Damning Grenfell report lays bare 'path to disaster'

LONDON:

The UK's Grenfell Tower fire disaster that killed 72 people was the result of "decades of failure" by government and construction industry bodies and the "systematic dishonesty" of building material firms, a final report said Wednesday.

Unveiling the damning findings of an independent probe into the 2017 tragedy, inquiry chair Martin Moore-Bick said the deaths were "all avoidable" and the victims had been "badly failed".

Some of those who played a part in sowing the seeds of the disaster had shown "incompetence", as well as "dishonesty and greed", he said.

The fire in the early hours of June 14, 2017, spread rapidly through the 24-storey block in west London due to highly combustible cladding fixed to the exterior.

Starting in a faulty freezer on the fourth floor, the blaze took barely half an hour to climb to the building's top floor with catastrophic consequences.

The report marks the end of the long-running inquiry into Britain's worst residential fire since World War II.

It makes scathing criticism of successive governments and other influential bodies, as well as architects, over a refurbishment of Grenfell that led to the cladding and other dangerous materials being installed.

In particular, the report condemns firms involved in the supply of rainscreen cladding panels and other insulation products.

Accusing them of "systematic dishonesty", it said they "engaged in deliberate and sustained strategies to manipulate the testing processes, misrepresent test data and mislead the market".

'Crooks and killers'

Following the release of the report Grenfell United, which represents some of the survivors and victims, called on government to act urgently.

"The government must now exert control over the sector to prevent further dismantling of public safety, which used to be their main job, not aiding and abetting crooks and killers."