Asif Aziz's Ibis hotel and a 'mystery' fire test
The story of Asif Aziz's Ibis hotel and the 'mystery' fire test is a cautionary tale about the dangers of negligence and the importance of transparency in fire safety. The hotel, located next to Wembley Stadium, was found to have Grenfell-style flammable cladding, which posed a significant fire risk to its guests. Despite warnings and safety concerns, it took eight years for the hotel to be shut down and the public to be made aware of the danger.
The story begins with the revelation that Aziz's company, London Property Company Limited, had a history of hosting tax-evading gift shops, conducting mass evictions of tenants, and issuing fake electrical safety certificates. These actions had already drawn scrutiny from the public and the media. The fire safety report for the Ibis hotel was rewritten at the request of Aziz's company, which led to the delay in addressing the fire risk.
The 'mystery' fire test is a key part of the story. A piece of cladding supposedly from the hotel was provided for fire safety testing by an unknown person, even though it could not have actually come from the building. The consultants at Clarke Banks concluded that the sample would have passed a fire safety test because it was made of pure aluminium. However, the pure aluminium cladding sample didn't come from the Ibis Wembley. It was a completely different material to the flammable cladding that was actually on the hotel.
The judge suggested there were three possible explanations for what had gone wrong with the test and he could not definitively conclude which was correct. One explanation was that someone positively misleading the fire safety consultants by providing it with a sample which could not have come from the hotel building. The second was an inexplicable error by the fire safety specialists. The third was some other unexplained reason.
The judge was critical of the two witnesses put forward by Aziz's company in the court dispute, calling one of them 'somewhat unconvincing and unreliable'. He also said he believed Asif Aziz was personally involved in the discussions regarding the cladding on the hotel as one of his employees had to 'obtain instructions from Mr Aziz for all major matters'.
The judge said: 'Although both [witnesses] were keen to describe Mr Aziz as a 'big picture' man... that is belied by the documented extent of his involvement in the case from start to finish, which shows that on occasions (although I accept not always) he was directly involved in the details'.
The story ends with the operator of the Wembley hotel finally carrying out its own fire checks in 2024, which swiftly concluded the building was dangerous. This led to a messy court dispute over who was responsible and who should pick up the bill for remedial works. Aziz's London Property Company lost, has to remove the cladding, and now faces paying substantial damages.
The story highlights the importance of transparency and accountability in fire safety. It also serves as a reminder that negligence can have serious consequences, and that those in positions of power and responsibility must act with integrity and diligence.
