London: British government investigates companies involved in Grenfell Tower fire

The British government announced on Wednesday the start of investigations into seven construction materials companies involved in the Grenfell Tower fire in London, which killed 72 people in 2017.

In a response to the recommendations of a report, published in September following an inquiry lasting more than six years, Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner criticised the “disgraceful mercenary behaviour” of some companies that “exploited the regulatory system to avoid responsibility, with fatal consequences”.

In this sense, it ordered an investigation into seven companies to “determine whether these organizations committed any infraction” under the legislation on public contracts.

The companies are Arconic, Saint-Gobain (former owner of Celotex), Exova, Harley Facades, Kingspan Insulation, Rydon Maintenance and Studio E Architects.

If “professional misconduct” is identified, their names will be added to an “exclusion list” that public entities will have to take into account when awarding new contracts.

The fire broke out in the early hours of June 14, 2017 in a cold storage room on one of the first floors of the 24-story building and spread quickly due to the combustion of the exterior cladding installed a year earlier.

Most of the victims died trapped in their apartments because they followed firefighters' advice to stay inside, believing the flames would be contained.

Ten Portuguese people lived in the building and all survived, except Logan Gomes, a baby who was stillborn due to smoke poisoning by his mother, who was seven months pregnant at the time.

In September, Prime Minister Keir Starmer apologised “on behalf of the British state” and promised to work to ensure that this situation would “never happen again”.

Rayner said Wednesday that he had decided to accept all recommendations resulting from the inquiry. In the meantime, London police are continuing their investigation and it will be based on this report that prosecutors will decide whether or not to proceed with a prosecution.

More than seven years after the fire, the government confirmed in early February that Grenfell Tower would soon be demolished, against the wishes of a group of former residents and relatives of the victims, who wanted to preserve the charred structure of the building as a monument to those who died.

Some of the materials will be preserved to build a memorial at the site of the disaster.