Glossary

Building materials, fire safety and emergency response

ACM — aluminium composite material

A material consisting of two thin aluminium sheets bonded to a core. The ACM panels installed at Grenfell had a highly combustible polyethylene core. The Inquiry identified these panels as the principal reason for the rapid spread of fire around the building.

Source: Inquiry, Phase 1, §2.13. Read source

Cavity barrier

A component designed to restrict the movement of fire and smoke through concealed spaces within a building’s construction, including cavities behind external cladding.

Source: Approved Document B, section 8.

Cladding; rainscreen cladding

Cladding is an external covering attached to a building. Rainscreen cladding forms a protective outer layer with a cavity behind it. At Grenfell, the rainscreen panels were one part of a wider external wall system that also included insulation, fixings and cavity barriers.

Source: Inquiry, Phase 1, chapter 6. Read source

Combustible

Capable of burning and contributing fuel to a fire. Materials differ in how readily they ignite, how much heat they release and how they behave within a complete construction system.

Source: Inquiry, Phase 2, chapter 109. Read source

Compartmentation

Dividing a building into spaces separated by fire-resisting construction, intended to contain a fire for a specified period and protect other spaces and escape routes. In blocks of flats, individual flats normally form separate compartments.

Source: Inquiry, Phase 1, §4.2. Read source

Dry riser; wet riser

Fixed pipework supplying water to firefighting outlets on different floors. A dry riser is filled and pressurised during firefighting; a wet riser remains charged with water. Grenfell had a dry rising main.

Source: Inquiry, Phase 1, §3.19 and footnote 15. Read source

Fire door; self-closing device

A fire door is a door assembly designed to resist the passage of fire for a specified period, with smoke-control performance where required. A self-closing device returns the door to its closed position after use.

Source: Approved Document B, Appendix C.

Fire risk assessment

A systematic examination of fire hazards, people who could be harmed and measures needed to reduce risk. It includes recording findings, acting on them and reviewing the assessment as circumstances change.

Source: Government fire risk assessment guidance.

Fire-stopping

Materials or systems used to seal gaps, joints and openings in fire-separating construction, including openings around pipes and cables, so that its resistance to fire is maintained.

Source: Approved Document B, section 9.

Fire survival guidance — FSG

Advice given by fire-service control-room staff to people who believe they cannot escape a fire. It involves assessing their circumstances, offering guidance and passing information to firefighters; advice must be reconsidered as conditions change.

Source: Inquiry, Phase 1, chapter 29. Read source

Insulation

Material used to reduce heat transfer. Grenfell’s external wall system contained combustible polyisocyanurate (PIR) and phenolic foam insulation. These insulation products were separate from the polyethylene core within the ACM panels.

Source: Inquiry, Phase 2, §109.1. Read source

PE — polyethylene

A plastic used as the core of the ACM panels installed at Grenfell. Its burning, melting and dripping contributed to the spread of fire.

Source: Inquiry, Phase 1, §2.13. Read source

PEEP — personal emergency evacuation plan

An individual plan addressing how someone who needs assistance can evacuate in an emergency. In England, Residential PEEPs also names a specific regulatory process involving eligible residents in specified buildings, including person-centred assessment and agreed evacuation arrangements.

Source: Government Residential PEEPs factsheet.

Remediation

Work undertaken to address building-safety defects. It can include replacing unsafe cladding and correcting defects in fire doors, compartmentation or other safety measures.

Source: Government guidance on cladding and fire-safety works.

Smoke ventilation; smoke control

Systems designed to manage the movement or accumulation of smoke, helping protect escape routes and support firefighting. They may use vents, shafts and mechanical fans.

Source: Inquiry, Phase 2, chapter 43. Read source

Stay-put strategy

A strategy under which occupants of flats unaffected by fire, heat or smoke can remain while a fire elsewhere is tackled. It depends on effective compartmentation and supporting safety measures. It is not an instruction to remain regardless of conditions.

