The manager responsible for overseeing the work of building control surveyors at the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea has said he had “full confidence” in the inspector who approved the refurbishment of Grenfell Tower as worthy of a compliance certificate.

John Allen told Monday’s hearing of the Grenfell Tower Inquiry that he did not believe his staff had been “overstretched” following a 2013 restructuring of the council’s building-control operations and said designated Grenfell surveyor John Hoban had not specifically asked for more time to deal with the project.