Industry News


Response to Grenfell Tower fire dominates the headlines


T


he housing sector is facing urgent demands that it improves its approach to residents’ safety as


politicians and the public insists lessons are learned from the Grenfell Tower fire in west London. A public inquiry has been ordered to


take place, lead by a judge, but with a mandate to make an early or interim finding, so that corrective action can start within months not years. It seems that people’s patience has run out amid fears that residents’ safety took a back seat to finding cost savings in the project. Ministers ordered emergency tests and


inspections to be carried out on all tower blocks by social landlords, with the aim of reassuring worried residents. As there are thousands of similar blocks across the country this has not been a simple task to complete although all of them should have had fire risk assessments completed in the past year. The Government has said funding will


be provided for the checking and testing work to be undertaken. A special focus is being made on the fire retardant qualities of cladding panels.


Urgency Checks have been prioritised on tower blocks that have undergone similar refurbishment works as Grenfell Tower. This affects dozens of tower blocks, with works undertaken partly to improve their energy efficiency, making them less costly to heat and more comfortable to live in. It would be hugely ironic if these improvement works also made the blocks less safe. If residents need rehousing for corrective


works to be carried out, there is the practical concern about where they will move to even if only for temporary periods. This will put enormous pressure on council housing departments, who are already struggling to deal with the rising numbers of homeless people in their localities. We have already seen that Kensington &


Chelsea Council has struggled with rehousing the 120 plus families made homeless by the fire. The Government and London Councils have stepped in to take over much of the planning and co-ordination of what has turned out to be a massive relief effort. Urgent calls are being made to remove


cladding from tower blocks, of a similar type to that used on Grenfell Tower. But this affects more than just residential buildings, as cladding has been used on office blocks, hospitals, schools and universities, hotels and elsewhere. There has been a lot of focus already on the qualities of the cladding panels and whether the right ones were used given the height of Grenfell Tower, but


these questions will have to wait until the inquiry commences before they can be answered.


Disbelief However, there is a growing sense of disbelief at how fast the fire spread from the fourth floor to quickly engulf the whole 24 storeys, in the early hours of 13 June, so soon after the £10m refurbishment was completed. Grenfell Tower was home to between 400 and 600 people and had only one stairway being used by residents for their evacuation and by firefighters who were tackling the blaze and looking for survivors. There has been an understandable


outpouring of grief and anger over the mounting death toll which has risen to well over 70, with many families having lost more than one relative. The Police are warning that the final death toll will rise and the identity of all the victims may never be known, as no-one is sure who was in the tower at the time of the fire. Greater urgency in learning lessons is being


demanded than was the case following the Lakanal House fire in Southwark in 2009 when six people died. In particular there has been criticism of the delay in publishing updated safety guidance and building regulations with various housing ministers being criticised for failing to fast-track this and set higher national standards for builders and landlords to follow.


Impatience Prosecutions could follow as the Police and Health & Safety Executive are both starting criminal investigations. This is a difficult period for all concerned but choreographing the various inquiries is essential to ensure they inform rather than interfere with each other. Public impatience has been fuelled by the apparent slow response to the tragedy by the various authorities, but particularly the local authority who own the tower block in North Kengsington.


Key areas for the investigations will include:


• The use of cladding, made of different materials and their safety above certain heights (above fire service platforms);


• Retrofitting of sprinkler systems into older tower blocks;


• The alarm systems in use and the ‘evacuate or stay put’ advice given to residents;


• Whether the recent renovation work on the tower block damaged the building's fire safety;


• Why there has been a delay in simplifying building and safety regulations;


• Was penny pinching on the refurbishment project to blame for the fire spreading so quickly;


• Is there a conflict between the twin aims of improving property insulation qualities and improving fire safety, or can this be resolved; and


• Are the current safety testing processes and procedures robust enough to recreate real life situations?


Pictures from inside the burnt out tower block


have been published in newspapers and shown on our TV screens, leaving us shocked and horrified as the destroyed flats look like they are from a war zone.


Standards While fires in tower blocks are an inevitability, either through human error or a component fault, they do not usually lead to such catastrophic loss of life or property damage. Current safety standards are meant to contain fires to individual flats and to keep them from spreading to adjoining properties, while preventing the spread of smoke to corridors and stairways until the fire service have responded. This does not appear to have been the case at Grenfell Tower. Perhaps stung by some of the criticism, the


Department for Communities and Local Government issued a statement saying "Cladding using a composite aluminium panel with a polyethylene core would be non- compliant with current building regulations guidance. This material should not be used as cladding on buildings over 18 metres in height." Prime Minister Theresa May said vowed


that the affected families would be rehoused locally within three weeks. This is an understandable commitment, but it could be extremely difficult to deliver in a borough with a lengthy waiting list and one of the most pressing needs for additional housing. The tower’s residents group claim they raised


concerns during and since the refurbishment works. This raises difficult issues for their landlord, the K&CTMO and whether they ignored these concerns. This tragic fire at Grenfell Tower will not


quickly fade from our memories and we can be sure that there will be a huge spotlight on the ensuing inquiry and investigations. Lessons will have to be learned, practices will have to change and hopefully a similar tragedy can be avoided. The experience of Lakanal House does not


fill us with confidence, which is why the housing sector needs to act quickly and deliver comprehensive solutions to the key issues.


www.housingmmonline.co.uk | HMM July 2017 | 5


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