Decades of systemic failure led to Grenfell, report finds

The Grenfell Tower fire that claimed the lives of 72 residents was the result of decades of failure by governments and the construction industry, a damning final report into the disaster has found.

- HOLLY EVANS

Eighteen children were among those killed in the 2017 blaze that the 24-storey block in flames while scores were trapped inside.

The tower, in Kensington, west London, had been coated in flammable materials because of the “systematic dishonesty” of firms who made and sold the cladding and insulation, inquiry chair Sir Martin Moore-Bick said yesterday.

The excoriating report concluded that all 72 deaths were avoidable, and condemned companies for the “deliberate and sustained” manipulation of fire-safety testing. Owners of the tower, the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea (RBKC), were also criticised, as was the tower’s tenants management organisation (TMO).

Families and survivors lashed out at the long delay to hold anyone to account, as the Crown Prosecution Service warned that any criminal charges are unlikely to be brought until the end of 2026.

Prime minister Sir Keir Starmer pledged the government would write to all companies involved in the failures “as the first step to stopping them being awarded government contracts”.

Key findings of the 1,700-page report include:

• Those living in Grenfell were badly failed by authorities and the construction industry through “calculated dishonesty and greed”

• Governments as far back as Tony Blair’s in 1999 were warned about the safety risk of fires in highrise blocks

• Successive governments under David Cameron and Theresa May received numerous warnings about the dangers of cladding materials between 2012 and 2017 but failed to take appropriate action

• Fire-safety testing was manipulated, test data misrepresented and the market misled by companies such as Arconic and insulation firms Kingspan and Celotex, the report claimed

• Emergency accommodation plans were inconsistent, with families crammed into one room and residents left sleeping in cars or on the grass