Moment architect serving to Grenfell inquiry fights again tears over probe
An architect who helped with the Grenfell Tower inquiry held back tears as she revealed the impact the probe has had on her life.
Thouria Istephan choked up as she paid tribute to the victims of the tragic June 2017 fire and said the process has left a mark on her.
The Grenfell inquiry panel member looked visibly emotional and struggled to get her words out.
‘The losses so many people have suffered and my involvement in this process has left a mark on me as a person and as a profession which will last far beyond this inquiry,’ she said.
It comes after the report found Grenfell Tower was turned into a deathtrap which claimed 72 lives due to ‘serious deficiencies’ in building standards, ‘dishonest’ manufacturers and a local authority with an ‘indifference’ to fire safety.
Architect Thouria Istephan who helped with the Grenfell Tower inquiry held back tears as she revealed the impact the probe has had on her life
Istephan choked up as she paid tribute to the victims of the tragic June 2017 fire and said the process has left a mark on her
‘As an inquiry panel, we have acted throughout with fairness, independence and impartiality. That is what the law requires,’ Istephan said.
‘And although this inquiry is now ending, know that for many people their journey continues. We wish them strength for the future.’
The report into the fire found almost every organisation involved in the refurbishment and management of the 24-storey, 120-apartment block in Kensington, west London, was found to shoulder some responsibility for the ‘decades of failure’ which contributed to the tragedy on June 14, 2017.
‘Unscrupulous’ manufacturers involved in the renovation of the 67-metre-tall tower a year earlier – including covering it in highly combustible cladding – were admonished for ‘systematic dishonesty’ and for ‘misleading customers’.
Architects demonstrated a ‘cavalier attitude’ to fire and safety regulations, while contractors and the cladding specialists did not properly concern themselves with the matter either.
Grenfell United, which represents some of the families, said Sir Martin Moore-Bick’s findings made it clear their lawyers were correct to tell the inquiry that corporate bodies, such as Kingspan, Celotex and Arconic, were ‘little better than crooks and killers’.
Sir Martin, who today completed his 1,600-page inquiry report into failures in the build-up to the fire, said: ‘None of those involved in the design of the external wall or choice of materials acted in accordance with the standards of a reasonably competent person in their position.’
He said the fatal choice of combustible materials for the cladding of Grenfell Tower resulted ‘from a series of errors caused by the incompetence of the organisations and individuals involved in the refurbishment’.
The Grenfell Tower fire in West London in June 2017 left 72 people dead in a shocking tragedy
The 72 victims of the Grenfell Tower fire in June 2017 are pictured as follows – (top row left to right) Mohammad Al-Haj Ali, Ya-Haddy Sisi Saye, also known as Khadija Saye, Anthony Disson, Khadija Khalloufi, Mary Mendy, Isaac Paulos, Sheila, Gloria Trevisan, Marco Gottardi, (second row left to right) Berkti Haftom, Ali Yarwar Jafari, Majorie Vital, Yahya Hashim, Hamid Kani, Jessica Urbano Ramirez, Zainab Deen, Nura Jemal, Jeremiah Deen, (third row left to right) Yasin El-Wahabi, Firdaws Hashim, Hashim Kedir, Debbie Lamprell, Ernie Vital, Sakina Afrasehabi, Denis Mur-phy, Raymond ‘Moses’ Bernard, Biruk Haftom, (fouth row left to right) Yaqub Hashim, Mehdi El-Wahabi, Ligaya Moore, Nur Huda El-Wahabi, Victoria King, Mo-hammed Amied Neda, Maria del Pilar Burton, Hesham Rahman, Gary Maunders, (fifth row left to right) Alexandra Atala, Vincent Chiejina, Steve Power, Rania Ibrahim, Fethia Hassan, Hania Hassan, Fathia Ahmed Elsanousi, Abufras Ibrahim (silhouette), Isra Ibrahim (silhouette), (sixth row left to right) Mariem Elgwahry, Eslah Elgwahry (sil-houette), Mohamednur Tuccu, Amal Ahmedin, Amaya Tuccu-Ahmedin, Amna Mahmud Idris, Abdeslam Sebbar (silhouette) , Joseph Daniels (silhouette), Logan Gomes, (seventh row left to right) Omar Belkadi, Farah Hamdan, Malak Belkadi (sil-houette), Leena Belkadi (silhouette), Abdulaziz El-Wahabi, Faouzia El-Wahabi, Fatemeh Afrasiabi, Kamru Miah, Rabeya Begum, (eighth row left to right) Mohammed Hamid, Mohammed Hanif, Husna Begum, Bassem Choukair, Nadia Choucair, Mierna Choucair, Fatima Choucair, Zainab Choucair and Sirria Choucair
But he also pointed the finger at industry body the British Board of Agrement (BBA), who he accused of incompetence for failing to carry out proper checks on building products used in the refurbishment before issuing compliance certificates.
Sir Martin accused successive governments of an at-times ‘complacent and defensive’ attitude to safety, while the response to the tragedy from Theresa May’s own administration and the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea local council in the immediate aftermath was ‘muddled, slow, indecisive and piecemeal’.
Sir Martin said both the council – which owned the tower – and the Kensington and Chelsea Tenant Management Organisation (TMO) which ran it showed a ‘persistent indifference to fire safety’, particularly that of its many vulnerable residents.
But he reserved some of his most powerful criticism for those responsible for firms involved in the refurbishment.
His first report, into what happened on the night of the blaze, ruled the tower’s cladding panels broke building regulations and actively helped spread the blaze.
And he criticised those he felt contributed to that – cladding manufacturers Arconic, Kingspan, whose insulation product made up around 5 per cent of the insulation in the tower block, and Celotex, who made the majority of the insulation boards used in the refurbishment.
Exhausted firefighters rest at the scene of the huge blaze at Grenfell Tower in June 2017
Composite photograph showing how fire swept through Grenfell Tower in West London in 2017
People receive treatment at the scene of the Grenfell Tower fire in West London in June 2017
He said French firm Arconic ‘deliberately concealed’ from the market the true extent of the danger of using Reynobond 55 PE – aluminium panels containing a plastic filling, that were repeatedly used by councils due to its relatively low cost.
The inquiry found Arconic was ‘determined to exploit what it saw as weak regulatory regimes’ in the UK by continuing to sell this product, despite knowing it performed much worse in a fire than a superior, modified version it also manufactured.
Instead, it allowed customers in the UK to continue buying the unmodified version, and failed to pass on the information about its performance.
Sir Martin said: ‘That was not an oversight. It reflected a deliberate strategy to continue selling Reynobond 55 PE in the UK, based on a statement about its fire performance it knew to be false.’
He said British-based Celotex manipulated fire tests to make it erroneously appear as though its insulation boards were safe for use on Grenfell Tower. They were not.
And he said Irish firm Kingspan ‘knowingly’ claimed – incorrectly – that its insulation could be used on buildings over 18 metres in height, regardless of design or other components.
