Grenfell Tower: Landmark report finds government ignored warnings

The government was “well aware” of the deadly risks posed by combustible cladding and insulation a year before the Grenfell Tower fire, but “failed to act on what it knew”, a landmark report has found.

The report also said “systemic dishonesty” from cladding and insulation companies and a “toxic” relationship between the tower’s residents and the Tenant Management Organisation (TMO), which was responsible for running services, were contributing factors.

More than seven years on from the fire that claimed 72 lives, Grenfell Inquiry chair Sir Martin Moore-Bick has published his final findings into how the building in west London came to be in such a deadly state.

Sir Martin also concluded:

• Government officials were “complacent, defensive and dismissive” on fire safety, while cutting red tape was prioritised

• There was an “inappropriate relationship” between approved inspectors and those they were inspecting

• Grenfell residents who raised safety concerns were dismissed as “militant troublemakers”

The report details what it calls a “path to disaster” and “decades of failure”.

It asked: “How was it possible in 21st century London for a reinforced concrete building, itself structurally impervious to fire, to be turned into a death trap?”

“There is no simple answer to that question.”

Sir Martin’s report runs to nearly 1,700 pages, and encompasses years of work and the testimony of hundreds of witnesses.

It contains 58 recommendations to ensure a similar disaster never happens again.