On the 18th June 2026, the second edition of Catastrophe and Systemic Change will be published by London Publishing Partnership (LPP).
The second edition is fully revised to include the key findings from the final Phase 2 report of the Grenfell Tower Inquiry.
THE BOOK
Reviews of the New Edition
Seismic, devestating & forensically analysed.
On the night of the Grenfell fire, Kernick made a promise to make sure we learned. Her book was already the definitive way for us to do that, and this new edition in the light of the Inquiry is even more seismic, devastating and forensically analysed. Anyone looking to ensure that this tragedy can never be repeated needs to spend time with this book. The definition of ‘must read’.
— Lucy Easthope, author of When the Dust Settles: Stories of Love, Loss and Hope from an Expert in Disaster
Compassionate & Intelligent!
The first edition of this book was hugely impressive and this new edition takes it to a whole new level. The two big questions of ‘Why can’t we learn?’ and ‘How can we change?’ are, I think, the most important challenges faced by the whole of society, and Gill Kernick’s approach to them is so compassionate and intelligent. I have spent a lot of my career trying and failing to understand why public inquiries achieve so little, despite their devastating conclusions, and I think this book is one of the only things I’ve ever read that has explained it to me.
— Dan Davies, author of The Unaccountability Machine: Why Big Systems Make Terrible Decisions – and How The World Lost its Mind
Those with power should read this book.
Gill Kernick gives an authoritative account of inexcusable failures to learn lessons from catastrophic incidents. Those with power should read this book to understand their responsibility to drive evidence-based, robust and effective changes in our society.” Amazing quality! It’s rare to find something that checks all the boxes, but this did. I’ll be recommending it to everyone I know!
— Her Honour Frances Kirkham CBE, coroner in the Lakanal House fire inquests
The Grenfell Tower tragedy was the worst residential fire in London since World War II. It killed seventy-two people in the richest borough of one of the wealthiest countries in the world. Like other catastrophic events before it and since, it has the power to bring about lasting change. But will it? The historical evidence is weighed against ‘lessons being learned’ in a meaningful or enduring way.
In an attempt to understand why, despite enormous efforts, we persistently fail to learn from catastrophic events, this book uses the details of the Grenfell fire and the subsequent Inquiry as a case study to consider two questions.
• Why don’t we learn?
• What would it take to enable real systemic change?
This new edition of Catastrophe and Systemic Change is fully revised to include key findings from the final Phase 2 Report of the Grenfell Tower Inquiry. The book explores the myths, the key challenges and the conditions that inhibit learning, and it identifies opportunities to positively disrupt the status quo. It offers an accessible model for systemic change, not as a definitive solution but rather as a framework to evoke reflection, enquiry and proper debate. Catastrophe and Systemic Change is a must-read book for a wide range of people including those interested in change management, leadership, policy-making, law, housing, public safety, construction and the built environment.
THE PODCAST
Alongside the first edition of the book, former BBC journalist Matthew Price (who I met the day of the Grenfell Tower Fire) and I present a six episode pocast series bringing the key themes to life with amazing guests from former astronauts to front line workers to dancers. Details can be found here.
The Grenfell Enquirer 