What happened: In what was previously the UK's worst tower block fire, three adults and three children died after a TV set alight on the ninth floor of Lakanal House. The victims, who were on the 10th and 11th floors, had been told to stay in their flats by 999 call dispatchers, who wrongly believed that the flames would be contained in the flat where they started.

The inquests into the deaths found that the cladding panels beneath windows did not have the required fire safety rating of 0. The inquest into the death of one victim, Catherine Hickman, found that if these ACM (aluminium composite material) panels had been class 0 they may have slowed the spread of the flames from flat to flat.

The report also noted that there had been no fire safety check on Hickman's flat since a refurbishment three years earlier.



In March 2017, Southwark council pleaded guilty to four criminal charges and paid £270,000 in fines as well as £300,000 in costs.

What recommendations came after it?

• The coroner, Frances Kirkham, called for a simplification and clarification of Approved Document B, the "difficult to use" building regulation that governs the fire safety of high-rise towers. She said it must provide clear guidance "with particular regard to the spread of fire over the external envelope of the building and the circumstances in which attention should be paid to whether the proposed work might reduce existing fire protection." The document was last updated in 2006.

• She asked for the document to be "expressed in words and adopt a format which is intelligible ... and not just to professionals who may already have a depth of knowledge of building regulations and building control matters".

• That the advice given to high-rise tower residents to "stay put" and call 999 in the event of a fire should be consolidated and updated.

• That assessors should inspect the interior of a sample of flats in high-rise buildings to make sure they are compliant.

• Councils should consider the retrofitting of sprinklers.

Was anything done? In response to the coroner's points, the then-communities secretary, Eric Pickles, replied to say that his department was "committed to a programme of simplification" on building regulations. But, he added, "the design of fire protection in buildings is a complex subject and should remain, to some extent, in the realm of professionals."

A new version of Approved Document B was promised in 2016/17. The government said it would investigate the use of sprinklers and would update this document accordingly.

Sprinklers are only required on English buildings taller than 30 metres and built since 2007. In Wales they are required on all new and converted homes and in Scotland they are required on buildings over 18 metres.