Grenfell Tower repair and maintenance contractor announced as demolition contractor

The voluntary ex ante transparency notice: "Award Grenfell Tower Principal Contractor' published by the Ministry of Housing, Communities & Local Government on 25 April 2025, names Deconstruct UK as the demolition contractor (the "Principal Contractor").

A specialist enabling works contractor, providing an 'end-to-end solution using extensive in-house resources' Deconstruct UK have been working on the Grenfell site since 2017. The Initial estimated total value of the contract / lot / concession was £24,516,578, whilst the total value of the contract / lot / concession is £12,250,000 excluding VAT. The variation will be entered into following a period of 30 days from the publication of the notice. MHCLG considers that the relevant modifications are justified on the basis that they are in compliance with the Public Contracts Regulations 2015 (PCR) pursuant to Regulation 72(1)(b)

The notice says:

"MHCLG requires the modification to be made to the contract in order to broaden the scope of the maintenance and security contract (Services). The contract with DCUK includes provision of repair and maintenance services, security services and facilities management services as well as the ability to carry out emergency deconstruction. The variation will provide for planned deconstruction services (Works) of Grenfell Tower to ground level."

"This is justified under regulation 72(1)(b) of the Public Contracts Regulations 2015 (PCR 2015), on the basis of there being technical reasons why a change of contractor cannot be made and due to the fact that any change in contractor would cause significant inconvenience and substantial duplication of costs. The value of the modification is less than 50% of the value of the original contract."

In its justification of the decision MHCLG say:

"Planned deconstruction will minimise disruption to the community as it will minimise the use of noisy and percussive approaches and ensure dust control is in place from the outset. It would not be possible to do this to the same extent in the case of an emergency deconstruction. The Principal Contractor has unique site knowledge given they have: -

• been working on the Grenfell site since 2017.
• undertaken all three stages of propping
• undertaken site clearance
• led on the weekly monitoring of the props in the building since installation and undertaken any necessary remedial works

The depth and longevity of the Principal Contractor's knowledge and understanding of the Tower, the site and neighbourhood, is a significant preventative measure regarding technical and health and safety risk. This is particularly pertinent to ensuring operative safety and to design the optimal methodology to minimise disruption during deconstruction works. This kind of knowledge cannot be gleaned quickly, and the relationships have now been formed over years"

This article is based on the voluntary ex ante transparency notice: "Award Grenfell Tower Principal Contractor' published by the Ministry of Housing, Communities & Local Government on 25 April 2025.

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