Grenfell inquiry to examine tower's design and construction

The public inquiry into the the tragedy at Grenfell Tower inquiry will consider the design, construction and refurbishment of the building, as well as the Building Regulations, the government has said.

The chairman of the inquiry, Sir Martin Moore-Bick, said this morning that he had received his terms of reference (TOR) from Prime Minister Theresa May.

The retired judge had written to May on 10 August with his recommendations for the TOR, following a consultation exercise which resulted in 554 written responses.

The Prime Minister accepted his terms “without any amendment”, and announced an immediate start to the inquiry.

In his letter, Moore-Bick recommend that “not only the fire itself, but matters such as the history of the building, its most recent refurbishment, the state of the building and fire regulations” be included in the TOR for the inquiry.

He said that the consultation had identified a number of pieces of legislation, including “building regulations both locally and nationally, the Construction Design and Management Regulations 2015, the Fire Safety Order 2005, the Housing Act 2004 and product standards generally” that respondents said needed to be looked into to see if they were adequate, complied with on Grenfell Tower and if those responsible for compliance fully understood their responsibilities.

Moore-Bick added that respondents to the consultation also said changes in some of the legislation and lack of changes in other legislation needed to be considered.

In reply, May said: “The terms of reference set out by Sir Martin address crucial issues such as the cause and spread of the fire, the design, construction and refurbishment, the scope and adequacy of building and fire regulations, which will allow the inquiry to get to the truth of what happened and learn the lessons to stop a similar catastrophe happening in the future.”

The retired judge said if the Inquiry can begin work “as soon as possible”, he hopes to be able to provide “an initial report dealing with the cause of the fire and the means by which it spread to the whole building by Easter next year”.

Moore-Bick expects the first preliminary public hearing to be held on 14 September, in the Connaught Rooms in Great Queen Street, London.

All hearings will be live-streamed and available to watch from the Inquiry’s website.