Grenfell revelations 'a turning point' for justice

Revelations of failure must mark a turning point in Grenfell Tower campaigners fight for justice, according to a bereaved dad.

Marcio Gomes, whose son Logan was stillborn after the 2017 disaster, said he hoped people might "start shouting" about the disaster to hold those responsible to account.

He appears in a new Netflix documentary which follows the final report of the inquiry into the blaze.

According to documents shared with The Sunday Times by Netflix a senior executive of US company Arconic, which made the cladding on the building, knew it was dangerous two years before the fire.

Bereaved and survivors marked the eighth anniversary of the 2017 fire on Saturday, while work taking down the tower could begin in September.

According to The Sunday Times, internal emails reveal one of Arconic's most senior bosses, Diana Perreiah, was aware its highly flammable cladding should not be put on tall buildings and that it had been sold for use on a residential block in west London.

Mr Gomes, said Grenfell: Uncovered set out the failures of organisations in the years leading up to the fire.

He said: "This was no accident. This was very much avoidable, and these companies had a huge role to play in what happened.

"And I think people, especially in Britain - but this is a global thing, it's not just in the UK - need to start shouting about these companies, need to hold them to account.

"Because these companies have a duty of care but they've ignored it completely.

"And I'm hoping that this documentary is a turning point that will then bring prosecutions and justice to the families."

Mr Gomes said firms were "prioritising profits ahead of people's lives".

He said: "Eight years on, we've had no prosecutions. And justice can't continue to wait, in my opinion, and if you live in Britain, as we do, this should matter to every single person.

"Knowing that these companies that greatly contributed to something that was avoidable, as the inquiry said, are still making record profits and still working globally is appalling."

Mr Gomes hoped people might be moved to take action.

He said: "Avoid their products, get the message out there. These companies need to feel some pain and that's not even close to what we've gone through."

Peter Apps, who wrote the Sunday Times article, told BBC London: "If you look at globally there are probably tens of thousands of buildings with similar materials to Grenfell on.

"The information as to where these buildings are is held by companies like Arconic.

"If there is going to be a real effort to track these dangerous products down and get it off our buildings it would have to be at this level."

Grenfell Tower was covered in flammable cladding because of firms' "systematic dishonesty", inquiry chairman Sir Martin Moore-Bick said last year.

He called out "deliberate and sustained" manipulation of fire safety testing, misrepresentation of test data and misleading of the market.

A number of companies are mentioned in the documentary.

The inquiry report found Arconic "deliberately concealed... the true extent of the danger" of using its cladding, particularly on high-rise buildings.

Kingspan had, from 2005 and after the inquiry began, "knowingly created a false market in insulation" for use on buildings over 18 metres (about 60ft), the report said.

In an attempt to break into a market created by Kingspan, Celotex "embarked on a dishonest scheme to mislead its customers", Sir Martin concluded.

The Cabinet Office confirmed in February that seven companies were facing possible bans - Arconic, Kingspan, former Celotex owners Saint-Gobain, fire inspectors Exova, design and build contractor Rydon, architect Studio E and subcontractor Harley Facades.

Investigations were launched by the government in March, assessing whether any engaged in professional misconduct for the purposes of the Procurement Act 2023, potentially leading them to be debarred from public contracts.

Responding to the inquiry report last year, Arconic said it was its subsidiary, Arconic Architectural Products SAS (AAP), which had supplied the material used for cladding in the tower's refurbishment, and that it rejected "any claim that AAP sold an unsafe product" and that it "did not conceal information from or mislead any certification body, customer, or the public".

Kingspan said it had "long acknowledged the wholly unacceptable historical failings that occurred in part of our UK insulation business" but said these were "in no way reflective of how we conduct ourselves as a group, then or now".

Celotex said it had "reviewed and improved process controls, quality management and the approach to marketing within the Celotex business to meet industry best practice".

Grenfell: Uncovered is on Netflix from 20 June.

Additional reporting by PA Media

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