Grenfell Inquiry report prompts calls for change

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Scotland’s largest trade association, SELECT, has echoed the Grenfell Inquiry’s call for regulation and a shake-up of the construction industry; urging the Scottish government to “step up and act on regulation” before tragedy strikes again.

The campaigning body says it agrees with inquiry chair Sir Martin Moore-Bick that the sector needs “fundamental change” to avoid a repeat of the tragic blaze in which 72 people lost their lives in June 2017.

Launched on Wednesday this week, the Grenfell Tower inquiry’s second report provided a damning indictment of the government, the companies, the public and private sector agencies, manufacturers, products and procedures, that all to a lesser or greater extent contributed to the disaster.

As Moore-Bick said at the launch: “The simple truth is that the deaths that occurred were all avoidable and those who lived in the tower were badly failed over many years.”

He pulled no punches; ripe among the fundamental causes of the tragedy was what proved to be a lethal cocktail of “incompetence”, “dishonesty and greed”.

The inquiry panel’s recommendations include:

• Bringing responsibility for all aspects of fire safety under one government department

• The appointment of a construction regulator to oversee all aspects of the construction industry

• The establishment of a body of professional fire engineers, properly regulated, and with protected status and the introduction of mandatory fire safety strategies for higher-risk buildings

• A licensing scheme for contractors wishing to undertake the construction or refurbishment of higher-risk buildings

• The regulation and mandatory accreditation of fire risk assessors

• The establishment of a College of Fire and Rescue to provide practical, educational and managerial training to fire and rescue services

• The introduction of a requirement for the government to maintain a publicly accessible record of recommendations made by select committees, coroners and public inquiries, describing the steps taken in response or its reasons for declining to implement them

Responding to the inquiry report, SELECT’s managing director, Alan Wilson said: “As an organisation which has always put safety first and foremost, we welcome the call from the Grenfell Inquiry for an industry regulator, and we can only reiterate that this report reinforces the absolute importance of regulation in our sector.

“We have been calling for similar measures for more than a decade but despite significant cross-party support, our pleas have so far fallen on deaf ears among those who have the power – but apparently not the will – to make it happen.

“When is the government going to act? Will it take another disaster for it to wake up and do something? Grenfell should be a catalyst for real change and the politicians have the power in their hands to make that happen and step up and act on regulation.

“Electrical safety is a very real issue and regulation of the industry would help eliminate the risks posed by unqualified people carrying out potentially dangerous work.”

Serious and comprehensive

In a statement, the Construction Leadership Council (CLC) welcomed the final report’s publication. It said: “The Inquiry’s findings are a serious and comprehensive reflection of the worst of UK construction’s culture and practices; which led to a tragedy that should and could have been avoided. We fully respect those findings and offer our sympathies and condolences to the families and wider Grenfell community.

“The Inquiry has also put forward a number of recommendations for both our industry and government, to ensure that such a tragedy is never repeated. The CLC, as the representative body for the entire UK construction industry, will now study these recommendations and engage with industry and the government as to how they can be taken forward through our ongoing work on building safety.

“Over the past seven years the CLC and its many members have made building safety one of our highest priorities, actively working to learn from the failures at Grenfell and reform our culture, behaviours and competence. Much of that work is summarised in a recent CLC report here. Whilst progress has been made, we know that more work can and should be done to fulfil the CLC’s ambition of establishing an industry that can be trusted to deliver safe and high quality buildings for those who live and work in them. We remain fully committed to this goal.”

The organisers of the UK Construction Week trade show, said: “Following the publication of this week’s report on the Grenfell Tower fire, we hope that the industry can learn and move forward to avoid future tragedy.

“Through our own conversations and panel discussions with leaders from across the supply chain, we understand that there are many tough challenges for delivering the required level of building safety, and that some of the improvements needed cannot happen overnight.

“However, it is now over seven years since the Grenfell Tower tragedy took 72 lives, and we call upon the Government and industry to act expeditiously to put the needed measures in place to prevent any more deaths from dangerous cladding and insulation.”

CIBSE said the release of the final report “stands as a significant and poignant moment” in the “ongoing reckoning” with the devastating loss of 72 lives in June 2017.

“This is a deeply emotional and harrowing chapter for the bereaved, the survivors and the families of the Grenfell Tower victims,” the organisation added. “CIBSE recognises the suffering that has persisted, and our hearts go out, once more, to all those whose lives were forever altered by this unimaginable tragedy.”

Dr Anastasia Mylona, CIBSE’s technical director, added: “The findings of the Grenfell Inquiry report are both sobering and a stark reminder of the critical need for transparency, integrity and robust regulation within our industry. As the report highlights systemic failures, CIBSE remains committed to driving the necessary reforms in building and fire safety engineering practices. Our role is to ensure that the highest standards are upheld, and that the safety of residents is always the paramount concern in the built environment.”

