The investigation into the Grenfell fire ended with a damning report. So what now?

LONDON — After an independent inquiry concluded its probe into Britain's worst house fire since World War II, survivors and relatives are calling for those responsible for the 2017 blaze that killed 72 people to face charges.

The Grenfell Tower Inquiry published its final report on Wednesday, a 1,700-page document detailing how the failures of the government, the construction industry and the fire service led to the deaths in a west London high-rise building more than seven years ago. The disaster was entirely avoidable, it said.

This finally clears the way for law enforcement authorities to complete the criminal investigation, which was initially suspended to ensure that it did not hinder efforts to uncover the root causes of the tragedy and recommend measures to prevent future disasters.

“We need to see that the guilty are brought to justice so that we can see their mistakes, their failures and their incompetence. We need to know all of that,” Karim Khalloufi, brother of fire victim Khadija Khalloufi, told the BBC. “And without that justice, we will continue. We will continue to seek justice.”

But justice is slow to arrive.

London's Metropolitan Police say officers are unlikely to complete their investigation until late next year. Their findings will be passed on to prosecutors, who are not expected to bring charges until late 2026.

“Due to the enormous amount of evidence and the complexity of the investigation, we need to take the time necessary to thoroughly examine the evidence before making a final decision on charges,” Frank Ferguson, head of the CPS's special crime and counter-terrorism division, said in a statement.

The report published on Wednesday underlines this complexity.

The inquiry began shortly after the Grenfell Tower fire, which broke out in the early hours of 14 June 2017 and rapidly engulfed the 25-storey social housing block. The inquiry received statements from more than 1,500 witnesses and examined around 300,000 documents before issuing its final report.

Separately from the investigation, police are investigating 58 suspects and 19 companies or organizations on possible criminal charges, including corporate manslaughter, gross negligence, fraud and abuse of office, the Sunday Times reported this week.

Police spent 415 days removing evidence from the tower, which is now being stored in a warehouse large enough to hold 25 double-decker buses, the newspaper reported.

London Mayor Sadiq Khan supported the survivors' calls for justice.

“Those responsible must now be held to account immediately for their systematic dishonesty, corporate greed, institutional indifference and neglect,” Khan said. “Companies found to be at fault in the investigation will no longer be allowed to receive public contracts while the police and CPS consider bringing criminal charges.”

Prime Minister Keir Starmer also promised to take action against the companies named in the report.

“I can tell the House today that the Government will write to all companies found by the investigation to be involved in these appalling failings. This is the first step in preventing these companies from receiving Government contracts,” he said in Parliament on Wednesday.

Implementing the report’s recommendations will also take some time.

Starmer said his government would review all 58 recommendations of the inquiry and respond fully within six months.

However, Starmer announced that he would take immediate action to speed up the removal of the flammable external cladding, which the inquiry found was the main reason the Grenfell Tower fire spread so quickly and left residents trapped in their homes.

Although the government has required developers to remove the dangerous cladding from all medium- and high-rise residential buildings, disputes over who should pay for the work are slowing progress.

Government figures published at the end of July showed that work had not yet begun on removing dangerous cladding from around 2,300 residential buildings over 11 metres high.

“There are still buildings today with unsafe cladding and the speed at which this issue is being addressed is far, far too slow,” Starmer told the House of Commons. “So this must be a moment for change. We will take the necessary steps to accelerate this.”