
e x p e c t e d a n o t h e r f i r m t o b e
appointed to deal with cladding the
tower because it was complex.
Once the refurbishment reached
construction stage, he was replaced
as day-to-day project leader by Neil
Crawford – who was not a registered
architect because he did not com-
plete his final qualifications.
Mr Sounes said he and Andrzej
Kuszell, the founder of the practice,
decided to appoint Mr Crawford to
the role because he had experience
with high-rise buildings.
But the inquiry heard that this
experience was limited to two pre-
vious projects.
Asked if he or colleagues consid-
ered hiring an architect with experi-
ence of cladding a high-rise block of
flats for Grenfell, Mr Sounes replied
he did not recall doing so.
Studio e was selected for the
major overhaul without a competi-
tive procurement process because
it was already working on a new
school and sports centre next door.
Mr Kuszell earlier conceded his
team lacked experience in high-rise
residential refurbishments.
The inquiry in Paddington, West
London, continues.By Arthur Martin
‘Limited
experience’
of around 90 per cent would be
needed for weapons use – but the
report says Iran has not enriched
uranium above 4.5 per cent.
The 2015 deal has been hanging
by a thread since the US withdrew
in May 2018 and imposed sanctions
on Iran, targeting its oil sector.
Last June, Iran warned it had
quadrupled the rate of enrich-
ment after tensions with the US
mounted. The IAEA report said it
had identified three locations in
Iran where it possibly stored unde-
clared nuclear material or under-
took nuclear-related activities.Iran’s uranium stock
now 5 times deal limit
Ir An’ S stockpile of enriched ura-
nium is more than five times the
limit fixed under its landmark 2015
nuclear deal with world powers, a
United nations watchdog said.
The International Atomic Energy
Agency (IAEA) report said that – as
of February 19 – the Iranian stock-
pile was 1,510kg, soaring above the
300kg limit agreed in the deal,
which Britain signed up to.
Experts warn this level could
provide sufficient material to pro-
duce a nuclear weapon.
But more steps, including further
enrichment, would be required to
make the stockpile suitable for use
in a weapon. An enrichment levelMail Foreign Service