Mayor publishes latest update on Grenfell Tower recommendations

• Progress underway on all points of action for London Fire Brigade
• Mayor writes open letter to call for urgent action on safety from building owners and managers

The Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, has today published the second monthly report which shows progress is being made on all points of action for the London Fire Brigade on the recommendations from Phase 1 of the Grenfell Tower Inquiry.

The Inquiry’s report made 46 recommendations directed at the LFB, other fire and rescue services, the emergency services, Government and owners and managers of residential buildings.

As part of his commitment to transparency and keeping the Grenfell community and Londoners updated, Sadiq has published the second monthly update on progress made on the Inquiry’s recommendations. It shows that that action is underway on all 14 of the recommendations specifically for the Brigade and the Mayor has also promised to use the full extent of his influence to ensure other organisations do everything they should to implement the Phase 1 recommendations in full.

The Brigade accepted all of the Inquiry report’s recommendations and the update on each of the recommendations is set out in detail in the Mayor’s report. It says:

• Action is underway for all 14 recommendations directed solely at the London Fire Brigade in the Phase 1 report.
• Action by the Brigade is underway to deliver 14 of the 15 recommendations directed either at fire and rescue services or emergency services generally, including the London Fire Brigade, with the Brigade the first in the country to implement the recommendation to introduce smoke hoods.
• The Brigade is working to ensure that it is in a position to implement the nine recommendations from the report that are aimed at the Government or building owners and managers, but which will have significant implications for the London Fire Brigade.
• The new London Fire Commissioner has published a new transformation plan to address the issues about institutional failures raised by Grenfell Tower Inquiry, and he will be working to rebuild the relationship between the Brigade’s leadership and the Grenfell community.

Since the fire, the Mayor has been calling for urgent changes to building safety regulations, including for the Government’s ban on combustible cladding to be extended to all buildings, and for sprinklers to be made compulsory in all new purpose-built blocks of flats, regardless of height, as well as in schools, care home and other places that are home to vulnerable people.

Today he has published an open letter to building owners and managers in London calling on them to take urgent action to improve the safety of residential blocks, informed by the recommendations made by the Phase 1 report.

Phase 2 of the Grenfell Tower Inquiry is now underway and is looking at events leading up to the night of the fire, focusing primarily on the building regulations, including the construction, refurbishment and management of Grenfell Tower.

The Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, said: “We will never forget the 72 people who lost their lives in the tragic Grenfell Tower fire. This was a fire that should never have happened and I will do everything in my power to prevent another tragedy. I am committed to working with the London Fire Brigade to ensure all the recommendations from the first phase of the Inquiry are implemented fully and quickly, and will continue to publish monthly updates on the changes taking place.

“While I do not have powers over the Government or high-rise building owners, I will continue be relentless in holding them to account on building safety and making sure all the recommendations of the inquiry are acted on. We simply cannot wait for the Inquiry’s next report to take action now on such an important issue. That is why I have written to all building owners and managers across the capital, urging them to improve the safety of residential blocks, and not to wait for the end of the second phase of the Inquiry. By acting swiftly on these recommendations we can restore Londoners’ confidence in the buildings they live in.”