Grenfell Tower tragedy result of “decades of failure”

The Grenfell Tower fire was a result of “decades of failure” by government and other responsible bodies in the construction industry, the Phase 2 report of the Grenfell Tower inquiry has found today (September 4).

The final report into the fire that caused the deaths of 72 people in the 24-storey residential building in North Kensington in 2017, has concluded that these parties failed to carefully consider the danger of applying combustible materials to the external walls of high-rise residential buildings “and to act on the information available to them”.

Manufacturers’ “systemic dishonesty” was a “very significant reason” why Grenfell Tower became clad in combustible materials, the report finds. Those who made and sold the rainscreen cladding panels and insulation products “engaged in deliberate and sustained strategies to manipulate the testing processes, misrepresent test data and mislead the market”.

In terms of testing the primary insulation product used on the building - Celotex RS5000, a combustible polyisocyanurate foam insulation – the Building Research Establishment (BRE) was “complicit” in the above strategy.

The report explains the malpractices of manufacturers Celotex and Kingspan, whose insulation was used at Grenfell Tower. Celotex “embarked on a dishonest scheme to mislead …