Source: Inquiry, Phase 1, §§4.2–4.6. Read source

Law, regulation and formal accountability

These entries explain the legal and regulatory context relevant to the course, principally in England and Wales.

Approved Document B — ADB

Government guidance on meeting the fire-safety requirements of the Building Regulations in England. It gives practical approaches to compliance; it is distinct from the legal requirements themselves.

Source: Government guidance on Approved Documents.

Building control

The process of checking whether building work complies with the Building Regulations, including examining plans and inspecting work. It does not replace the responsibilities of those commissioning, designing and constructing a building.

Source: Building Control Independent Panel report.

Building Regulations

Legally enforceable requirements governing building work, including matters such as structural stability, fire safety, accessibility and energy efficiency. Approved Documents provide guidance on meeting these requirements.

Source: Government guidance.

Building Safety Act 2022

Legislation reforming building-safety responsibilities, oversight and routes to redress. It includes protections against certain remediation costs for leaseholders. These protections have eligibility conditions and should not be described as applying automatically to every leaseholder or building.

Source: Government leaseholder-protection guidance.

Civil proceedings; civil settlement

Civil proceedings concern legal rights and responsibilities and may seek compensation or another remedy. A settlement is an agreement resolving a claim; it does not necessarily involve a court determining liability. It does not establish criminal guilt.

Corporate manslaughter

An offence committed by an organisation where the way its activities are managed or organised causes a death and amounts to a gross breach of a relevant duty of care. Senior-management failings must be a substantial element of that breach.

Source: Crown Prosecution Service guidance.

Coroner; inquest

A coroner is an independent judicial office-holder who investigates certain deaths. An inquest is a fact-finding hearing establishing who died and how, when and where they died. Its role is distinct from determining criminal guilt or civil liability.

Source: Chief Coroner’s explanation.

CPS — Crown Prosecution Service

The independent public prosecution service for England and Wales. It makes prosecution decisions in cases within its remit and prosecutes cases investigated by the police and other bodies.

Source: CPS.

Criminal proceedings

Legal proceedings concerning an alleged criminal offence. A prosecution must prove the offence to the criminal standard of proof. An investigation, allegation or charge does not itself establish guilt.

Debarment

Placement of a supplier on a central list that requires or permits its exclusion from specified public procurement. Being investigated for possible debarment does not mean that a supplier has already been debarred.

Source: Cabinet Office guidance.

Duty of candour

An obligation to be open, truthful and forthcoming, including when assisting investigations. The course discusses it in connection with calls for accountability following Hillsborough. Its precise legal scope depends on the relevant law and context.

Source: Government explanation of the Hillsborough Law proposals.

Duty of care

A legal obligation to exercise reasonable care towards people to whom that duty is owed. Whether a duty exists, what it requires and whether it has been breached depend on the circumstances.

Source: CPS guidance.

Gross negligence manslaughter

An offence involving a death caused by a grossly negligent breach of a duty of care. It requires a serious and obvious risk of death at the time of the breach and conduct sufficiently exceptionally bad to justify criminal punishment.

Source: CPS guidance.

Inquiry finding; recommendation

A finding is a conclusion reached after examining evidence. A recommendation proposes action or change. Accepting a recommendation and implementing it are separate steps. An inquiry finding does not itself constitute a criminal conviction.

Source: Inquiries Act 2005.

Public inquiry; Grenfell Tower Inquiry

A formal investigation into matters of public concern. The Grenfell Tower Inquiry examined the fire and its causes: Phase 1 principally addressed events on the night; Phase 2 examined the underlying circumstances and failures. Its reports were published in 2019 and 2024. Under the Inquiries Act, an inquiry cannot determine civil or criminal liability.

Source: Inquiry reports; Inquiries Act 2005, section 2. Read source

Unlawful killing

An inquest conclusion that a death resulted from conduct meeting the relevant legal criteria for unlawful killing. It does not convict an individual of a criminal offence. This distinction matters when discussing the Hillsborough inquests.

