PM apologises for Grenfell Tower response as BRE commits to aid inquiry

The Prime Minister has apologised for failing victims in the wake of the Grenfell Tower tragedy as MPs debated the Queen’s Speech.

“So let me be absolutely clear," she said. "The support on the ground for families in the initial hours was not good enough.

“People were left without belongings, without roofs over their heads, without even basic information about what had happened, what they should do and where they could seek help.

“That was a failure of the state, local and national, to help people when they needed it most."

Meanwhile Peter Bonfield, Chief Executive, BRE, said the group's thoughts were with those many people so devastatingly impacted by the fire and that it was committed to do its utmost to support whatever needs arise from this incident.

"Over the past few days BRE has been working closely with the government and other stakeholders to determine how best to support the owners, operators and those living in similar tower blocks around the UK who are seeking information on their safety," he said.

"An immediate area of support we will be giving to Department of Communities and Local Government is to fire test samples of cladding from other high rise buildings for asset owners and operators who may have concerns.

"We have developed a test protocol for this work and are currently validating it. We will be working with other fire testing laboratories around the UK to ensure that together we can most efficiently meet demands for this testing in case demand is high. We have also been working closely with our colleagues from our University Centre of Excellence for Fire Safety Engineering on this.

"The last few days have brought home just how important our work is at BRE in providing independent and robust research work to support a better built environment. It also has demonstrated that the work we have funded through our owners the BRE Trust to support world leading fire science and engineering at the University of Edinburgh has been so valuable.

"We and our peers and colleagues from across the built environment will continue to do the best we can in support of the people impacted by Grenfell Tower."