Grenfell Inquiry Recommendations: What's Changed and What's Still Coming

Grenfell Inquiry Recommendations: What's Changed and What's Still Coming

On 4 September 2024, Sir Martin Moore-Bick published the Grenfell Tower Inquiry Phase 2 report, a devastating and comprehensive account of the systemic failures that led to the deaths of 72 people on 14 June 2017. The report spans over 1,700 pages and makes dozens of recommendations directed at government, industry, regulators, and building owners.

For anyone involved in building management, construction, or fire safety in the UK, the Grenfell Phase 2 report is not simply a historical document. It is a roadmap for the most significant fire safety reform the country has seen in a generation. Some recommendations have already been implemented. Others are in progress. And some will require entirely new legislation, regulatory bodies, and cultural change.

This article provides a clear summary of the Grenfell inquiry recommendations, what has already changed, what is still coming, and, critically, what building owners and managers should be doing right now to prepare.

What the Phase 2 Report Found

The Phase 2 report examined how Grenfell Tower came to be clad in materials that turned a small kitchen fire into an uncontrollable inferno. Its findings are damning across every level of the system.

Key Findings

• Manufacturers of cladding and insulation products, including Arconic, Celotex, and Kingspan, engaged in deliberate and sustained strategies to manipulate fire safety testing and mislead the market about the safety of their products.

• The Building Research Establishment (BRE) failed to ensure that its fire safety testing regime was robust and resistant to manipulation.

• Government departments, particularly the Department for Communities and Local Government, ignored, delayed, or diluted warnings about the dangers of combustible cladding over a period of many years.

• The Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea and the Tenant Management Organisation that managed Grenfell Tower failed to listen to residents' repeated warnings about fire safety.

• The building control and inspection regime was inadequate to prevent the use of dangerous materials on the tower's refurbishment.

The report concludes that the tragedy was the result of decades of failure by central government and others to act on known risks, compounded by dishonesty on the part of product manufacturers.

What Has Already Been Implemented

In the years since the fire, and before the Phase 2 report was published, the UK Government introduced several major pieces of legislation and regulatory change.

The Fire Safety Act 2021

The Fire Safety Act clarified the scope of the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005, making explicit that the responsible person's duties extend to:

• The structure and external walls of a building, including cladding, balconies, and windows.

• Individual flat entrance doors in multi-occupied residential buildings.

This closed a loophole that had allowed responsible persons to argue that the external wall and flat doors were outside the scope of their fire risk assessment obligations.

The Building Safety Act 2022

The Building Safety Act is the most significant piece of building safety legislation in a generation. Its key provisions include:

• The Building Safety Regulator (BSR), established within the Health and Safety Executive, now oversees the safety and performance of all buildings and has a specific regulatory role for higher-risk buildings (residential buildings over 18 metres or 7 storeys).

• A new regulatory regime for higher-risk buildings, requiring building owners to register their buildings, appoint a named accountable person, carry out ongoing safety assessments, and maintain a safety case.

• The "golden thread" of building information, a requirement to create and maintain comprehensive, accurate, and up-to-date digital records of a building's design, construction, and ongoing management throughout its lifecycle.

• A new complaints process for residents of higher-risk buildings, with powers for the regulator to intervene where building owners fail to manage safety risks.

• Leaseholder protections limiting the costs that can be passed to leaseholders for historical building safety defects, including cladding remediation.

Ban on Combustible Materials

Since December 2018, the use of combustible materials in the external wall systems of buildings over 18 metres in height has been banned in England. This was implemented through an amendment to the Building Regulations (Regulation 7 and the associated Approved Document B). The ban covers:

• Cladding panels.

• Insulation materials.

• Any material forming part of the external wall system.

Materials must achieve a European classification of A2-s1,d0 or better (limited combustibility) to be used on relevant buildings.

What Is Still Pending

The Grenfell Phase 2 report made numerous recommendations that have not yet been fully implemented. These represent the next wave of fire safety reform in the UK, and building owners and managers should be preparing now.

A Single Construction Regulator

The inquiry recommended the creation of a single, unified construction regulator with the authority and resources to oversee building safety from design through construction to occupation. While the Building Safety Regulator exists, its remit is currently focused on higher-risk buildings. The inquiry's vision is broader, a regulator with oversight of the entire construction industry's approach to fire safety, structural safety, and building standards.

