London, Thanasis Gavos

Governments, construction companies, contractors, local councils and the fire service are being blamed by the long-awaited conclusion of the independent public inquiry into the circumstances that led to the deadly Grenfell Tower fire in west London in June 2017.

“The simple truth is that all the deaths could have been avoided,” the head of the inquiry, Sir Martin Moore-Bick, said as he launched the 1,700-page report. The 72 victims of the tragedy and the survivors were betrayed by the government, the administrators, the municipality, the manufacturers and suppliers of materials used in the renovation of the building, the architect, the contractors and the fire department, added the former senior judge.

The fire in the 24-storey apartment building had started from a fridge-freezer in an apartment on the fourth floor. Flames engulfed the remaining 19 higher floors within 14 minutes.

The rapid spread of the fire has been attributed by the finding of the first phase of the same investigation to the inadequate insulating and decorative envelope of the building. This relatively inexpensive exterior cladding, based on combustible material, had been installed some time before the fire.

In summary, the finding complains:

  • “systemic dishonesty” by manufacturers of insulation, who used “deliberate and ongoing strategies” to hide the fire safety risk of their materials
  • “inability” of contracting companies to make fire safety decisions
  • “decades of failure” by successive governments since the early 1990s to take advantage of the “many opportunities” to solve the problem of combustible external cladding of high-rise buildings
  • dangerous emphasis by David Cameron’s first government in 2010 on relaxing building safety regulations which led to laxity and delays in implementing fire safety rules
  • ‘indifference’ from Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea and Grenfell’s local authority despite tenants’ suggestions of fire safety concerns
  • a “lack of strategy” by the London Fire Service to evacuate the building and an “unfounded assumption” that a fire with the characteristics of Grenfell Tower could not occur.

The finding cannot lead to criminal charges but could be used by the Metropolitan Police who are conducting what has been described as “the most complex police investigation in British history”. They have been identified as suspects of committing crimes such as serial negligent homicide, fraud, obstruction of justice, etc. 58 individuals and 19 organizations or companies.

Evidence from the Tower was collected over 415 days and is in a London warehouse, in an amount that would fill 25 double-decker buses.

The finding also includes 58 recommendations to take measures to prevent a similar tragedy in the future, such as the mandatory fire safety report for high-rise buildings and the establishment of a specialist building fire safety engineering body.

It is noted that since the Grenfell Tower fire the same or similar unsuitable external cladding has been found in 4,613 high-rise buildings in Britain, with replacement work having started on less than half.