A System Response to the Fire Safety Challenge

This insight paper examines the Grenfell Tower fire as a systemic failure resulting from decades of regulatory fragmentation and deregulation in the UK’s fire safety system. Professor Steve McGuirk explains how the Fire Sector Confederation was established to address critical gaps between existing institutions – spaces where responsibility and accountability dissolve across regulation, construction, professional competence, and emergency response. Using the “Fire Chain” concept to visualise the complete fire safety lifecycle, the paper argues that no single existing body can oversee the system as a whole, making the Confederation essential as a system-level integrator that provides coherence, institutional memory, and stewardship to prevent future tragedies.