A fire that began in a fourth-floor flat spread rapidly up the exterior of Grenfell Tower in North Kensington, engulfing the 24-storey residential block within hours.
Seventy-two people were killed. A public inquiry found that aluminium composite cladding with a polyethylene core, installed during a refurbishment, was the principal reason for the speed of the fire, and criticised building regulation, product testing and the response of the local authority.
The disaster triggered a nationwide survey of high-rise cladding and a long-running dispute over who should pay for remediation.
