To the families of the 72 people that perished at Grenfell Tower on the night of 14 June 2017, the findings of the investigation revealed yesterday will have been of scant consolation.
To the national and international media that has been following this story for more than seven years, the investigation report laid out in black and white precisely how the tragedy had unfolded.
But to those within the construction industry, the findings will have come as no surprise whatsoever.
The inquiry - chaired by Sir Martin Moore-Bick - spent seven years uncovering the truth, and what they found was a damning indictment of almost everyone involved in the refurbishment and maintenance of Grenfell Tower.
The scathing report cited dishonesty, incompetence and greed as contributory factors in the tragedy.
The tower’s refurbishment in 2015 was supposed to improve living conditions. Instead, it set the stage for catastrophe.
The key to the disaster, as we have known all along, was the cladding—combustible panels that wrapped the building’s exterior, intended to improve insulation and aesthetics.
But these panels, made of aluminium with a polyethylene core, were highly flammable. They turned the tower into a giant torch, spreading flames in mere minutes and turning the building into a furnace.
The inquiry revealed that the choice of these materials wasn’t just a mistake; it was the result of deliberate actions by manufacturers, contractors, and regulators who put cost-cutting and profit above human lives.
The American company Arconic, which supplied the cladding, was found to have “deliberately concealed” the dangers of its product.
Celotex, which provided foam insulation, embarked on a “dishonest scheme” to mislead customers about the safety of its materials.
And Kingspan, an Irish company, cynically exploited the industry’s lack of knowledge, relying on the fact that the market would trust their misleading claims.
Of course, the blame doesn’t stop with these companies.
The UK government, particularly the Department for Communities and Local Government, failed in its most basic duty: to protect its citizens. The department ignored repeated warnings about the dangers of combustible cladding.
They allowed unscrupulous manufacturers to manipulate testing processes and mislead the market, all in the name of reducing red tape and cutting costs.
The regulatory failures were compounded by the local council, the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, which was responsible for overseeing social housing.
The council’s indifference to fire safety, especially for vulnerable people, was blatant.
Residents had raised concerns about the safety of Grenfell Tower long before the fire, but their voices were dismissed.
The Tenant Management Organization (TMO), which managed the building, regarded these residents as nuisances—“militant troublemakers” who were marginalized and ignored.
The TMO’s then-chief executive, Robert Black, showed a stubborn reluctance to report fire safety issues to the council, further endangering the lives of those he was supposed to protect.
In the aftermath of the fire, the government’s response was nothing short of chaotic.
The report described it as “muddled, slow, indecisive, and piecemeal.” Survivors and the bereaved were left feeling abandoned, with little respect for their dignity and humanity.
It wasn’t just the fire that caused pain—it was the systemic failure of the entire system that compounded the tragedy.
Let us not forget that, in just the past few weeks, there have been other fires on London buildings – one in Ealing and one in Dagenham - where the presence of cladding appears to have been a contributory factor.
Grenfell Tower now stands as a grim reminder of what happens when greed, incompetence, and indifference intersect.
It is a symbol of the deep social inequalities that persist in Britain today, where the lives of the most vulnerable are too often sacrificed upon the altar of cost-cutting and deregulation.
It also serves as a reminder that, in an industry that is constantly racing against the clock, the wheels of justice still turn slowly.
Too slowly.
In fact, even as the findings of the report were being digested, the Metropolitan Police and the Crown Prosecution Service were busily managing expectation, saying that it was unlikely that any charges would be brought until the end of 2026, a full nine years after the Grenfell tragedy unfolded.
With all that in mind
We need to touch upon the presumably ongoing investigation into the Didcot Disaster.
At Grenfell, 72 people lost their lives in a tragedy that was televised, live on air.
Grenfell then became a bone of contention; a mantle that was taken up by the media and by politicians.
There was a massive charity built up around the tragedy; and the name Grenfell has been on our TV screens almost daily since that fateful day in 2017.
Now compare that with Didcot which actually took place almost a year and a half before Grenfell.
That incident took place behind closed doors.
Aside from one lone politician putting her head above the parapet every year or so, Didcot has attracted no political attention.
There is no charity and no media traction.
In fact, it’s as if Didcot never took place.
It took more than seven years of constant attention and unrelenting outrage to bring the Grenfell investigation to fruition.
What hope is there for the families at Didcot who have already been waiting more than eight and a half years?
The workers that perished at Didcot have been failed.
Their families have been forgotten.
Their treatment at the hands of big business and the investigating authorities has actually been worse than at Grenfell Tower.
Regardless of the specific cause of the Didcot collapse, and regardless of the circumstances in which those four men died, the Thames Valley Police and the Health and Safety Executive are complicit in prolonging the suffering of four grieving families.
They have compounded a tragedy and turned it into a travesty.
They should be held to account for their failings every bit as much as the authorities cited by the Grenfell inquiry.
And, based upon the comments from the Crown Prosecution Service over Grenfell, if there IS a prosecution over Didcot, it could be more than 10 years after the tragedy that cost the lives of four demolition men.