Praise saved only for community in Grenfell report that blames ‘decades of government failure’
By Claudia Lee and Adrian Zorzut
The Grenfell Tower disaster was the result of “decades of failure” by central government to stop the use of combustible cladding as well as the “systematic dishonesty” of multimillion-dollar companies and “persistent indifference” to fire safety issues from the local authority’s housing management, a public inquiry has found.
The final report on the Grenfell tragedy was published this morning, six years after the inquiry began hearing evidence about what led to the deaths of 72 people in the 2017 fire.
In the 1,700-page report, chairman of the inquiry Sir Martin Moore-Bick found that the Arconic, Kingspan and Celotex firms “deliberately” misled the market over combustible construction materials.
But some of the most stinging criticism was levelled at Kensington and Chelsea council (RBKC) and the Tenant Management Organisation (TMO) which ran the building at the time.
The panel accused the TMO of showing a “persistent indifference” to fire safety and the safety of vulnerable people, which “amounted to a basic neglect of its obligations in relation to fire safety”.
It said the council took little to no account of a highly-critical 2009 review into fire safety at Grenfell Tower, and was unaware of another report four years later because the TMO had failed to disclose it to the council.
The panel slammed the council’s response to the tragedy, saying the lack of trained staff and disaster preparedness planning meant the response was “muddled, slow, indecisive and piecemeal”.
The panel wrote: “None of that was due to any lack of financial resources.”
The panel called on the council to improve staff training and its preparedness for major emergencies. It also called on legislation changes to allow the Government to step in more easily when a local authority is failing in a crisis.
Praise was saved only for the local community, which the report said threw itself into the response.
The panel wrote: “With the support of local volunteer organisations, the local community provided support in the hours immediately following the fire when the authorities were conspicuous by their absence.”
In the years before the disaster, the inquiry said the government was “well aware” of the risks posed by highly-flammable cladding but failed to act on what it knew.
The report said the government also failed to act on a coroner’s 2013 recommendation to tighten up fire safety regulations after a cladding fire at Lakanal House in 2009, a 14-story tower block on the Sceaux Estate in Camberwell.
Three children were among the six who died in the fire on July 3, 2009.
The victims were Dayana Francisquini, 26, and her children, Thais, six, and Felipe, three; Helen Udoaka, 34, and her three-week-old daughter Michelle; and Catherine Hickman, 31.
All six died on the 11th floor after being told to wait in the building by the London Fire Brigade (LFB).
Following a 50-day inquest in 2013, the coroner Judge Frances Kirkham made various recommendations including to retrofit sprinklers in high-rise buildings, review the “stay-put” policy and review building regulations on combustible materials.
The coroner could not legally compel public bodies to adopt the changes.
Following the release of the Grenfell Report today, the Met said it would spend 12 to 18 months looking over the findings before possible charges, which could include corporate manslaughter, gross negligence manslaughter, fraud, perverting the course of justice and misconduct in public office.
The Crown Prosecution Service is yet to make any charging decisions and trials are not expected to start until 2027.
Pictured top: The Grenfell Tower fire in 2017 – 72 people were killed in the blaze (Picture: PA)