The Grenfell Tower Public Inquiry today published its final report on the investigation into the fire at Grenfell Tower on 14 June 2017.

Bindmans represent over 200 of the core participants at the inquiry including bereaved, survivors, and residents of Grenfell Tower.

The Inquiry began its investigation six years ago and today the chair delivered his conclusions and the most damning verdict on all public and commercial bodies involved in the refurbishment and management of Grenfell Tower. 

What counsel to the Inquiry previously described as a merry-go-round of buck passing was today dramatically halted as the Chair uncompromisingly described decades of failure and complacency by central government, the lack of integrity and independence by product certification bodies, systemic dishonesty by the manufacturers who produced the insulation and cladding materials, the persistent failure by the TMO to give attention to safety concerns, the catalogue of mistakes made by the architect and the contractor and subcontractors of the refurbishment, and the London Fire Brigade.  

 Sir Martin Moore-Bick said that those who lived in Grenfell Tower were:

“Badly failed over a number of years and in a number of different ways by those who were responsible for ensuring the safety of the building and the occupants. They include the government, the Tenant Management Organisation, the local council – Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, those who manufactured and supplied the material used in the refurbishment, those who certified their suitability for use on a high-rise building, the architect, the principal contractor, and some of its sub-contractors particularly Harley Curtain Wall and its successor Harley Facades, some of the consultants in particular the fire engineer, the Local Authority Buildings Department and the London Fire Brigade. Not all of them bear the same degree of responsibility for the eventual disaster, but as our reports show all contributed to it in one way or another. In most cases, through incompetence, but in some cases they were dishonest and driven by greed.

“The failings can be traced back over many years and our efforts to get to the bottom of what went wrong and why account for the length of our report and the time we have taken to produce it. However, if an inquiry of this kind is to produce anything of value it is necessary for those who can influence the future direction of the construction industry, the fire and rescue services, the management of fire safety in buildings and resilience planning to understand where exactly mistakes were made and how these can be avoided in the future”

The detailed report (which can be found here) sets out the findings of the Inquiry, including the 58 recommendations for transforming the construction industry and protecting the lives of those who live in higher risk buildings.

Grenfell United, a group of survivors and bereaved families from the Tower, made a statement to the press which can be found here.

Jules Carey a partner in Bindmans said:

The long-held beliefs of the bereaved, survivors and residents of Grenfell Tower were today cast as fact in the findings by the Chair of the Public Inquiry in his condemnatory report. Incompetence, dishonesty and greed were found to be the causes of the completely avoidable deaths of 72 people, the destruction of 151 homes and the shattering of the community. Our clients welcome the conclusion of the Inquiry and now call on the government to urgently implement all 58 recommendations made by Sir Martin Moore-Bick and on the Metropolitan Police and CPS to push on with their investigation and conclude their work with haste.

The participants were represented by Anna Thwaites, Alla Murphy, Jules Carey, Paul Ridge, Emily-Jade Defriend, Joseph Morgan, Nigel Lunn, Will Whitaker, Siddharth Sangameswaran, Sam Phillips and Jessie Slim of Bindmans, along with Danny Friedman KC, Raj Desai and Ifeanyi Odogwu of Matrix Chambers, Stephanie Barwise KC and Dalton Hale of Atkin Chambers and Marie-Claire O’Kane of 4 New Square Chambers.