Nine years ago, 72 people lost their lives in the Grenfell Tower fire. For their families, the survivors, and the wider community, no anniversary brings relief; only the renewed weight of grief and the continuing struggle for justice. We remember them today, as we do every year.
This year, for the first time, the pursuit of criminal accountability is visibly advancing. The Metropolitan Police are submitting files of evidence to the Crown Prosecution Service, with decisions on potential charges expected by June 2027. Up to 57 individuals and 20 companies may face prosecution, with trials, if they proceed, expected around 2029. Nine years is already an almost unbearable wait for justice. We hope the process, when it concludes, delivers something meaningful for those who have carried this grief the longest.
The Grenfell Tower Inquiry, the most comprehensive examination of building safety failure in this country’s history, published its final report in September 2024. Its findings were damning, confirming what many in this sector have long known: the fire was the result of decades of systemic failure across manufacturers, contractors, developers, building control, and regulation. Those findings and recommendations made by the Inquiry now sit with government and The Property Institute (TPI) will continue to engage with policymakers to ensure that recommendations affecting the property management profession and in-occupation phase are implemented.
For our members, the daily reality has not eased. TPI’s own data tells a stark story: of 511 remediation projects tracked by members in May 2026, only 13.5% had completed cladding remediation. In developer-led projects (where companies pledged to fix the buildings they built) that figure falls to just 10%. Nine years on, thousands of residents remain against their wishes in unsafe homes that they can’t sell, and many still live with defects that go beyond cladding. The building safety crisis was never only about what is on the outside of a building.
Andrew Bulmer, Chief Executive of The Property Institute, commented:
“Our data shows that in developer-pledged projects, only one in ten buildings has completed remediation. Behind that number are real people — residents who bought their homes in good faith, who cannot sell, cannot move on, and in too many cases are still living with unresolved safety risks and higher bills as a result. Nine years is too long to ask anyone to wait for a resolution.
Our members work alongside these residents every day. They see the human cost of slow progress in ways that no statistics can capture. TPI will not stop pressing for the accountability, protection and comprehensive remediation that residents deserve — through the Remediation Bill, through our engagement with government, and through everything we do to support our members in their work to ensure buildings are safe."
The anticipated Remediation Bill must address this in full. TPI will be pressing for legislation that holds pledged developers genuinely to account and creates a clear route to identify and fix internal fire safety defects, not just external wall systems.
But today is not primarily about legislation. It is about 72 people who lost their lives, and about the thousands still living with the consequences of what happened that night.