Source: Chief Coroner’s guidance.

Organisations and community groups

BBA — British Board of Agrément

A construction-product certification body. Its certificates concerning products used at Grenfell were examined by the Inquiry, which identified serious failures in their preparation and reliability.

Source: Inquiry, Phase 2, chapter 29. Read source

BRE — Building Research Establishment

An organisation undertaking research, testing and assessment relating to buildings and construction products. Formerly government-owned, it was privatised in 1997. Its testing and advisory work formed part of the Inquiry’s examination of regulatory failures.

Source: Inquiry, Phase 2, chapter 7. Read source

Grenfell Action Group — GAG

A residents’ campaigning group associated with Lancaster West Estate. Its blog documented concerns about housing management and safety before the fire. It is distinct from Grenfell United.

Source: Grenfell Action Group’s account. Read source

Grenfell community

A broad term encompassing bereaved families, survivors, local residents and others with enduring connections to Grenfell. Its meaning depends on context; it should not imply that everyone has identical experiences, priorities or views.

Grenfell Tower Memorial Commission

An independent, community-led body established to develop a vision for a memorial, working with bereaved families, survivors and local residents.

Source: Commission’s 2023 report. Read source

Grenfell United

An organisation formed by survivors and bereaved families to support those affected and campaign for justice, safe homes and change.

Source: Grenfell United. Read source

KCTMO; TMO — Kensington and Chelsea Tenant Management Organisation

The organisation that managed Grenfell Tower and other council housing on behalf of RBKC at the time of the fire. Housing management and the council’s ownership and oversight responsibilities were distinct roles.

Source: Inquiry, Phase 2, chapters 31–32. Read source

LFB — London Fire Brigade

London’s fire and rescue service. In the course, references to the LFB include operational firefighters, incident commanders, control-room staff and organisational leadership, whose responsibilities differed.

Source: Inquiry, Phase 1. Read source

RBKC — Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea

The London borough and, in references to decisions or responsibilities, its local council. RBKC owned Grenfell Tower at the time of the fire and had responsibilities concerning housing, building control and emergency planning.

Source: Inquiry, Phase 2, executive summary. Read source

Housing, inequality and social justice

These are working definitions for understanding the course’s social analysis; they should not be read as interchangeable legal findings.

Accountability

Being required to explain and justify decisions, answer for failures and take corrective action. Accountability may be legal, political, professional or public; these forms do not necessarily produce the same outcomes.

Agency

People’s capacity to act, make choices, organise and influence events, within the opportunities and constraints they face. Recognising residents’ agency includes recognising their warnings, mutual support and campaigning.

Deregulation

The removal, reduction or relaxation of regulatory requirements or controls. In this course, it concerns policies and institutional changes affecting how public safety was protected and enforced.

IMD — Index of Multiple Deprivation; deprivation decile

An official measure combining several dimensions of relative deprivation in small areas of England. Deciles divide ranked areas into ten groups. The course uses the 2019 index. An area’s ranking does not describe every person living there.

Source: Official IMD 2019 documentation.

Leaseholder

Someone who owns a property interest for a fixed period under a lease. The lease sets out rights and obligations concerning the property. A leaseholder’s position differs from that of someone renting under an ordinary residential tenancy.

Source: Government explanation of leasehold.

Marginalisation

Processes through which people or groups are excluded from resources, influence, recognition or decision-making. In this course, it includes the dismissal of residents’ concerns and unequal access to institutional power.

Social housing

Housing provided to meet needs insufficiently served by the market, commonly by councils and housing associations. In this course, the term principally refers to rented housing provided on regulated, below-market terms.

Source: Government social-housing rent policy.

Solidarity; mutual aid

Solidarity means acting in support of others through shared commitments and responsibility. Mutual aid is practical support organised among people and communities, such as sharing food, accommodation, information or care.