Ahead of the report’s publication on Wednesday, Nicola John, managing director at Fire Door Maintenance (FDM), part of UAP, said: “The Grenfell Inquiry Phase 2 report underscores the vital need for rigorous fire door maintenance and compliance. The failure of fire doors during the Grenfell tragedy is a stark reminder of the importance of maintaining these life-saving systems according to manufacturers’ guidelines.

“We need mandatory, detailed inspections for all buildings, regardless of height, and greater accountability across the industry. That’s why FDM is advocating for a central register of qualified operatives—inspectors, maintainers, and installers—so that we can ensure fire doors consistently meet the highest safety standards and prevent future tragedies.

“It’s something the industry direly needs, and FDM is bridging the gap, providing holistic training for the industry in order to make this a reality.”

Industry shaping

BRE – one of the organisations named and shamed in the inquiry report – said in a statement on its website: “BRE welcomes the publication of the Grenfell Tower Inquiry’s report and fully supports the process of ensuring that a tragedy such as this can never happen again. We have nothing but the deepest sympathy for the friends and families of those who lost their lives, and all those whose lives were changed by the fire.

“We will be reviewing the report and its recommendations and will continue to work constructively with government to ensure the new building safety and testing regime delivers on the findings of the Inquiry’s report and is fit for purpose.”

Likewise included in the roll-call of dishonour, Local Authority Building Control (LABC), said in its response to the report’s publication: “Our first thoughts and deepest sympathies remain with the bereaved families and survivors who must be finding this a particularly difficult and distressing time.

“The Inquiry’s final report and recommendations will shape the industry for decades to come.

“We are pleased to see such a comprehensive review of the tragedy at Grenfell Tower. The Inquiry has had significant statutory powers which have enabled it to see things others could not see. Following our own internal investigations into historic activities within LABC, we note that the conclusions reached by the inquiry entirely coincide with our own.

“LABC cooperated fully with the Inquiry throughout, providing detailed evidence and testimony. We can see there are justified criticisms about some of our actions at the time. LABC admitted errors at the very first opportunity and apologised immediately and repeatedly. Again, we wholeheartedly acknowledge and apologise for any areas where LABC has failed in the past.

“LABC today is not the same organisation as it was. Even before the Inquiry started, we embarked on a period of radical change as an organisation. We take the Inquiry’s conclusions extremely seriously and will continue the process of reform within LABC itself, and the promotion of new standards, the building safety regime and the registration of the building control profession.

“We are completely committed to playing our part in educating, building and validating the competence and standards of the building control sector so that we can help deliver safe and decent homes and buildings for all.”

In a statement from Arconic, the company maintained that its subsidiary, Arconic Architectural Products SAS (AAP), sold safe and legal products; sheets of aluminium composite material used to manufacture the rainscreen for the Grenfell Tower refurbishment.

“The fire was a terrible tragedy and as Arconic remembers the 72 people who died, our thoughts remain with the families, friends and all of those affected,” the company added.

“AAP was a core participant in the Inquiry and has acknowledged its role as one of the material suppliers involved in the refurbishment of Grenfell Tower.

“The company respects the Inquiry process. AAP cooperated fully with the work of the Inquiry and will continue to engage with further legal processes. Together with other parties, AAP has made financial contributions to settlements for those affected, as well as to the restorative justice fund.

The company added that throughout the Inquiry, AAP has maintained a number of points:

• AAP sold sheets of aluminium composite material as specified in the design process. This product was safe to use as a building material, and legal to sell in the UK as well as the more than thirty other countries in which AAP customers purchased the product. We reject any claim that AAP sold an unsafe product

• AAP regularly conducted tests of its materials using third-party testing bodies. Reports on these results were all publicly available, and AAP made these reports available to its customers

• AAP did not conceal information from or mislead any certification body, customer, or the public

Kingspan welcomed the publication of the Grenfell Tower Inquiry Phase 2 report, describing it as “crucial to a public understanding of what went wrong and why”.

In its statement, the company added: “The report explains clearly and unambiguously that the type of insulation (whether combustible or non-combustible) was immaterial, and that the principal reason for the fire spread was the PE ACM cladding, which was not made by Kingspan.

“Kingspan has long acknowledged the wholly unacceptable historical failings that occurred in part of our UK insulation business. These were in no way reflective of how we conduct ourselves as a Group, then or now. While deeply regrettable, they were not found to be causative of the tragedy.

“Kingspan has already emphatically addressed these issues, including the implementation of extensive and externally-verified measures to ensure our conduct and compliance standards are world leading.

“We remain committed to playing a leading role in providing safe and sustainable building solutions, including continuing to work with government and industry partners.”

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