Part 2: The path to disaster

Chapter 3: Introduction to Part 2

¶3.1 One of the primary purposes of our Inquiry has been to find out how a relatively modern building like Grenfell Tower could have fallen prey to a fire of such magnitude and ferocity as to destroy it almost completely, taking the lives of so many of its occupants. Although a disaster of that kind may appear to some to have come out of the blue, there is inevitably an important history of events that provide not only the context in which it occurred but also part of the explanation for it. In this Part of our report we describe the background to the fire and identify the main events that set the scene for what later occurred.

¶3.2 In a modern society one of the functions of the government is to introduce and enforce effective measures to ensure that the built environment is reasonably safe for those who live and work in it. For many years building work in England and Wales has been subject to regulation and in his Phase 1 report the chairman provided a summary of the primary and secondary legislation affecting the construction and the later refurbishment of Grenfell Tower and the statutory guidance relating to it. If it is to be effective, however, legislation and guidance of that kind must be kept under review and revised from time to time to ensure that it responds to developments in materials and methods of construction. In this Part of our report we examine the part played by the government and certain other organisations in responding to developments in the construction industry and the growing body of knowledge about the behaviour of certain materials, particularly when exposed to fire. We also examine the broader approach of the government to intervening in aspects of commercial activity in order to protect its citizens from the harmful effects of fire.

¶3.3 This Part of our report complements Part 3, in which we examine the way in which some of the products used in the refurbishment of Grenfell Tower were tested and marketed. The conclusion we have drawn from the facts described in Parts 2 and 3 is that in this case there were serious failures in the system designed to keep people safe. We describe those failures in Chapter 29.