The main contractor on the refurbishment of Grenfell Tower has spent more than £19m remediating fire safety problems, and has provided for more to come.
The firm’s remediation work has so far covered 500 apartment properties, it said in its accounts for the year to 30 September 2023.
Rydon named fire safety remediation work last year as one factor in its mounting losses, which reached £9.1m, nearly double the £5.9m loss in the previous year.
“To date, we have spent over £19m on remedial safety works,” Rydon’s accounts said.
“We have also committed to a future pipeline of further spend on remedial fire safety works and are working closely with our supply chain partners, designers, consultants and insurers to meet the updated requirements for fire safety compliance.”
In 2022, Rydon put aside £26.7m towards a settlement agreed with those affected by the Grenfell Tower fire, which was reportedly worth £150m.
In today’s accounts, Rydon said that, along with other firms, it is involved in “ongoing discussions” with people who were not involved with the first settlement, along with the fire service and police services who responded to the fire.
The firm said it had made a provision for those discussions, but did not disclose the value of those provisions.
In total, it reported provisions of £13.4m for the year.
Construction News asked Rydon how much it expects to spend in total on remediation works, but had not received a response by the time of publication.
Rydon said its financial performance was also hit by “high inflationary pressures resulting in part from a number of government leadership changes”, problems resulting from the war in Ukraine, high material costs, labour shortages and declining consumer confidence.
Rydon’s turnover was also down, coming in at £47.5m, compared with £52m the year before. Its cash position came in at £1.1m, after it recorded £3.7m of cash in 2021/22.
Rydon stopped operating as a design and build contractor in 2020/21, except for remedial works.
