“Decades of failure” – The Grenfell report

The publication of the long-awaited report in the Grenfell Tower tragedy arrived yesterday and made grim reading for almost every institution and company involved.

Chaired by Sir Martin Moore-Bick, the Phase 2 report examined how the fire, which claimed 72 lives, was able to spread so quickly and fatally. The largest share of the blame was placed at the feet of manufacturers who engaged in “systematic dishonesty” about the safety of materials and cladding used in the construction of the tower.

The British state also did not escape blame. The report found that successive governments were “well aware” of the risks that cladding posed but “failed to act on what it knew”. Instead, these lessons went unheeded and amounted to “decades of failure” on the part of central government.

The plethora of evidence that was presented to central government on the risks posed regarding the materials on some tower blocks makes it hard to understand why such a significant hazard was ignored over such a prolonged period of time. The Knowsley Heights fire in Merseyside in 1991 should have been a wake-up call for central government to act on concerns around cladding and fire safety. Enquiries were made before the fire as recently as 2016, with the then Department of Communities and Local Government failing to act on safety concerns that were brought to its attention. The report went as far as to say that the government “displayed a complacent and at times defensive attitude to matters affecting fire safety.”

The various belated attempts of previous governments to make changes to building safety have caused sustained anger and misery for hundreds of thousands of people, stuck in limbo and unable to sell their properties. Locked in a battle with manufacturers, the government has been forced to spend millions of pounds to support residents through the Fire Safety Act 2021 and then the Building Safety Act 2022, at an ever-growing cost. It is estimated that up to a million people are still living in homes which are at risk.

Despite the urgency of the need for action it seems that little progress will be made quickly. The government has said that it will take up to six months for a formal response to the report and criminal charges are not expected until 2027. Some of the recommendations include appointing a construction regulator to oversee the industry, bring all fire safety recommendations under one government department and introduce mandatory safety strategies for higher risk buildings. It is now up to the new government to bring a semblance of justice to the survivors, the families of the victims and to take action to protect those still living in unsafe buildings. 

The Prime Minister has pledged to accelerate the removal of unsafe cladding – with legal force if necessary. His speech in the Commons yesterday began with five sobering words “It should never have happened.” With the depth and breadth of the evidence against those responsible it is hard to disagree with his assessment. Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner echoed Sir Keir’s comments and condemned the systemic failures. In her role Secretary of State for Housing and Communities she said that to “do everything we possibly can to speed this up” there may need to be “changes to legislation…in light of the report findings”.

As we learn the lessons of this shocking tragedy, and remember the victims, we must ensure government, industry and public institutions come together to ensure nothing like this happens again.