Decades of UK government failures led to Grenfell fire, report finds

Decades of failures by the British government and parts of the construction industry directly contributed to the 2017 Grenfell Tower fire, a public inquiry's final report found.

Seventy-two people have died in Britain's worst fire disaster since World War II, when flames engulfed the exterior of a newly refurbished high-rise apartment building in west London.

The fire started in a refrigerator in the fourth-floor kitchen and spread through the building’s exterior walls. Residents who were initially told to stay behind fire doors were trapped on higher floors, and many lost consciousness or died from inhaling toxic fumes before the flames reached them.

A report released Wednesday found that successive governments have failed to enforce reliable safety standards for building materials manufacturers and failed to prevent manufacturers from actively misleading the market and regulators.

The inquiry's chairman, Sir Martin Moore-Vick, accused the Department for Housing of repeatedly ignoring warnings for years that some cladding systems could pose serious risks to life.

His report found the department to be complacent, poorly run and defensive, running a woefully inadequate and fragmented regulatory system and that David Cameron's government had prioritised deregulation over safety.

Even issues affecting life safety were ignored, delayed or ignored, and the government steadfastly resisted calls across the fire service to regulate fire risk assessors and revise the Fire Safety Order, it said.

The Department of Housing added that it had allowed dishonest manufacturers of products used on the exterior of high-rise buildings to engage in a deliberate and sustained strategy to manipulate the testing process, misrepresent data and mislead the market.

The report cited US firm Arconic, which supplied the main cladding used on Grenfell Tower, as well as Britain's Celotex and Ireland's Kingspan, which provided insulation for the building.

Prime Minister Keir Starmer said on Wednesday the government would write to all affected companies to stop them from winning public sector contracts in the future.

A Downing Street spokesman also revealed the Government was considering criminal charges against companies that fail to quickly replace hazardous cladding on other buildings.

The first phase of the investigation, which ended in December 2018 and dealt with what happened in the early hours of June 14, 2017, concluded that the main reason the fire spread so quickly was the external cladding, made of aluminium with a polyethylene core. The insulation boards contributed to the speed at which the fire spread.

The Wednesday report accused Arconic of pursuing a deliberate strategy to keep selling. [the cladding material] In the UK, it claimed damages based on false claims about its fire performance.

Celotex, which manufactured the combustible foam insulation used at Grenfell, engaged in a dishonest scheme to mislead customers and the market as a whole about the safety of its product, the report found.

The report also accused officials at the privatized building research institute that conducted the fire tests of complicity in the strategy.

The report said Irish company Kingspan also provided misleading information about the fire safety of its insulation products, taking advantage of the industry's ignorance and the market's willingness to rely on its claims.

Arconic has acknowledged its role as one of the material suppliers involved in the rebuilding of Grenfell Tower and has made a financial contribution to the settlement and restorative justice fund for those affected.

Celotex said it has reviewed and improved its process controls to meet industry best practices since the fire and is cooperating fully with all investigations.

Kingspan has long acknowledged that there were historical failings in parts of the UK insulation business that were wholly unacceptable, but added that this was not the cause of the tragedy.

Natasha Elcock, chair of the Grenfell United campaign group, speaks to the press in London on Wednesday. Carl Court/Getty Images

The British Board of Aggression, a trade body that certifies products as compliant with legislative requirements, was also criticised. The report added that Arconic and Kingspan's dishonest strategies were largely successful due to the BBA's incompetence.

The inquiry also placed blame for the disaster at the local level, with the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, the council responsible for overseeing social housing regulations, showing a persistent lack of concern for fire safety, particularly for vulnerable people.

The report found that residents of Grenfell Tower viewed the tenant management body that ran the building as an indifferent and bullying overlord who belittled and alienated them.

The TMO's then chief executive, Robert Black, was doggedly reluctant to inform the committee about matters affecting fire safety.

The London Fire Brigade has also been criticised in detail. Its inability to fight fires in high-rise buildings has been attributed to a chronic lack of effective management and leadership. This failure has been exacerbated by the entrenched but unfounded assumption that building regulations are sufficient to ensure that the types of external fires known to occur in other countries do not occur in this country.

The report said former Prime Minister Theresa May's government's response to the fires was confusing, slow, indecisive and piecemeal.

The report added that there was a marked lack of respect for human dignity and decency, with many people feeling abandoned by authority and utterly helpless.

Grenfell United, which speaks on behalf of fire survivors and their families, said justice had not been served and called on the Government to ban Arconic, Kingspan and Celotex from taking on public sector contracts.

Assistant Chief Constable Stuart Cundy said the criminal investigation would proceed as quickly as possible but the report would have to be considered alongside other evidence and could take at least 12 to 18 months.

Starmer said the report identified substantial and widespread failings and pledged to consider its recommendations carefully. He added in a statement that he hoped those outside government would do the same.

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