Read part one here

The official inquiry into last year’s tragedy at Grenfell Tower began in earnest last week with Danny Friedman QC articulating the “calm rage” of the survivors and bereaved relatives of those in blaze. The inquiry is designed to answer how, in Friedman’s words, a local authority in 21st-century London “instigated and oversaw the refurbishment of a social housing high-rise tower block in such a way as to render it a deathtrap”.

To that end, a mountain of submissions from those affected and the companies and public bodies involved in the building and its refurbishment were published last week, along with more than 2,000 pages of expert reports into the fire.

So far, we have learned that the cladding was the biggest contributing factor, and that the meaning of building regulations guidance will be determined. But what else can we decipher about likely direction of travel of the inquiry from the evidence so far?

“We hope that core participants will resist the temptation to indulge in a merry-go-round of buck-passing”

Richard Millett QC

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