Grenfell Tower fire caused by 'decades of failure' as inquiry uncovers truth (original) (raw)
The Grenfell Tower fire that claimed 72 lives was the result of “decades of failure” by those in power, the public inquiry has found.
In its landmark final report, the inquiry has laid bare how Government complacency and industry dishonesty and greed led to the 2017 tragedy. Construction manufacturers were found guilty of “systematic dishonesty”, with firms having “deliberately concealed” information about the dangers of its cladding products.
Releasing his findings Inquiry chairman Sir Martin Moore-Bick said: "The simple truth is that the deaths that occurred were all avoidable, and those who lived in the tower were badly failed over a number of years and in a number of different ways by those who were responsible for ensuring the safety of the building and its occupants."
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Residents of the 24-story tower block faced an “uncaring and bullying overlord” as their warnings about fire safety were ignored by the local authority tenants’ organisation. And the west London council at hand was found to be “unduly concerned” by its reputation in the immediate aftermath of the fire.
The long-running inquiry's second and final report spans 1,700 pages and just over a million words long. It has uncovered how the tower block came to be in a condition where a kitchen fire could have spread 19 storeys in approximately 12 minutes.
A 2017 deadly blaze at Grenfell Tower claimed 72 lives (
Image:
AFP via Getty Images)
In a scathing conclusion, Sir Martin found the Government received “numerous warnings” about cladding risks over decades - and yet failed to take them. He referenced a fire at Knowsley Heights in 1991, Britain’s first high-rise cladding fire in Liverpool, saying: "There were many opportunities for the Government to identify the risks posed by the use of combustible cladding panels and insulation, particularly to high-rise buildings, and to take action in relation to them. Indeed, by 2016 the department was well aware of those risks, but failed to act on what it knew.”
Lord Pickles, who served as Communities Secretary between 2010 and 2015, was the target of personal criticism in the report. In an extraordinary conclusion, the inquiry was “unable to accept” part of his evidence after it was “flatly contradicted” by his officials and other documents from the time.
Lord Pickles, who served under a David Cameron government that was tearing up red tape, told the inquiry it was “ludicrous” if officials believed deregulation applied to building regulations. Yet the final report has rejected this instead finding that officials were under “pressure because of the policy of deregulation” and were “inhibited” from advising ministers on the issue. Lord Pickles was criticised during the inquiry when he confused Grenfell’s death toll with the number of those who died in the Hillsborough disaster during his evidence session.
Lord Pickles, who served as Communities Secretary between 2010 and 2015, was the target of personal criticism in the report (
Image:
Daily Mirror)
At a local level, the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea (RBKC) was also heavily criticised in the report. The council’s arm’s-length Tenant Management Organisation (TMO) failed to heed warnings from tenants about fire risks in the tower block.
“Some, perhaps many, occupants of the tower regarded the TMO as an uncaring and bullying overlord that belittled and marginalised them, regarded them as a nuisance, or worse, and failed to take their concerns seriously,” the report found. It also regarded some residents as “militant troublemakers led on by a handful of vocal activists”.
The report in particular mentioned how the TMO found Edward Daffarn’s style “offensive”. The now campaigner, who escaped from his 16th floor flat during the blaze, has previously said he was treated with “contempt” after raising multiple complaints about fire safety ahead of the tragedy.
Families have said they won't get justice until those found of wrongdoing are prosecuted (
Image:
Anadolu via Getty Images)
The inquiry also revealed the TMO’s incomplete fire safety provisions. The report found the TMO’s only fire assessor was allowed to drift into the role without any formal selection or procurement process”. Carl Stokes was found to have misrepresented his experience and even “invented” qualifications, making him “ill-qualified to carry out fire risk assessments on buildings of the size and complexity of Grenfell Tower”.
In the first week after the fire, the response of the Government and RBKC was “muddled, slow, indecisive and piecemeal”, the inquiry found. RBKC was found to have a “wholly” inadequate system to deal with “mass homelessness and mass fatalities” in the aftermath leaving people “abandoned”.
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Its chief executive, Nicholas Holdgate, was found to have been “unduly concerned for RBKC’s reputation” and had “no clear plan”. The inquiry acknowledged that it was not within its remit to assess how it came to be that a disproportionate number of disadvantaged and ethnic minorities were affected by the disaster.
But it did identify “evidence of racial discrimination” in the treatment of the survivors in the days after the fire, such as a lack of effort to cater to Muslims observing Ramadan. “Certain aspects of the response demonstrated a marked lack of respect for human decency and dignity and left many of those immediately affected feeling abandoned by authority and utterly helpless,” it said.
Construction firms were found to have engaged in 'systematic dishonesty' (
Image:
Adam Gerrard / Daily Mirror)
Regarding the construction industry, the report found that “systematic dishonesty” from those who made and sold cladding and products was a “very significant reason” why Grenfell Tower came to be covered in flammable materials. Phase one of the inquiry had already concluded that the cladding installed on the Grenfell Tower was the “primary cause” of the fire spread.
The next phase is searing about the levels of deliberate concealment and manipulation at the heart of the construction industry. Kingspan, whose insulation products were used in Grenfell, was found to have “cynically exploited the industry’s lack of detailed knowledge” about cladding tests and classifications. And manufacturer Arconic was found to have “deliberately concealed” from the market “the true extent of the danger” of its variant of cladding.
A web of failings allowed the two firms’ “dishonest strategies” to succeed. For instance the “incompetence” of the British Board of Agrément, the country’s certification agency, led to it dishing out “misleading” certificates for the products. The “underlying problem” was that it was conflicted by commercial interests, the inquiry said.
