First six months to focus on events on night of fire but overall inquiry could last into 2020

The public inquiry into the Grenfell Tower fire has unveiled a timetable for the hearing of evidence that lawyers believe could see it continue well into 2020.

The first six months of the inquiry, which will start on 21 May with two weeks of testimony from friends and relatives of the 72 killed, will focus solely on what happened on the night of the fire in west London. That will be followed by months of further evidence examining why the fire happened. A timetable for that larger part of the inquiry has yet to be set.

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The Millennium Gloucester hotel, 3 miles from the burnt-out hulk of Grenfell Tower, will host the testimonies, in which families are being invited to speak about the bereaved, read poems, sing or provide pre-recorded video messages.

The inquiry will then move east to the Holborn Bars building, close to the inns of court. No evidence will be heard during the week of the first anniversary of the disaster on 14 June, out of respect and to allow participants to engage in memorial events.

Firefighters and commanders are scheduled to give evidence for an estimated six weeks, starting on 21 June, and the bereaved, survivors and local residents will give their accounts of the night of the fire throughout September. Expert witnesses will provide accounts of the cause and spread of the fire, how the cladding and insulation contributed to the spread of the flames, and why passive and active fire protection measures failed.

The first phase of the inquiry is scheduled to run until early November but will not consider decisions made about the refurbishment of the tower, Kensington and Chelsea council’s interaction with residents, or the governance and management of the block. Most of these issues are expected to be tackled in a second phase, which one lawyer for the bereaved said was likely to take the inquiry well into 2020, once possible delays were taken into account. In all, the inquiry will tackle 13 separate issues, nine of which have been slated for the second phase.

In March the inquiry chair, Sir Martin Moore-Bick, said the inquiry had received more than 330,000 documents, with many more expected. The inquiry has 547 core participants – 519 individuals and 28 organisations – and a small army of lawyers has been assembled to represent them.

Grenfell United, a survivors group, welcomed the announcement of the date for the start of the inquiry. “This has been a long journey for us already, and our fight for truth and justice is just starting,” it said. “But we also want to remind the prime minister of our petition for a panel of decision-making experts to sit beside and support Sir Martin Moore-Bick. Without a panel, we risk a loss of confidence in the inquiry.”

In December, Theresa May rejected calls for a diverse decision-making panel to sit alongside Moore-Bick.

The decision to divide the inquiry in two is partly driven by a desire to determine whether there are safety lessons that need to be applied to some of the 304 high-rise buildings in England that are clad in similar combustible panels and have failed government fire tests.

Of the 158 social housing buildings judged to have failed large-scale system tests, only seven had finished remediation work, the government said on Friday. Remedial work had started on 104 others.

The housing charity Shelter described the figures as a disgrace. Its chief executive, Polly Neate, said: “It has left tenants uncertain of when their buildings will be made safe, and private tenants are fearful of what this could cost. This vital safety work is mired in delays and confusion, and for the sake of the people living in these tower blocks, this chaotic approach cannot continue.”

A spokesperson for the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government said: “This work must be done properly and will take time. However, interim fire safety measures are in place to keep people protected in their homes. Over 65% of social housing buildings with unsafe cladding are currently going through the complex process of remediating their buildings.”