Barnet Appoints Grenfell-Era Director Despite Inquiry Criticism
The Barnet Group has appointed Laura Johnson as its permanent director of development and property on a salary of £157,078. Johnson was director of housing at the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea when the Grenfell Tower fire happened in 2017.
Johnson had held the Barnet job on an interim, or temporary, basis before her permanent appointment in August. She had earlier served as interim director of property and development at Barnet Homes. The Barnet Group is owned by Barnet council and manages 13,000 council homes in the borough. The appointment was first reported on 13 September 2026. The Guardian
The Grenfell Tower Inquiry, a formal public investigation that cannot punish anyone, examined Johnson's part in decisions on the tower's refurbishment. It found she pressed to replace the original contractor to keep costs down, a change that led to metal cladding being swapped for cheaper plastic-filled panels that could burn. The inquiry heard Johnson had lost patience with the original contractor, Leadbitter, after it said the work would cost £1.2 million more than budgeted. Johnson gave evidence to the inquiry about her role.
The inquiry also found Johnson delayed fitting self-closing devices, small mechanisms that shut fire doors automatically, on doors in Grenfell Tower for financial and practical reasons, despite warnings from the London Fire Brigade about escape routes.
Survivors and bereaved families criticised the appointment. Survivor Ed Daffarn called it an "absolutely outrageous decision". The group Grenfell United urged the Barnet Group to reconsider, saying the decision showed a "staggering disregard for the inquiry's findings". It had earlier called the permanent appointment "profoundly concerning". Inside Housing
A Barnet Group spokesperson said Johnson was the "strongest candidate in a competitive field" chosen through a "robust and publicly advertised recruitment process". The spokesperson said the group knew about the inquiry findings, had considered them carefully, and had concluded Johnson was legally eligible for the post.
Criminal cases linked to the fire have not been decided. The Metropolitan Police said it was seeking charges against 57 individuals and 20 companies. The Crown Prosecution Service, the body that decides on prosecutions in England, said it expected to decide on charges by June 2027, the 10th anniversary of the disaster.
The broader context here is the gap between a public inquiry and criminal trials. An inquiry can describe who was responsible in detail but cannot bar anyone from a job. That leaves housing employers to balance inquiry criticism against recruitment rules, while survivors and councils read the same appointment in very different ways. Those differences are likely to grow sharper as June 2027 approaches.
