The Week in Housing: the final Grenfell Tower Inquiry report did not hold back in delivering criticism

More than seven years after the Grenfell Tower fire claimed the lives of 72 people, the second and final report from the inquiry has been published.

The 1,571-page report, which examined what led to the disaster, was scathing in its conclusions. It attacked central government’s failure to prevent the fire despite being “well aware” of the risks and was critical of social landlords for a “serious failure to observe basic responsibilities”.

It said “systematic dishonesty” by product manufacturers was a “very significant reason” why Grenfell Tower was clad in such dangerous materials.

The section on the manufacturers also contained heavy criticism of various bodies that certified products, such as the British Board of Agrément (BBA), a significant organisation in the construction industry.

It said the “dishonest” strategies of the corporations succeeded “in a large measure because of the incompetence of the BBA… and an ingrained willingness to accommodate customers instead of insisting on high standards”, which had allowed it to become “the victim of dishonest behaviour on the part of unscrupulous manufacturers”.

It also criticised the Building Research Establishment (BRE) – the national building science centre for the British government until it was privatised in 1997 – as having “sacrificed rigorous application of principle to its commercial interests”.

The report concluded that Grenfell Tower’s social housing provider, the Kensington and Chelsea Tenant Management Organisation, was responsible for “chronic and systemic failings” in fire safety management, as well as a “toxic” relationship with the tower’s residents, who came to regard it as an “uncaring and bullying overlord that belittled and marginalised them”.

The report made no fresh recommendations for social landlords, saying recent legal changes, in particular the Social Housing (Regulation) Act, are sufficient to drive reform.

However, this decision drew some criticism from the former chair of Grenfell Tower’s leaseholder association, lawyers for the community and campaigners.

And prime minister Sir Keir Starmer pledged, in response to the report, to make sure social landlords were “held to account” for the safety of the homes they provide.

He also announced the government would write to “all companies found by the inquiry to be part of these horrific failings as the first step to stopping them being awarded government contracts”.

Inside Housing has outlined the reaction to the report here, and looked at what it said about the key players in the disaster.

Before the report came out, it emerged that the government is planning to introduce personal emergency evacuation plans (PEEPs) for disabled residents, five years after they were recommended by phase one of the Grenfell Tower Inquiry.

Rushanara Ali, the building safety minister, confirmed in a statement to parliament on 2 September that plans for “residential PEEPs” would be brought forward by the Home Office in the autumn.

Under the plans, residents with disabilities and impairments will be entitled to a “person-centred risk assessment” to identify appropriate equipment and adjustments to aid their fire safety or evacuation.

Elsewhere, a cross-party coalition of more than 100 councils called on the government to usher in solutions to England’s “broken” council housing system, including a multimillion-pound cash injection and reforms to Right to Buy.

Their call came in a new report, Secure the future of council housing, which was launched at an event in Westminster on Tuesday. It detailed solutions to fix council home funding after years of an “unsustainable financial model and erratic national policy changes”.

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