GRENFELL TOWER INQUIRY REPORT CALLS FOR IMPROVED BUILDING SAFETY MEASURES
On Wednesday 4th September, the final 1,700-page report of a six-year public inquiry into the Grenfell Tower fire was published. It addresses the course of events leading up to the devastating fire in 2017, causing 72 deaths and further casualties as well as becoming the deadliest structural fire in the United Kingdom since the 1988 Piper Alpha oil-platform disaster and the worst UK residential fire since the Blitz of World War II.
The report concludes that the fire at Grenfell Tower was the “culmination of decades of failure by central government and other bodies in positions of responsibility in the construction industry to look carefully into the danger of incorporating combustible materials into the external walls of high-rise residential buildings and to act on the information available to them.”
To provide safer homes across the country, the Building Safety Act 2022 and other secondary legislation makes ground-breaking reforms to give residents and homeowners more rights, powers, and protections. Build UK’s Building Safety Guide continues to be a useful point of reference for the construction industry, providing a timeline of key changes taking effect and serving as a comprehensive guide to ensure businesses across the sector are aware of their responsibilities.
The Construction Leadership Council (CLC) and the Construction Products Association (CPA) are among those who have welcomed the publication of the Grenfell Tower Inquiry Report final report.
The CLC “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.” Much of the recent work it has conducted on building safety – one of the organisation’s highest priorities – are summarised in a recent report.
Similarly, the CPA declare that the report is a “powerful reminder, if we needed one, that we must double-down on safety”. The organisation is committed to continuing this work in relation to construction products: “We continue to work closely with manufacturers, government, the regulators and industry to develop and introduce new standards and legislation that will drive reform.”
Prime Minister Sir Kier Starmer has confirmed the Government will look in detail at the recommendations and respond in full within six months.