Duncan Bowie calls for criminal prosecutions to begin without delay while condemning an appalling litany of excuses, failures and greed
Having written an article for Chartist three weeks after the fire, it seems obscene that we have had to wait seven years for the findings of the Inquiry and that victims will have to wait at least a further year for justice. My original article asserted that the fire was an indictment of successive governments. I have been careful not to write anything further on Grenfell since then but was increasingly shocked as others were by the litany of incompetence and misrepresentation (to the point of fraud and corruption) demonstrated by witnesses. The years of hearings and the seven-volume report comprehensively record the failing at all levels of the public policy and regulatory system, but also the basic greed of all those companies and private professionals who had a role in the supply of dangerous products and their installation in the block, which before the refurbishment appears to have been structurally sound and not at risk of fire, at least not on the scale that occurred.
While the report is comprehensive, the report could perhaps have focused more on how the block was being used and on the policies which led to such a concentration of ethnic minority households, including families with children and people who were especially vulnerable because of their disabilities. While the council was the owner of the building, the property was managed by a so-called tenant management organisation (“so called” because the tenants had little control over the management of the block) while at least one housing association was using the block as temporary accommodation for homeless households.
In the 1980’s and 1990’s it was both government policy and policy of many local councils that tower blocks were not generally suitable for renting to families. In fact, councils received funding in relation to family households living above the 5th floor through the index of deprivation. Many councils moved families to lower rise homes and many tower blocks were in fact demolished. Thirty years later, councils are using high-rise blocks for the most vulnerable households. At the same time, we weakened the regulatory system which sought to protect occupants and failed to provide the resources to maintain the buildings. This shows just how far our housing policy has degenerated and the extent to which councils are having to use inappropriate housing in an attempt to respond to the needs of the homeless and poorest households for somewhere to live. Yet, in the rush to get more homes built, we are building more and more high-rise buildings, though this is seen as OK so long as these are for sale or market rent for the better off. However, the recent fire at New Providence wharf in Tower Hamlets has shown that these can still be dangerous. And only now is the Mayor insisting that new towers have two staircases, a point that has been obvious since the Lakanal house fire in Camberwell in 2009.
Apparently the Met Police have over 100 officers working on the Grenfell case. Surely there is enough material in the 2000+ page inquiry reports to identify individuals and corporate bodies who should be prosecuted. Some of the companies mentioned in the reports have been quick to respond either that they are not liable, or they have changed their procedures since the fire. Surely those who falsified the results of fire risks tests, or lied about whether their products were suitable for installation, should be prosecuted quickly. Learning from mistakes does not remove liability. And the professionals, architects, project managers and building control officers, who did not do their job properly are also liable. We must improve both regulation and training. Having taught planning in architecture schools in London universities, I am aware that insufficient attention has been given to matters such as planning, building control, use of materials, health and safety of occupants and fire risk. Being creative with computer-aided design as not enough. The report’s recommendation that the lead designer should sign off a building control application should be implemented immediately. If you get paid to do a job, you are responsible if you fail to do it properly. But it is not just the private companies and incompetent professionals that should be ashamed of themselves, it is also the politicians at national, and local level, and at Mayoral level too, who over the last two decades have carried on enabling high rise blocks without much thought to who might actually live in them and whether they would be suitable, and who ignored the reports on previous fires. You share some of the guilt for unavoidable deaths and for corporate manslaughter. Decisions matter but so does the failure to act.