Reform of the Testing Regime

The report was scathing about the ease with which manufacturers manipulated fire safety tests. Recommendations include:

• Independent, government-controlled testing of construction products, removing the ability of manufacturers to select favourable testing conditions or cherry-pick results.

• Mandatory re-testing of products at intervals, rather than relying on historical test certificates.

• A publicly accessible database of all fire safety test results, enabling specifiers, building control bodies, and building owners to verify the safety credentials of products used in their buildings.

• Criminal liability for individuals and companies that misrepresent the fire safety performance of construction products.

Personal Responsibility for Manufacturers

One of the most striking recommendations is the introduction of personal criminal liability for senior executives of companies that market or sell construction products with misleading fire safety claims. The inquiry found that the corporate structures of companies like Arconic, Celotex, and Kingspan allowed individuals to hide behind the corporate entity. The recommendation aims to ensure that those who make decisions about product marketing and safety cannot evade personal accountability.

Enhanced Competence Requirements

The inquiry recommended:

• Mandatory competence standards for all professionals involved in building design, construction, inspection, and management.

• Third-party accreditation for fire risk assessors, fire engineers, and building inspectors.

• A requirement for the continuing professional development (CPD) of all fire safety professionals to be independently verified.

While the Building Safety Act introduced some competence requirements, the inquiry's recommendations go further in demanding a culture of proven, verified competence across the sector.

Strengthened Resident Engagement

The report recommended that building owners and managers be required to:

• Actively engage with residents on fire safety matters, not simply provide information.

• Act on resident concerns about fire safety with documented responses and timelines.

• Include resident representatives in building safety decision-making processes.

What Building Owners and Managers Should Do Now

The regulatory landscape is shifting rapidly, and building owners who wait for every change to become law before acting will find themselves scrambling to catch up. Here is what you should be doing today.

1. Review and Update Your Fire Risk Assessment

Ensure your fire risk assessment is current, comprehensive, and explicitly addresses external wall systems and flat entrance doors as required by the Fire Safety Act 2021. If your FRA was completed before the Act came into force, it likely needs updating.

2. Establish Your Building's Golden Thread

Begin compiling comprehensive building information records if you have not already done so. This includes original design and construction documents, cladding and insulation specifications, fire safety system records, maintenance logs, and any remediation works undertaken.

3. Register Higher-Risk Buildings

If your building meets the threshold (over 18 metres or 7 storeys, containing at least two residential units), ensure it is registered with the Building Safety Regulator and that you have identified the principal accountable person and building safety manager.

4. Audit Your Fire Safety Supply Chain

Review the competence and accreditation of every fire safety professional and contractor you work with. As competence requirements tighten, you need confidence that your fire risk assessors, alarm engineers, and remediation contractors meet or exceed the emerging standards.

5. Engage with Your Residents

Do not wait for strengthened resident engagement requirements to become law. Proactive, transparent communication with residents about fire safety measures, ongoing risks, and remediation plans builds trust and may help you avoid formal complaints to the regulator.

6. Plan for Cladding Remediation

If your building has external wall issues, develop a clear remediation plan with timelines, even if funding is not yet in place. The combination of the Building Safety Act, the Cladding Safety Scheme, and ongoing regulatory pressure means that deferring action is becoming increasingly untenable.

The Cultural Shift Toward Accountability

Perhaps the most significant outcome of the Grenfell inquiry is not any single recommendation but the fundamental shift in culture that it demands. For decades, fire safety in the UK construction and property management sectors operated on a basis of minimal compliance, cost minimisation, and diffused responsibility. The inquiry has exposed the catastrophic consequences of that approach.

The direction of travel is clear: personal accountability, verified competence, transparent information, and resident-centred safety management. Building owners and managers who embrace this shift, rather than resist it, will find themselves better prepared, better protected, and better trusted by the residents and communities they serve.

The fire safety reform triggered by the Grenfell Tower tragedy is far from complete. New regulations, new competence standards, and new enforcement powers will continue to emerge over the coming years. The question for every building owner and responsible person is whether they will lead the change or be dragged along by it.

Stay Ahead of the Changing Regulatory Landscape

Stay ahead of regulatory changes. Post your fire safety consultancy needs on Infirisk and work with professionals who understand the evolving compliance landscape. From fire risk assessment updates to Building Safety Act compliance and cladding remediation planning, Infirisk connects you with qualified fire safety experts across the UK who can help you navigate what is coming next.