Five years ago from today, on 14 June 2017, a fire broke out in Grenfell Tower, a 24-storey, 220-foot and 10-inch tall, residential tower block on the Lancaster West Estate in North Kensington, in the poorer fringes of the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea- the richest borough in the country. The first 999 call was received soon after midnight, at 00:45 AM, and firefighters from the London Fire Brigade were at the scene within six minutes. It was later determined that the fire had originated in a Hotpoint fridge-freezer in the kitchen of Flat 16, on the fourth floor. It took over 250 firefighters and 70 fire engines from stations across London around sixty hours to contain the flames, which quickly engulfed the tower from the second to the 24th floor and converted it a death trap. In keeping with usual practice of the time for fires in tower blocks, residents were advised to “stay put” in their flats for almost two hours rather than attempt to “get out”, which turned out to be the wrong advice under the circumstances.
The worst residential fire in the UK since World War Two eventually led to seventy-two deaths, including eighteen children. All but two died in the building. Seventy-four injured people were conveyed to six London hospitals by ambulance, while another ten made it to hospital on their own, and 223 residents managed to escape the flames. Many of the victims, as well as survivors, were from poorer socioeconomic backgrounds and ethnic minority communities, leading to allegations of neglect in comparison with the wealthier parts of the borough. Despite the diversity of the residents, it was reported that there was a strong community spirit among residents.
Grenfell Tower was built during 1972 to 1974, as the first phase of the Lancaster West Estate. It was designed by Clifford Wearden and Associates in 1967 and Kensington and Chelsea Borough Council approved its construction in 1970. Upon completion in 1974, it consisted of 120 one- and two-bedroom flats, with communal lobbies on each floor. At the time of the fire, the 127 flats (added to in 2016), either social housing or privately-owned, were managed by Kensington and Chelsea Tenant Management Organisation (KCTMO), the biggest tenant management organisation in England, which looked after all council housing in the Royal Borough.
Soon after the tragedy, a number of failures in building regulations and safety rules were identified. Of particular concern was the choice of material for external cladding to insulate the building and improve its appearance. The cladding, in bendable cassette form, was supplied by the French subsidiary of Arconic. It comprised two panels of aluminium sheeting within which was a combustible and flammable plastic core of Reynobond PE (polyethylene) 55. This form of cladding was finally banned by the UK Government in June 2022, in time for the fifth anniversary of the fire. The Aluminium Composite Material had been installed at a cost of £2.6 million, as part of a two-year, £8.6 million, refurbishment by KCTMO which was completed in May 2016. According to new National Building Regulations, introduced in 1986, materials used on the exteriors of buildings were no longer required to be non-combustible. Instead, in the burning state, it was expected that they would not add to the intensity of any fire that might arise. An air gap between the cladding and external insulation acted as a wind tunnel, allowing the rapid spread of flames to the upper levels of the building. Other identified problems included the lack of a central sprinkler system, missing fire doors, missing firebreaks, and a single central staircase. Some residents reported a lack of official concern over fire safety and also complained that regular fire drills had not taken place.
On 29 June 2017, it was announced that Sir Martin Moore-Bick, a retired Lord Justice of Appeal, would chair the public inquiry into the Grenfell Tower tragedy. Meanwhile, the council had come under pressure from all quarters. The following day, Nicholas Paget-Brown, leader, and Rock Feilding-Mellen, deputy leader and chair of the housing committee, resigned from the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea Council, as did Robert Black, chief executive of KCTMO. Elizabeth Campbell was chosen as the new council leader on 4 July and continues to lead the Royal Borough. On 27 September, the council voted unanimously to terminate its contact with KCTMO to manage its social housing portfolio.
The Grenfell Tower public inquiry opened at the Grand Connaught Room in Holborn on 14 September 2017. Sir Martin Moore-Bick rejected calls to include residents on his team of assessors, on the grounds it would ‘risk undermining my impartiality’. The fact-finding inquiry is continuing, alongside Operation Northleigh, a police investigation headed by Deputy Assistant Commissioner Stuart Cundy of the Metropolitan Police. The first phase of the inquiry ended in December 2018. The report, released in October 2019. blamed the external cladding as the main reason for the rapid spread of fire, while systemic failures in the London Fire Brigade’s response only made matters worse.
The tragedy put the spotlight on the presence of unsafe cladding in many residential buildings- the direct result of lowered standards, regulatory failures and cost cutting in the construction industry (property developers, architects, building contractors, fire safety consultants) that compromised fire safety in new builds. It also reminded us that faulty cladding had been known to contribute to previous residential fires in Britain and elsewhere.
The process of undoing the damage is proving expensive and raising questions of who will foot the bill to do so. The UK Government has promised £5.1 billion to replace unsafe cladding in all 486 buildings over 18 metres tall with Grenfell-style cladding in England, 59 of which have yet to see any corrective action. The construction industry has been asked to voluntarily contribute to cladding removal schemes for around 8,000 mid-level high-rise buildings, between 11 and 18 metres high, and a Building Safety Levy on profits, covering all new residential buildings in England, is also expected to raise money for the same purpose.
Meanwhile, the public inquiry carries on. Criminal prosecutions await its completion and submission of the inquiry report. In the meantime, delays in apportioning blame mean that victims feel unable to move on with their lives. It is possible that charges of corporate manslaughter and breaches of fire safety regulations may eventually follow, but the sluggish nature of the British investigative and legal systems and the delaying tactics of lawyers may drag out the process, at a snail-like pace, over many years to come. For the present, travellers passing Latimer Road station on the London Underground can expect to catch a glimpse of a blackened tower, shrouded in plastic wrapping with green hearts, which stands as the silent testimony to an entire preventable tragedy.
Ashis Banerjee