Grenfell families complain to architect regulator

The families of three people who died in the Grenfell Tower fire are supporting a letter of complaint to a regulator about the architects involved in the block's refurbishment.

The Good Law Project delivered a letter of complaint to the Architects Registration Board (ARB) which accused Studio E of being negligent in its role and said it should be held accountable.  

A public inquiry previously found architectural firm Studio E bore "a very significant degree of responsibility for the disaster" in 2017, in which 72 people died.

The ARB said formal investigations began after phase two of the inquiry concluded, but it did not comment on the details of investigations.

Studio E is in the process of being liquidated and the BBC has attempted to approach representatives for comment.

The Good Law Project was joined by the Fire Brigades Union (FBU) on Monday to deliver the letter, and said if the complaint is upheld it hoped to set a precedent enabling other residents of buildings with dangerous cladding to file a complaint against their architects with the ARB.

It added the families of Amna Mahmoud Idris, Amal Ahmedin and three-year-old Amaya Tuccu-Ahmedin, all of whom died on the 19th floor of Grenfell Tower, supported the group's efforts and submitted a statement saying while the architects "may be held to account today... we, the bereaved families, will have to live with their mistakes for the rest of our lives".

Their statement read: "These architects were responsible for the architectural safety of our and our families' homes.

"Yet none of their partners or employees had the relevant knowledge, experience or skills needed to work on a high-rise cladding project.

"They let us and our loved ones down."

The Good Law Project said it also gained support for its letter from the Grenfell Community Campaigners.

Bekah Sparrow, legal manager at the Good Law Project, said: "It's been seven and a half years since the fire and those architects are still on the register, we haven't seen any action from the regulator at all."

"We're really hoping the registration board takes robust action. In practical terms they can issue a reprimand, fine, suspension - they can even strike architects off the register," Ms Sparrow continued.

"We've got unsafe cladding up and down the country, so many people living in unsafe buildings and we need them to know, architects to know, that the registration board does take action when there's information in the public domain that seriously questions whether things have gone as they should have done."

Matt Wrack, general secretary at the FBU, said: "One of the things we've said from day one is that the Grenfell Tower tragedy represents a complete failure of regulation in this country in terms of building safety, and that's at the heart of everything that went wrong.

"If anyone reads the findings of the report and the evidence given in the inquiry, there was a complete failure in terms of the planning of that redevelopment, how it was done who was allowed to do it - and that needs to be challenged.

"I think the architects are exposed in the evidence that was heard at the inquiry and in the findings of the inquiry as a firm who had no experience or knowledge of that type of work... and they need to be held to account for that, and the regulation of architects needs to be better enforced."

An ARB spokesperson said following phase two of the inquiry, formal investigations began "into whether any architects involved in the refurbishment of the tower might be guilty of a disciplinary offence under the Architects Code".

"The investigations must be conducted properly if they are to be effective, and can be complex, particularly when they take place in the background of potential criminal proceedings which must not be prejudiced," they added.

"It is ARB's policy to not comment on the detail of investigations until or unless they reach a public hearing of our professional conduct committee, so that the committee can make an independent decision based on the evidence available."

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