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A consultant working for the organisation that managed Grenfell Tower asked future main contractor Rydon for a 鈥渜uick and dirty鈥� check price to help prepare for the procurement process to refurbish the block, the inquiry into the 2017 fire has heard.

The request came in an email from an associate director at Appleyards, which was working to help Kensington & Chelsea Tenant Management Organisation (KCTMO) find firms for the work. It was addressed to Rydon鈥檚 refurbishment director Stephen Blake.

Robert Powell鈥檚 email came before the launch of the formal exercise to find firms for the refurbishment and 11 months before Rydon was formally selected as preferred bidder for the job in March 2014.

Blake told Tuesday鈥檚 hearing of the Grenfell Tower Inquiry 鈥� probing the background to the fire that claimed 72 lives 鈥� that he believed Powell had been seeking help to establish a budget for the project.

Appleyards was subsequently rebranded as Artelia, which had purchased the business in 2012. Artelia was the employer鈥檚 agent and quantity surveyor for the Grenfell refurbishment.

Asked by inquiry barrister Richard Millett QC why he thought Powell had got in touch with Rydon, Blake said he thought the associate director had been hoping the firm would do his job for him.

Asked what Powell meant by 鈥渜uick and dirty鈥� costings, Blake replied: 鈥淰ery high-level costings, without much detail or interrogation鈥�. He added that the request had come at short notice and that he had not been able to assist with a figure.

Blake said he had put Powell in touch with two colleagues, just to retain a relationship with him in connection with a job 鈥� the Grenfell refurbishment 鈥� that Rydon was 鈥渋nterested in doing鈥�.

Rydon was picked for the Grenfell job in 2014. Its winning bid for the work was 拢9.2m, a figure that was significantly lower than rival Durkan鈥檚 拢9.9m bid and the 拢10.4m bid of Mulalley.

Last week, the inquiry heard that KCTMO鈥檚 original choice 鈥� Leadbitter 鈥� had priced the job at 拢11.2m, a figure 拢1.6m above the TMO鈥檚 budget. It subsequently emerged that Rydon had made an 鈥渁dding-up error鈥� in its bid that meant its price should have been 拢212,000 higher, while KCTMO revealed it needed to shave 拢800,000 off the winning bid to meet its budget.

Blake, who is now production director at Rydon Homes, insisted on Tuesday that the adding-up error and KCTMO鈥檚 need for additional savings had not left the contractor 鈥渦nder water鈥�. 鈥淭he 拢800,000 is a client choice,鈥� he said.

As part of a value engineering exercise, Rydon and facades specialist Harley looked into cheaper alternatives to the zinc cladding that was originally specified for the tower and proposed aluminium composite material (ACM) in either riveted-on or cassette form.

Rydon gave the TMO smaller savings figures for the substitutions than it had been quoted by Harley, giving a saving of 拢376,000 rather than the full 拢576,000 if face-fixed ACM panels were used and a saving of 拢293,000 for ACM cassettes instead of the full 拢419,000.

Barrister Millett asked Blake why the full savings had not been revealed.

Blake replied: 鈥淐hange in a contract environment is a way of creating margin for a contractor. And that鈥檚 what we鈥檝e done here.鈥�

Asked whether Rydon had a responsibility to inform KCTMO of the full extent of savings available to them, Blake replied: 鈥淲e鈥檇 made a choice to put that [smaller] saving to them. That鈥檚 how it is.鈥�

He said he did not know who had made the decision to hold back 拢200,000 of the potential savings from KCTMO but accepted that he had ultimate responsibility.

Blake also accepted that pushing for the use of face-fixed ACM panels as part of the Grenfell refurbishment would have been 鈥渁 mechanism鈥� for Rydon to recoup most of the 拢212,000 of its adding-up error.

Earlier on Tuesday, the inquiry heard that the three most senior Rydon managers directly responsible for Grenfell Tower were all newly promoted when KCTMO selected the firm for the bid and that Grenfell was their first post-promotion role.

Blake filled in for one of them, Simon Lawrence, who quit as contracts manager for the project in October 2015. Project manager Simon O鈥機onnor had also resigned weeks before.

Millett asked Blake whether the situation meant Grenfell had effectively lacked a full-time contracts manager. Blake said that was not the case and that he had visited the tower site at least 75 times while he was acting as contracts manager.

The inquiry continues.