Prime Minister Keir Starmer will respond to the findings in a day of shame for the Government (
Image:
Getty Images)
The London Fire Brigade was also found to have “an entrenched but unfounded assumption that the Building Regulations were sufficient”. The report said it assumed “external wall fires of the kind that were known to have occurred in other countries would not occur in this country”. Its response on the night was also criticised with control room and fireground staff “forced to resort to various improvised methods of varying reliability” due to a lack of training.
Damning figures released this summer show thousands of buildings are still at risk due to unsafe cladding. A fire last week in a tower block covered in cladding in Dagenham, east London, was a reminder of how urgent the issue is.
Prime Minister Keir Starmer will respond to the report in the Commons in a day of shame for the Government, which failed to take action after years of cladding warnings. Families of the bereaved will also have their say this afternoon where they are expected to criticise a slow criminal investigation, not due to close until the end of 2025. They say that while the inquiry lays out the truth of what happened, justice cannot be served until those found of wrongdoing are prosecuted.
June 14 2017: At 12.54am, a call is made to the London Fire Brigade reporting a fire has broken out in a fourth-floor flat. Barely half an hour later, at 1.29am, flames had climbed to the top floor of the 24-storey block.
June 28 2017: Then PM-Theresa May appoints retired Court of Appeal judge Sir Martin Moore-Bick to lead a public inquiry into the disaster.
September 19 2017: The Metropolitan Police announce a widening of their criminal investigation, as detectives consider individual as well as corporate manslaughter charges.
January 29 2018: Maria del Pilar Burton, a 74-year-old survivor known as Pily, dies in palliative care. She had been in a care home, unable to return to her husband Nicholas, since the fire. She comes to be considered the 72nd victim of the fire.
May 17 2018: Dame Judith Hackitt, who was asked to carry out an independent review into building regulations, recommends "fundamental reform" to improve fire safety. Ministers promise to consult on banning flammable cladding.
June 4 2018: Sir Martin's inquiry begins hearing opening statements from lawyers and a batch of expert reports are released.
June 21 2018: Firefighter evidence begins. It ends with then London Fire Brigade commissioner Dany Cotton telling the inquiry she would change nothing about her team's response on the night of the fire. Survivors and the bereaved react with anger.
September 30 2018: The Government bans the use of combustible cladding on all new residential buildings above 18 metres, as well as schools, care homes, student accommodation and hospitals.
October 3 2018: Survivors, those who lost family in the fire and local residents begin giving evidence at the inquiry, with the first phase of the inquiry coming to a close the following month.
June 10 2019: Met Police Commander Stuart Cundy says there is no guarantee criminal damages will be brought over the fire.
June 18 2019: Survivors and bereaved families project a message on to the Houses of Parliament reading: "Two years after Grenfell, this building still hasn't kept its promises #DemandChange."
July 18 2019: A Commons Housing, Communities and Local Government Committee report accuses the Government of "not doing enough" to remove dangerous cladding from buildings, more than two years on from the blaze.
October 30 2019: The inquiry’s phase one report is published and concludes that the principal reason the flames shot up the building so quickly was the combustible aluminium composite material (ACM) cladding with polyethylene core which acted as a "source of fuel". It also finds the London Fire Brigade (LFB)'s preparation for a tower block fire such as Grenfell was "gravely inadequate".
November 6 2019: Jacob Rees-Mogg apologises for suggesting Grenfell victims should have used "common sense" and ignored fire service guidance not to leave the burning tower block.
March 11 2020: Then Chancellor Rishi Sunak announces a £1billion fund to remove unsafe cladding from high-rise residential buildings.
April 28 2020: Remediation work to address unsafe cladding on high-rise residential blocks pauses "on as many as 60% of sites" after the Covid-19 outbreak, then communities secretary Robert Jenrick says.
November 17 2020: Robert Jenrick said he hopes dangerous cladding like that used on the outside of Grenfell Tower will be removed from the majority of other buildings by the end of the year
April 29 2021: Campaigners condemn the Government's "indefensible" Fire Safety Bill, which will become law and leave hundreds of thousands of leaseholders paying to remove dangerous cladding from their buildings.
October 27 2021: The Government decides to charge property developers with profits of more than £25million a levy, to raise the £5billion fund to remove unsafe cladding, at a rate of 4%.
November 8 2021: Newly-appointed Housing Secretary Michael Gove says the Government "failed people at Grenfell" and did not always appreciate the importance of fire safety, in his first address to MPs in the role.
January 7-10 2022: Michael Gove says thousands of flat owners living in buildings taller than 11 metres will be spared the cost of removing dangerous cladding, and says developers must agree to a plan to fix it.
January 27 2022: The Grenfell Tower Inquiry enters Phase 2, which is investigating how the building came to be in a condition which allowed the fire to spread so quickly.
July 2023: The long-awaited Social Housing (Regulation) Act passes into law, including a requirement for social housing managers to have professional qualifications - a measure which had been called for by campaign group Grenfell United.
May 2024: Police confirm bereaved families and survivors face waiting until the end of 2026 for a decision on potential criminal charges over the fire. It means any convictions would likely follow the year after.
June 14 2024: On the seventh anniversary of the fire, campaigners from the infected blood scandal and the Covid Bereaved group join for the memorial walk.
August 26 2024: A non-fatal fire at a block of flats in east London which had been undergoing work to have cladding removed prompts fierce criticism of the slow pace of remediation works on dangerous buildings.
September 4 2024: The inquiry’s final report is published.