UK Construction and Law

Thirty of the 61 Grenfell Inquiry recommendations are complete and the interim Chief Construction Adviser signs off saying cost and programme cannot outrank safety

By Staff Writer  |  11 September 2026

The government's sixth progress report on the Grenfell Tower Inquiry, published on 10 September, records 30 of 61 recommendations complete, nine of them since May, and holds to the end of 2029 for the rest. On the same day the interim Chief Construction Adviser, Thouria Istephan, published her final report as her term closes, urging clients, funders and professionals to hold themselves accountable for safe buildings. The role becomes a permanent Chief Construction and Scientific Adviser.

The two documents were published together by the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government on Thursday 10 September 2026. The progress report is the sixth since the Inquiry's Phase 2 report and covers the 58 Phase 2 recommendations and the three Phase 1 recommendations that remain open. Its headline table reads 61 recommendations in total, 31 in progress and 30 complete. Under the construction industry theme, which is the one that reaches this readership, 28 recommendations are listed with 19 in progress and nine complete.

In delivering new buildings, cost and programme are of course important, but so is safety. Integral to delivering quality in buildings is that they are safe for those who live in and occupy them. This cannot be compromised and we must all hold ourselves accountable.

Thouria Istephan, interim Chief Construction Adviser, final report, 10 September 2026

What has moved since May

The report says the Building Safety Regulator was established in January 2026 as an arm's length body sponsored by the department, and that staff were formally transferred in June 2026, completing its move out of the Health and Safety Executive. It describes that as a step towards the single construction regulator the Inquiry recommended. The prospectus for that regulator was published on 17 December 2025, the consultation closed on 20 March 2026 and the government response was published on 9 July 2026.

On construction products, the consultations on the reform white paper and on a general safety requirement for products outside the current regime both closed in May. The government says it intends to publish its responses to both later this year and to bring forward legislation when parliamentary time allows, and it ties that work to Inquiry recommendations 13, 14 and 24. The regulator's consultation on changes to Approved Document B closed on 1 July 2026 with more than 500 responses, which the report says is more than double the number received on second staircases.

Mandatory accreditation for fire risk assessors, which is recommendation 26, is being developed towards primary legislation, and a government response is promised between October and December. Thirteen million pounds is open to higher education institutions to expand fire engineering capacity under recommendation 16, and a Fire Engineers Transitional Board has been set up.

The remediation numbers

The report repeats the end of July position on residential buildings over 11 metres with unsafe cladding: 4,697 buildings monitored, estimated at between 64 and 81 per cent of those expected to enter the department's programmes; works started on 2,551 buildings, 54 per cent; and works completed on 1,833, 39 per cent. The department expects all recommendations to be implemented by the end of 2029 because some require new legislation, and a further progress report is promised in December.

We remain committed to learning from and acting on the failings that contributed to the tragic Grenfell Tower fire.

Baroness Blake of Leeds, Minister for Building Safety, Fire and Resilience

The adviser's parting report

Istephan was appointed to the interim post in 2025 in response to the Inquiry's call for an expert and independent voice inside the department. Her final report sets out four priorities: reform of construction products regulation, standards for buildings and for the professionals who build them, how evidence is gathered and how near misses are learned from, and the design of the permanent role. She records that she advised on the construction products white paper, that she has advised the department and the regulator on how risk is escalated, and that she encourages professionals to report fire and structural concerns to the confidential reporting system for safer structures.

She writes that too many people still live in unsafe buildings and that regulatory reform is not complete, and she points to the fifth report of the industry safety steering group as evidence that parts of the industry need to go further. Her successor will be titled Chief Construction and Scientific Adviser and will sit within the network of scientific advisers across government. The press release also confirms that a Remediation Bill is coming.

For contractors and consultants the practical reading is simple. The products regime, the approved documents and the competence framework for fire risk assessors are all in the response phase, and the dates now fall in the last quarter of this year.