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Hello, this is the Grenfell Tower Inquiry podcast, reporting every day the inquiry sits.

I'm Eddie Mayor, and this week the inquiry's hearing from more expert witnesses,

who've been asked to give their opinion on aspects of the building construction and fire spread.

Today, Dr. Barbara Lane, a specialist in fire safety engineering,

returned to Holborn bars to finish giving evidence. She's been appointed to look at the fire

prevention and safety measures in place in the tower on the night of the fire, and to what extent

they failed to control the flames and smoke. Today she focused on the inside of the building.

Council to the inquiry Kate Grange

started by asking Dr Lane about the front doors of the flats

in Grenfell Tower, many of which had been replaced.

In terms of the immediate line between a person in a flat

and the conditions in the lobby and the conditions in the stairs,

the doors are particularly important, in my opinion.

Front doors were replaced in 106 homes in Grenfell Tower between 2011 and 2012 as part of the

building's refurbishment. Barbara Lane and her team found the vast majority of

flat doors in Grenfell didn't close automatically. Dr Lane told the inquiry, it's incredibly

important fire doors have a working self-closing mechanism. The guidance since the 70s has been

very clear about what the role of a self-closure is

and why it is so important.

Do you want to just explain why it's so important?

I mean, it may sound obvious.

...