The Grenfell Tower Inquiry has published its second and final report into the circumstances leading up to and surrounding the Grenfell Tower disaster in 2017.

Seven years on from the tragedy, the report has examined the underlying causes of the fire to identify where mistakes were made and how Grenfell Tower came to be in a condition which allowed the fire to spread.

Inquiry chairman, the Rt Hon Sir Martin Moore-Bick, said the deaths of 72 people in the Grenfell Tower fire were “all avoidable”, and that those who lived in Grenfell Tower were “badly failed over a number of years by those who were responsible for ensuring the safety of its occupants”.

Sir Martin went on to explain that while not all of them bear the same degree of responsibility for the eventual disaster, “all contributed to it in one way or another, in most cases through incompetence but in some cases through dishonesty and greed.”

He explained the second part of the investigations had taken longer than originally hoped because, as those investigations progressed, the inquiry uncovered many more matters of concern than had previously been expected.

The first Grenfell report was published on October 30, 2019 and focused on the events of June 14, 2017.

Recommendations put forward by the inquiry panel in the second report include:

•  Bringing responsibility for all aspects of fire safety under one government department.
• The appointment of a construction regulator to oversee all aspects of the construction industry.
• The establishment of a body of professional fire engineers, properly regulated and with protected status and the introduction of mandatory fire safety strategies for higher-risk buildings.
•  A licensing scheme for contractors wishing to undertake the construction or refurbishment of higher-risk buildings.
• The regulation and mandatory accreditation of fire risk assessors.
• The establishment of a College of Fire and Rescue to provide practical, educational and managerial training to fire and rescue services.
• The introduction of a requirement for the government to maintain a publicly accessible record of recommendations made by select committees, coroners and public inquiries, describing the steps taken in response or its reasons for declining to implement them.

The Construction Industry Council (CIC) said it and its member organisations were now reviewing the full report and its recommendations and carefully considering the further actions that will need to take place.

In a statement the CIC said: “Whilst much work has already been done through the independent review of building regulations and fire safety undertaken by Dame Judith Hackitt and the consequent programme of regulatory reform that has been introduced and which the industry is working hard to implement, Sir Martin has clearly identified several further matters that require attention and CIC will be working with its members, the wider industry and government to develop appropriate responses to those matters, ensuring that they are given the critical and expedient attention that they demand.”

Janet Young, director general at the Institution of Civil Engineers, added: “ The Institution of Civil Engineers and the wider built environment industry will need time to review and reflect on its findings to understand how they should inform our approach going forwards.

“Over the past seven years, the ICE has taken a leading role to ensure lessons are learned from what happened at Grenfell. Our 2018 report, In Plain Sight, provided recommendations to improve lesson-sharing, competence and governance of infrastructure projects.

“And we have worked closely with members, other professional engineering institutions and industry partners to increase transparency, improve professional development, and raise awareness about the importance of risk management.

“We have continued to emphasise approaching safety risk management not just as a professional issue, but an ethical one.

“Reducing the risk of infrastructure failure and keeping people safe is something we are all responsible for.”

Last week the Construction Leadership Council (CLC) published a report on progress made by the industry to improve building safety, in response to the Grenfell Tower tragedy.

It set out how the CLC and the wider industry have taken forward work in relation to five key areas - leadership and culture; safe design; safe construction; safe products and safe occupation.

It said whilst progress has been made, much work remains to be done to fulfil the CLC’s ambition of “an industry in which culture, behaviours and competence have been transformed to deliver safe buildings”.

It also set out the ongoing work in relation to building safety, one of the CLC’s four strategic priorities, and noted this work will be reviewed in the light of the publication of the Phase 2 Report of the Grenfell Tower Inquiry.