Estates Gazette, New Civil Engineer and BE News quote David Savage on the Grenfell Phase 2 Inquiry report

The Grenfell Tower fire of 2017 was “the culmination of decades of failure by central government and other bodies in positions of responsibility in the construction industry”, the Grenfell Tower Inquiry has now concluded.

The 1,700-page report of the six-year public inquiry into the fire, which was published on 4 September 2024, identified a series of failures across the public and the private sector.

The report says experts raised concerns about cladding fires in the early 1990s following a fire at the 11-storey Knowsley Heights tower in Huyton, Merseyside. However, flammable cladding was not banned, despite a committee of MPs repeating concerns about cladding following another fire at a building in North Ayrshire, because the cladding had already been classed as meeting a British safety standard.

The inquiry has also made numerous other findings and statements, which are all summarised in the articles linked below.

David Savage, Partner in our Construction, Engineering & Projects team, comments on the report for Estates Gazette, New Civil Engineer and BE News:

Following the release of the Grenfell Tower Inquiry Phase 2 report, it is interesting and noticeable that Sir Keir Starmer has referenced the idea of personal evacuation plans, as these have previously not been taken forward under either the Fire Safety Act 2021 or the Building Safety Act 2022."

"On first look, the focus on the ethical shortcomings of the construction product manufacturers in the report is very striking, especially given the lack of their involvement in funding remedial works to date.

"In that context, it is also important to acknowledge the distinction between construction industry failings that can be attributed to "incompetence" as opposed to those that flowed from "dishonesty and greed".

"This report, as with its predecessor, is a vital read for the wider construction sector, politicians and businesses more broadly, asking what must be done ensure such a tragedy can never happen again.

Read the full articles in Estates Gazette, New Civil Engineer and BE News (subscriptions required).

Related coverage:

Building (in print)