黑洞社区

The government should not have trusted the construction industry to build high-rise blocks, a lawyer representing the housing department has told the Grenfell Inquiry.

Jason Beer QC said the public, residents and the government had trusted construction firms and building control officers were 鈥渇ollowing the law and doing the right thing鈥�, but that this trust was 鈥渂oth misplaced and abused鈥�.

Beer, representing the Department of Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, made the comments in a statement to Tuesday鈥檚 hearing at the inquiry into the 2017 fire which killed 72 people.

He said that the disaster would not have happened if building regulations had been followed and enforced with 鈥渞easonable diligence鈥�.

Beer argued the rules were 鈥渟ufficiently clear鈥� at the time of the refurbishment of Grenfell Tower and that 鈥渘o competent professional acting in good faith should have misunderstood or misapplied the statutory requirements鈥�.

He added that a 鈥渃ompetent professional would have taken appropriate advice in the case of uncertainty.鈥�

But Beer admitted the department 鈥渄id not have a good understanding of how the regulatory system was working on the ground or how well it was being enforced by local building control bodies鈥�.

He said the 鈥渕istaken assumption鈥� underlying the department鈥檚 approach was that compliance was being monitored by qualified experts at a local level and that non-compliance with the regulations would be identified by building control inspectors.

He added that officials had 鈥渇ulfilled their responsibilities鈥�, as it was not their role to 鈥渁ct as stewards of the system鈥�.

In an apology to victims of the fire, Beer said: 鈥淭he department is deeply sorry for its past failures in relation to the oversight of the system which regulated safety in the construction and refurbishment of high-rise buildings.

鈥淚t also deeply regrets past failures in relation to the superintendence of the building control bodies which themselves had a key role in ensuring the safe construction and refurbishment of such buildings.鈥�

He added: 鈥淭he department did not interrogate the underlying performance of the system nor take active steps to assure itself whether the regulatory regime was working as intended.

鈥淭his most definitely is not just a question of the specification of cladding systems but of an industry that has not reflected and learned for itself.鈥�

Yesterday, the inquiry heard how successive governments over the past three decades had engaged in a 鈥減rolonged period of concealment鈥� of the fire safety risks of dangerous cladding.

Stephanie Barwise QC, lawyer for the bereaved and survivors of the 2017 blaze, told Monday鈥檚 hearing that it was one of the 鈥渕ajor scandals of our time鈥�.

She added that governments had become the 鈥渏unior partner鈥� in their relationship with the construction industry, which she said had been allowed to 鈥渨rite its own rules鈥�.

The sixth module of the inquiry will spend the next five months looking into decisions made by past governments that may have enabled the fire.

The inquiry continues.