Grenfell Tower contractors worked on Camden's Chalcots Estate

Camden council’s revamp of its 700 home Chalcots Estate was carried out by the same main contractor who led the refurbishment works on the fire-ravaged Grenfell Tower last year.

The council has said it will begin removing cladding panels, which were similar in design to those used at the west London tower, from five tower blocks on the north London estate following an urgent inspection of all towers over 18m high with “any form of cladding” ordered by the government in the wake of last week’s Grenfell blaze.

Rydon was the main contractor on the PFI refurbishment of the four 23-storey tower blocks and a 19-storey block in the Swiss Cottage area of the borough.

The contract value for Rydon on the project, which began on site in 2006, was worth £66m, according to the firm’s website.

Subcontractor Harley Facades, which carried out the cladding works on the fire-ravaged tower Grenfell Tower for Rydon, also carried out cladding work on the same Chalcots Estate project under a £16m deal.

Camden council’s revamp of the estate was designed by architect HTA, the practice of incoming RIBA president Ben Derbyshire.

In a statement, council leader Georgia Gould said: “The new results from the laboratory show that the outer cladding panels themselves are made up of aluminium panels with a polyethylene core.

“Therefore the panels that were fitted were not to the standard that we had commissioned. In light of this, we will be informing the contractor that we will be taking urgent legal advice.

“Whilst we are clear that our cladding design and insulation significantly differs to that at Grenfell Tower, the external cladding panels did not satisfy our independent laboratory testing or the high standards we set for contractors.”

HTA and Rydon have been contacted for comment. Representatives for Harley Facades said the firm had no comment at this time.