After more than four years, more than three hundred thousand documents, four hundred days of testimony and around £150 million, the Inquiry heard its final evidence. Lawyers for the core participants put forward the arguments they think the ch

202 Nick Hurd

Jul 8th, 2022 25m 25s

"I can’t undo the past, but I wanted to be a part of making things better” While the Inquiry has paused hearing evidence, Kate Lamble spoke in depth to Nick Hurd, a former Minister for Policing and the Fire Service and now the government’s

201 Expert toxicology evidence, and closing statements on the aftermath

Jul 1st, 2022 45m 3s

Toxicologist Professor David Purser told the Inquiry that the rapid spread of smoke was the principal cause of death, and that burning cladding panels and insulation were the main source of this poisonous smoke. The Inquiry also heard closing s

200 Closing Statements on testing and regulation

Jun 24th, 2022 46m 28s

This week the inquiry heard closing statements for Module 6, outlining how combustible materials came to be tested, certified and regulated and ended up being installed on the outside walls of Grenfell Tower. Lawyers representing the Bereaved,

199 Expert Witnesses: Week 2

Jun 17th, 2022 32m 37s

This week, as we passed the fifth anniversary of the Grenfell Tower fire, two expert witnesses levelled a series of fierce criticisms at the building safety regime. José Torero, head of the civil engineering department at a London university, d

198 Expert Witnesses

Jun 10th, 2022 32m 38s

This week, the Inquiry moved on from examining the aftermath of the fire and began hearing evidence from a series of experts in fire engineering. Luke Bisby, professor of fire and structures at Edinburgh University, described the results of a t

197 Aftermath of the fire: Central government and the Mayor of London

May 27th, 2022 35m 7s

This week, the Inquiry heard about the confusion, lack of grip and poor communication within Whitehall, as ministers and civil servants dealt with the aftermath of the fire. Nick Hurd was given the initial responsibility for leading the governm

196 Aftermath of the fire: Central government and London Local Authorities

May 20th, 2022 33m 44s

This week, the Inquiry examined how central government responded to the aftermath of the disaster while continuing to hear about London-wide emergency response arrangements. The Chief Executive of the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea too

195 Aftermath of the fire: The Rest Centres

May 13th, 2022 33m 7s

This week, the Inquiry continued to investigate the events immediately after the fire by digging deeper into what happened at local rest centres which were opened to support survivors. An official who volunteered to help with the relief effort

194 Aftermath of the fire: The Council: Week 2

May 6th, 2022 40m 26s

This week we heard different views from senior managers as to how the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea coped in the aftermath of the Grenfell Tower fire. We discovered that the chief executive initially rejected offers of support because

193 Aftermath of the fire: The Council and BSRs

Apr 29th, 2022 41m 53s

The Inquiry continued to hear evidence about the immediate aftermath of the fire. Rebecca Blackburn, a former Contingency Planning Officer for the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, described scenes inside the town hall as “pandemonium”.

192 Aftermath of the fire

Apr 15th, 2022 48m 11s

This week, the Inquiry moved on from the technical discussions of the building regulations and the role of central government to focus on the immediate aftermath of the Grenfell Tower fire. Bereaved, survivors and relatives gave emotional evide

191 The Ministers: Week 2

Apr 8th, 2022 45m 6s

This week, three politicians gave evidence. Eric Pickles, former housing secretary, told the Inquiry that he could not understand how the government’s deregulation agenda could have discouraged civil servants from tightening fire safety standar

190 Brian Martin and the Ministers

Apr 1st, 2022 44m 31s

This week, civil servant Brian Martin completed his evidence after more than seven days. In his concluding evidence, he said that there were several occasions on which he believed he could have prevented the Grenfell Tower fire from happening.

189 Brian Martin

Mar 25th, 2022 38m 44s

This week, senior civil servant Brian Martin continued giving evidence to the Inquiry. As the only person to testify with experience working for both the Ministry for Housing, Communities and Local Government and the Building Research Establish

188 The Housing Ministry: Week 2

Mar 18th, 2022 40m 38s

This week, the Inquiry heard from three senior civil servants: Dame Melanie Dawes, the former permanent secretary at the Ministry for Housing, Communities and Local Government, said that she had not been informed about the risk of combustible i

187 The Housing Ministry

Mar 11th, 2022 41m 13s

This week, the Inquiry heard about the work culture in the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government and how Richard Harral, the Head of Technical Policy, was left feeling angry, frustrated and so “deeply ashamed” that he quit three

186 Ministry of Housing, Communities & Local Government

Mar 4th, 2022 39m 45s

This week the Inquiry heard from inside Whitehall, as two civil servants, Bob Ledsome and Anthony Burd, gave evidence. It was revealed that the All-Party Parliamentary Group on fire safety chased housing ministers 16 times about a promised revi

185 Building Research Establishment & the Government

Feb 25th, 2022 34m 6s

This week, the Inquiry heard from Debbie Smith, a senior figure in the Building Research Establishment for more than 34 years. She failed to speak up at a meeting with the government two days after the Grenfell Tower fire about the “immediate a

184 Building Research Establishment

Feb 18th, 2022 34m 21s

This week the Inquiry heard that cladding similar to that installed on Grenfell Tower underwent a “catastrophic” fire test 16 years earlier. Sarah Colwell, Director of Fire Suppression Testing and Certification for the Building Research Establi

183 BRE, CWCT and UKAS

Feb 11th, 2022 34m

This week, David Crowder, former Head of Investigation at the Building Research Establishment, told the Inquiry that an investigation into the Lakanal House fire in 2009, was shut down by the Government although it was “fundamentally incomplete

182 National House Building Council

Feb 4th, 2022 34m 32s

This week, the Inquiry heard how the National House Building Council (NHBC) approved Kingspan’s combustible cladding insulation for many years. John Lewis, a fire engineer at the NHBC, admitted that a desire to collaborate with industry was a “

181 Modules 5 & 6 Closing Statements: Firefighting

Jan 28th, 2022 19m 58s

This week we heard closing statements for two modules of the inquiry on firefighting. Lawyers for the London Fire Brigade (LFB) and those representing the Bereaved, Survivors, and Residents (BSRs) strongly disagreed over the responsibility of t

180 National House Building Council and LABC

Dec 17th, 2021 32m 40s

This week the Inquiry questioned representatives from both the National House Building Council and Local Authority Building Control about the steps they took to restrict or approve the use of combustible materials in the years before the Grenfe

179 Module 6 Opening Statements and LABC

Dec 11th, 2021 41m 38s

This week the Inquiry turned its attention to how building regulations were set and combustible materials tested and certified. Lawyers for the bereaved, survivors, and residents accused the government of concealing crucial information from pre