A BUSINESSMAN from Wirral was handed a £31million government contract to tackle the UK cladding crisis following the Grenfell Tower tragedy in 2017.

Rob Williams and Adam Gallagher founded Intelligent FS in 2015, a firm which employs a boutique team to fit safe cladding on buildings.

However, more than 100 buildings in the UK still have the same highly-flammable cladding that killed 72 people in the Grenfell Tower disaster.

Williams believes the work could take up to 10 years to complete as Intelligent begin the first stages of the major contract in London, Manchester, Leeds and Mansfield. 

He said: "The market is huge. Intelligent is on-site in Manchester, and the government continue to approve projects. 

"It is incredibly important. We are going in to put bad work right and we take this very seriously. We use specialist monitoring systems, drones and bespoke software systems to capture all of our work on the job.

"We then present this to the client so they know every single inch of work which has been completed.”

Williams started his career as an apprentice bricklayer but quickly rose through the ranks of construction into site management, project management and eventually project director.

He has since carried out projects such as Canary Wharf in London and Damascus Airport in Syria, as well as working with the government and the Ministry of Defence.

After forming Intelligent FS with Adam Gallagher, from Norris Green in Liverpool, Williams admits trade was affected during the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic in 2020, and the idea for tackling the cladding crisis was formed.

He continued: "Adam and I never stand still. And as the pandemic took hold, our traditional areas of revenue started to dry up.

"I had worked on major cladding projects in London and after a conversation between Adam and I, we decided to try and make a difference. We secured the £31 million contract and it enabled us to re-shape our business."

Intelligent is currently on-site at Milliners Wharf in Manchester, tackling 450 apartments without the need for residents to leave their homes during the estimated 55-week project, which the government valued at £3.5 million.