Grenfell Inquiry panel member: construction must own culture change

Everyone in construction must play their part in implementing the Grenfell Inquiry’s recommendations, according to one of the panel members in an address aimed at the sector.Members of the inquiry panel, including inquiry chair Sir Martin Moore-Bick, spoke about the lessons from their report at a session this morning.Inquiry panel member Thouria Istephan, partner at architecture firm Foster + Partners, emphasised the importance of ensuring the tragedy left a meaningful legacy, saying that a culture change “needs to be owned” by the construction industry.She said: “Put simply, if you work in the construction industry and you do not feel the weight of responsibility you have for people, for keeping people safe, you are in the wrong job.“The change we need to bring about is partly about structures and regulations… but the necessary change is also one of culture and behaviors.“Change on this scale needs to be owned and led by those of us working in the sector. It is not enough to pass an act of parliament and to sit back and think the work is done without change in behavior and a recognition that the needs of the people who use our buildings must be placed at the centre of our work.”Istephan also said that the problem of incompetence revealed by the inquiry report was widespread.“It follows that part of the change that is needed to the culture of the industry is an ongoing commitment to the development of professional skills,” she said.“If we are not professionally curious, we will not become technically competent again. This change needs everyone in the construction industry to play their part in the implementation of the inquiry’s recommendations.”Moore-Bick said the 72 victims of the fire were “badly failed”, in oral statements accompanying the report’s publication this morning.He said multiple organisations bore responsibility for the fatal blaze “in most cases through incompetence, but in some cases through dishonesty and greed”.Moore-Bick said: “The simple truth is that the deaths that occurred were all avoidable, and those who lived in the tower were badly failed over a number of years and in a number of different ways, by those who were responsible for ensuring the safety of the building and its occupants.”He singled out different points at which different actors made failings, including combustible materials’ certification and the refurbishment itself.As regards the 2016 refurbishment, Moore-Bick said “the picture is disturbing”.He said many in the construction industry treated statutory guidance as a sufficient statement of requirements, without considering the overriding requirements of the building regulations, which meant material with a Class 0 rated surface and highly combustible was used on the tower.Neither main contractor Rydon nor cladding subcontractor Harley was aware of the properties of the materials specified in the refurbishment, which he said Harley should have been as a specialist subcontractor. He added that Rydon had responsibility for ensuring materials were suitable.The refurbishment suffered from “a failure on the part of all concerned to understand where responsibility for any particular decision lay”, particularly for the choice of rainscreen cladding. Moore-Bick said no one was prepared to accept responsibility for choosing aluminium composite material panels.Rydon, Harley and architect Studio E took an “unacceptably casual approach” to contractual relations and none of their project staff understood the relevant parts of the building regulations or statutory guidance available at the time, Moore-Bick added.He also criticised “systematic dishonesty” from manufacturers, involving “deliberate manipulation” of testing processes and “calculated attempts” to mislead purchasers into believing combustible materials complied with statutory guidance.He said the dishonest approach was compounded by the failure of the British Board of Agrément and Local Authority Building Control to sufficiently scrutinise information and to exercise “the degree of rigour and independence” expected of them.Moore-Bick reiterated the report’s recommendations for bringing about “fundamental change in the attitudes and practices of the construction industry”, including a construction regulator and a licensing scheme for contractors who work on higher-risk buildings.Unity Homes & Enterprise housing association chief and panel member Ali Akbor criticised the Kensington and Chelsea Tenant Management Organisation both as a landlord and as project client for the refurbishment.He said: “I hope that our report acts as a reminder to the clients of future building projects – including social housing providers – that they have a responsibility to the users of their buildings to ensure that safety is not sacrificed to the demands of speed and cost.”Moore-Bick ended his speech by naming the 72 vicrtims of the fire:Fathia Ahmed ElsanousiAbufras Mohamed IbrahimIsra IbrahimMohammed Amied (Saber) NedaHesham RahmanRania IbrahimFethia HassanHania HassanMarco GottardiGloria TrevisanRaymond Herbert (Moses) BernardEslah ElgwahryMariem ElgwahryAnthony Keith DissonBassem ChoucairNadia ChoucairMierna ChoucairFatima ChoucairZainab ChoucairSirria ChoucairHashim KedirNura JemalYahya HashimFirdaws HashimYaqub HashimAbdulaziz El WahabiFaouzia El WahabiYasin El WahabiNur Huda El WahabiMehdi El WahabiLigaya MooreJessica Urbano RamirezOmar BelkadiFarah HamdanMalak BelkadiLeena BelkadiMary MendyKhadija SayeVictoria KingAlexandra AtalaMohamednur TuccuAmal AhmedinAmaya Tuccu-AhmedinAmna Mahmud IdrisMajorie VitalErnie VitalDebbie LamprellGary MaundersBerkti HaftomBiruk HaftomHamid KaniIsaac PaulosSakina AfrasehabiFatemeh AfrasiabiVincent ChiejinaKhadija KhalloufiKamru MiahRabeya BegumMohammed HamidMohammed HanifHusna BegumJoseph DanielsSheila [surname withheld]Steven (Steve) PowerZainab DeenJeremiah DeenMohammad AlhajaliDenis Anthony Peter MurphyAli Yawar JafariAbdeslam SebbarLogan GomesPily Burton