Grenfell Tower Inquiry

5 November 2019

The public inquiry into the fire at Grenfell Tower has published its first report into what happened at Grenfell in 2017.

The report makes wide ranging recommendations to ensure that everyone involved learns from what happened and to prevent such a tragic event from happening again.

The inquiry will now enter a second phase and will produce another report. This is expected to take an in depth look at  the things that happened prior to the fire, that may have contributed to the scale of the tragedy.

Southwark Council will carefully study this first report and the recommendations in it, to understand the lessons that we can learn and any further action we need to take, to ensure residents in our borough are safe and secure.

Cllr Kieron Williams, Cabinet Member for Housing Management and Modernisation said: “The Grenfell report is truly heart breaking and my thoughts are with the friends and families of those who died and all those affected by the fire. We must never let a tragedy like this happen again.

“Our own bitter experience of the fire at Lakanal House in Southwark in 2009 in which six people died means that fire safety is always front and centre of everything that we do in Southwark. We have invested £124m in improving the fire safety of our council homes since Lakanal, and continue to review what we are doing to make sure that residents and their homes are safe.  All our fire risk assessments are up to date and publicly available and we work closely with the fire brigade to continuously check our buildings are as safe as they can be.

“But, we know that we must never be complacent and will carefully look at the recommendations from the Grenfell Inquiry to see what we can learn and to identify any further action we may need to take to keep people in our borough safe.

“I have asked for a report to be brought to the council’s Cabinet at the earliest opportunity as a first step, and I will also be meeting with tenant and resident representatives, to discuss the inquiry’s findings with them and listen and respond to their concerns.

“Many of the recommendations in the report will require national action, I will therefore also be joining many others across the country in calling for that action to be taken without delay.”

Page last updated: 05 November 2019