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The Grenfell Tower fire that killed 72 people in 2017 was the “culmination of decades of failure” by successive governments, companies, and fire services, a six-year-long public inquiry into the disaster concluded on Wednesday.
The deaths caused by Britain’s deadliest residential blaze since World War II were “all avoidable,” inquiry chair Martin Moore-Bick said following the release of the damning report.
Manufacturers responsible for the installation of highly combustible cladding and insulation during the West London tower block’s refurbishment a year before the fire engaged in “deliberate and sustained attempts to manipulate the testing processes, misrepresent data, and mislead the market,” the report said.
Safety warnings were dismissed by successive coalition and Conservative governments as the pressure to slash red tape “dominated” decision-making, it added.
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Grenfell United, which represents survivors and bereaved families of the fire, said that justice had “still not been delivered” years after the disaster.
“To prevent a future Grenfell, the government needs to create something that doesn’t exist: a government with the power and ability to separate itself from the construction industry and corporate lobbying, putting people before profit,” the organization wrote.
Around 2,300 residential buildings 11 meters in height and over in England are yet to begin remediation work to remove dangerous cladding, according to recent government data.