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In response to the publication of the final report of the Grenfell Tower Inquiry, Gill Hancock, Head of Technical Content at the Association for Project Management (APM), yesterday said:

“Today’s publication of the final report of the Grenfell Tower Inquiry is a long-awaited milestone in the response to the tragic loss of 72 lives in June 2017. APM would like to extend our sympathy to all the families impacted by this tragedy.

“As the chartered membership organisation for the project profession, APM is shocked by the report’s findings and the many examples of bad project management practice applied at Grenfell that contributed to the tragedy. These include:

• Numerous failures to appoint competent project professionals with the relevant training and experience of managing large projects such as the Grenfell Tower.
• Not establishing the scope of the work to be undertaken before finalising the budget available or being clear on the focus of the project.
• Lack of project management capabilities, including no clear responsibilities, failure of information management and no change control.
• Appointing sub-contractors and project teams that did not have the relevant competence.

“The competence framework for managing projects in the built environment, which APM helped to create, is a good step on the journey to ensuring a tragedy like Grenfell never happens again. However, we acknowledge it is only one step. Businesses operating in the built environment sector must recognise the importance of appointing dedicated project experts. Not only that, but they must ensure these people are competent and have the right level of qualifications and training in place.

“Many are doing so already. APM’s goal now is to work with the public and private sector as a whole to ensure this understanding is embedded across industry, so businesses can be confident they are appointing the right people to manage construction projects of all sizes.

“It will take time for the project profession to give careful consideration to the recommendations set out by Sir Martin Moore-Bick in the report and that lessons are learnt. We will continue to work with our members, the wider industry and government to develop appropriate responses and implement the necessary changes.”