Grenfell: No action over 2009 cladding warning, inquiry told

The government failed to act over warnings of the risks of cladding more than seven years before the Grenfell Tower fire, a public inquiry has heard.

The London Fire Brigade (LFB) asked the government to warn councils of the risks posed by external wall panels following another fire in 2009.

However, the LFB said it was told there was "insufficient" information to warrant a warning.

The Grenfell fire in June 2017 has been partly blamed on dangerous cladding.

Seventy-two people died as a result of the disaster in west London.

The second phase of the public inquiry is looking into the cause of the fire, including how the 24-storey tower came to be in a condition which allowed the blaze to spread.

In July 2009 six people died in a fire at Lakanal House in Camberwell, south-east London.

The inquiry heard that the LFB's investigations into that fire found that tests conducted on the external wall panels installed showed they did not meet the standards suggested by building regulation guidance.

In December 2009 the commissioner of the LFB, Ron Dobson, wrote to the chief fire and rescue adviser to the Department for Communities and Local Government about the issue.

The brigade asked the government to warn housing providers that it would be advisable for them to check that external walls panels installed on high rise housing met the required specifications.

However, the inquiry was shown evidence that the Department for Communities and Local Government adviser, Sir Ken Knight, replied to say there was "insufficient information to warrant alerting housing authorities", the inquiry was told.

Instead, the department sent a generic letter to chief executives of local authorities in England saying that any work carried out should be checked by a building control body.

In December 2012, the LFB also sent a letter to Brandon Lewis, who was parliamentary under-secretary of state at the Department for Communities and Local Government.

That letter recommended, among other things, further guidance about building regulations which covered the spread of fire over the external envelope of a building.

On Tuesday, the inquiry heard that despite the London Fire Brigade's internal knowledge of the risks posed by this issue, it did not train its own frontline staff about them.

A training package developed in October 2015 which contained a warning about buildings which had been fitted with modern insulation materials was not rolled out, because the LFB encountered IT problems after upgrades to the Internet Explorer browser.

If you want to find out more about the Grenfell Tower public inquiry you can find all episodes of the Grenfell Tower Inquiry podcast on the BBC website.