Grenfell Tower was turned into a deathtrap that claimed 72 lives due to ‘serious deficiencies’ in building standards, ‘dishonest’ manufacturers and a local authority with an ‘indifference’ to fire safety, a damning report has found.
Almost every organisation involved in the refurbishment and management of the 24-story, 120-apartment block in Kensington, west London, was found to shoulder some responsibility for the ‘decades of failure’ that contributed to the tragedy on June 14, 2017.
‘Unscrupulous’ manufacturers involved in the renovation of the 67-metre-tall tower a year earlier—including covering it in highly combustible cladding—were admonished for ‘systematic dishonesty’ and for ‘misleading customers’.
Architects demonstrated a ‘cavalier attitude’ to fire and safety regulations, while contractors and the cladding specialists did not properly concern themselves with the matter either.
Grenfell United, which represents some of the families, said Sir Martin Moore-Bick’s findings made it clear their lawyers were correct to tell the inquiry that corporate bodies, such as Kingspan, Celotex, and Arconic, were ‘little better than crooks and killers’.
Sir Martin, who today completed his 1,600-page inquiry report into failures in the build-up to the fire, said: ‘None of those involved in the design of the external wall or choice of materials acted in accordance with the standards of a reasonably competent person in their position.’
He said the fatal choice of combustible materials for the cladding of Grenfell Tower resulted ‘from a series of errors caused by the incompetence of the organisations and individuals involved in the refurbishment’.
But he also blamed the British Board of Agreement (BBA), the trade association, for its alleged incapacity to properly inspect construction materials used in the renovation before granting compliance certifications.
Sir Martin accused successive governments of an at-times ‘complacent and defensive’ attitude to safety, while the response to the tragedy from Theresa May’s own administration and the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea local council in the immediate aftermath was ‘muddled, slow, indecisive, and piecemeal’.
Sir Martin said both the council, which owned the tower and the Kensington and Chelsea Tenant Management Organisation (TMO), which ran it, showed a ‘persistent indifference to fire safety’, particularly that of its many vulnerable residents.
However, he saved some of his sharpest criticism for the people in charge of the renovation companies.
According to his initial investigation of the events of the fire night, the tower’s cladding panels violated building codes and deliberately contributed to the spread of the fire.
Building codes should be enforced by law, but they won’t be.
Those who are responsible should be brought to justice, and this should also impose a long prison sentence if they’re found guilty, and it should also be done as quickly as possible.
We will be told that lessons have been learnt, but they haven’t.
To have these public contracts approved, these large corporations lubricate the gears, and those tasked with making sure everything is in order merely turn a blind eye out of concern for the men who take them out to steak dinners at the golf course. For this reason, we need to follow the money.
High-rise flats are dangerous. Flats should only be four stories with lifts in them. Pull down all the high-rise flats and build new ones that have the highest building regulations. No cladding, just old-fashioned brick-built flats that can stand the test of time.
In my neighbourhood, there are apartments that are nearly completed. I asked one of the builders when they would finish. It says it all—he was unable to utter a word of English and needed someone to interpret for him. After that, he was clueless!
THE MONTHLY MOSQUITO 