Structural inequality

Unequal access to resources, safety, opportunities and influence that is produced or sustained through institutions, policies and social arrangements. It directs attention beyond differences between individuals.

Systemic failure

Failure arising across connected organisations, procedures and assumptions. The term helps explain how multiple decisions and omissions can reinforce one another and allow preventable harm.

Systemic racism

Institutional practices and wider social arrangements that produce or sustain racial disadvantage, including without openly racist intentions. In the course, this is an analytical concept for examining whose safety, concerns and experiences receive recognition.

Education, representation and remembrance

These definitions reflect the course’s approach, particularly its EDJ principles, learning framework and CARE-LEAD model.

Active listening

Giving careful attention to what someone communicates, checking understanding and taking their concerns seriously. It includes recognising when assumptions or institutional habits prevent a person from being heard.

CARE-LEAD

The course’s framework for planning and reviewing teaching: Clarify purpose; Assess the room; Resource with legitimacy; Enact with trauma-informed structure; Leverage medium deliberately; Evaluate without extractive assessment; Aftercare and continuation; Duty of accountability. These are interconnected considerations, rather than sequential steps.

Community-engaged; participatory research

Research undertaken through relationships with the people whose experiences it concerns. Participatory approaches seek meaningful involvement in shaping questions, interpreting findings and deciding how knowledge is used.

CPD — continuing professional development

Learning through which educators develop their knowledge, skills, judgement and practice. In this course, it combines learning about Grenfell with reflection on how to teach about it.

Critical media literacy

The ability to examine how media accounts are produced, supported and framed: whose voices appear, whose are missing, what evidence is offered and whose interests a narrative may serve.

Curriculum mapping

Identifying where particular knowledge, concepts and learning activities fit within a curriculum, and how learning can develop across subjects, lessons and stages.

EDJ — Education for Disaster Justice

The educational approach used in this course to connect learning about disasters with humanity, lived experience, structural causes, accountability and justice. It treats remembrance and understanding the conditions that make disasters possible as connected educational responsibilities.

Emotional safety

Conditions that support learners to engage with difficult material with dignity, choice and appropriate support. This involves preparation, respectful discussion and alternatives to participation; it does not promise that learning will be free from discomfort.

Empathy

Seeking to understand another person’s feelings and perspective while recognising the limits of one’s own understanding. Teaching empathy does not require learners to imagine that they can fully reproduce a survivor’s experience.

Extractive assessment

In this course, assessment that treats people’s suffering or learners’ personal disclosures mainly as material for demonstrating attainment. An alternative evaluates understanding and ethical reasoning without requiring disclosure, emotional performance or simulated victimhood.

Lived experience

Knowledge and understanding arising from a person’s own life and circumstances. Residents’ experience of their homes, safety concerns and treatment by authorities is an important form of knowledge.

Memorialisation; remembrance

Practices through which people honour those who died, acknowledge loss and sustain memory. These may include memorials, anniversaries, art, testimony and education. In the course, remembrance is connected to responsibility and the pursuit of justice.

Testimony

An account given by someone about what they experienced, observed or know. Testimony can be legal evidence as well as a personal or public account; its context, purpose and conditions of use matter.

Trauma-informed pedagogy

Teaching that recognises that learners may have experienced trauma and plans for safety, trust, choice and support. In this course, it includes careful selection of material, clear framing, alternative participation and pastoral follow-up.

Unfinished present

The course’s term for teaching about an event whose consequences continue to unfold. It asks educators to acknowledge ongoing grief, campaigning and accountability processes, and to revise teaching as evidence and circumstances change.

Verbatim theatre

Theatre constructed from people’s recorded or documented words. Although the words originate in testimony, their selection, editing and performance still involve interpretive choices that learners can examine.

Victim-blaming

Assigning responsibility for harm to those who experienced it without adequate justification, often diverting attention from the decisions, conditions and responsibilities that produced the harm.