Major milestones in Grenfell Tower response

Fire & Emergency Response

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Major milestones in Grenfell Tower response

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Political Editor Catherine Levin returns to North Kensington to visit the area around Grenfell Tower in the run up to the fourth anniversary of the tragic fire and provides FIRE with an update on the changes taking place to improve fire safety

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une 14, 2021 marks four years since the Grenfell Tower fire. The Tower remains wrapped in white plastic, looming high above the local area and visible from afar as the community continues with the rhythms of the day to day.

The hoardings next to the nearby leisure centre form a memorial wall of sorts. It is the home of a large, intricate mosaic flower with 12 petals, each of which bears a word of inspiration. Mosaic leaves scatter across the extent of the hoardings and are surrounded by messages of love and memory. The Grenfell tube sign stands proud alongside the green heart of hope.

The Grenfell Tower Memorial Commission’s Promise is also attached to the hoardings. It reads: ‘To those who lost their lives, we promise never to forget. To those who survived, we promise never to forget. To those who bore witness, we promise never to forget. Together we work to build a fitting memorial, one that will stand the test of time and act as a permanent symbol of remembrance’.

Alistair Watters, Director of the Grenfell Site and Programme based in the Ministry for Housing and Local Government, confirmed in a recent letter to members of the Grenfell community that no changes will be made to the Tower prior to the fifth anniversary of the fire.

Taking down the Tower will be a mammoth task, as it is surrounded by closely packed residential streets. There is a legal restriction in place so that the land cannot be used for any future purpose other than that agreed in line with the Grenfell Tower Memorial Principles.

Grenfell Tower Inquiry The Grenfell Tower Inquiry continues and is in its second phase, working through module three. This is concerned with the active and passive measures in the building, the management of the building, compliance with the Fire Safety Order, fire risk assessments and complaints by residents and responses to them.

During April and May, the Inquiry heard evidence from representatives from Kensington and Chelsea Tenant Management Organisation (the TMO) and the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. It also heard from a small number of residents, including Ed Daffarn who was heavily involved in the Grenfell Tower residents’ group.

During this phase, the Inquiry will hear evidence from Carl Stokes who carried out the fire risk assessments for the Tower; he has already been mentioned many times by other witnesses.

A recent update from the Inquiry revealed that it has disclosed over a quarter of a million documents and so far has cost more than £117 million. The legal costs are a large percentage of the total and include those for many of the core participants (bereaved, survivors and residents as well as two trade unions representing firefighters).

In March, the Home Office published its second quarterly update on work to meet the Phase 1 Report recommendations. It provided progress against each of the 46 recommendations and included work by the government as well as London Fire Brigade and fire and rescue services more generally.

“The first major milestone was in April when the Fire Safety Bill received Royal Assent and became the Fire Safety Act 2021” www.fire–magazine.com

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It provided a detailed update on work related to the evacuation. The Inquiry recommended that the government develop national guidelines for carrying out partial or total evacuations of high-rise residential buildings. A joint Home Office and MHCLG technical steering group is overseeing an evacuation research programme with four strands of work. The first strand is an evidence review of methods of evacuation which is due for publication.

In January 2021, the University of Central Lancashire (UCLan) won a £200,000 contract to carry out research into evacuation strategies, which is the second strand of work.

It has established a project called ‘SAFE – Operational Strategies Aiming at Effective Fire Evacuation’. This is led

by James Fowler and Shephard Ndlovu in the School of Engineering. The project is due to last ten months.

The third strand is about building design research to evaluate fire safety provision in buildings and the final strand is about human behaviour and public confidence.

The update from the Home Office noted that contracts have been let for both strands, but no further details are available.

The update also confirmed that the government will seek further views about personal emergency evacuation plans (PEEPs) and will publish a consultation on this issue soon.

The subject of PEEPs has already come up during the Inquiry. Teresa Brown, who was employed by the TMO as Director of Housing from 2014, told the Inquiry: “I just think it’s a very complicated area of business. Some thought really needs to be given to how you keep PEEPs up to date and how you implement them in an evacuation situation. It is the subject of much debate, but there needs to be absolute clarity for everybody going forward.”

or managers will also have to inspect flat entrance doors annually and lifts monthly, telling the local fire and rescue service if there are any faults with lifts.

All residents of buildings which have two or more flats will have to have access to evacuation and fire safety instructions provided by the building owner or manager.

There is also a provision for the creation of a public register of fire risk assessments.

One of the consequences of the Grenfell Tower fire was not only the revelation that many other buildings were also covered in ACM cladding, but that there are many buildings at risk due to other types of construction materials.

The Queen’s Speech on May 11 confirmed that the Building Safety Bill would be introduced into parliament.

The background briefing notes advise: ‘We are supporting the removal of all unsafe cladding from buildings between 11-18m through a £5 billion investment fund which will fully cover these costs. We have also announced a generous financing scheme for the removal of unsafe cladding from buildings between 11 and 18 metres.

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Grenfell-related Legislation Alongside the work of the Grenfell Tower Inquiry, the government is implementing a programme of legislation in response to some of the Phase 1 recommendations. The first major milestone was in April when the Fire Safety Bill received Royal Assent and became the Fire Safety Act 2021.

The Act makes changes to the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005, known as the Fire Safety Order. It is not the end of the process, as much of the content of the Act requires a further series of regulations to be made under the Fire Safety Order and they will need to be consulted on over the coming months.

The Act deals with a long-standing issue about who is responsible for the fire safety of communal doors, external walls and anything attached, such as balconies. It also allows for further changes to be made to which premises are covered by the Fire Safety Order in the future to negate the need for further primary legislation.

In future, those responsible for the fire safety of a building will have to share information about the external walls with the local fire and rescue service. Building owners

“The transformation that is required is complex, the vehicles for doing so are slow and the interdependence of it all increases the risk of getting it right” 20

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There is a lot more contained in the Select Committee’s report and there is an expectation from them that the government should respond before the Building Safety Bill is introduced. The briefing for the Queen’s Speech noted that the government: ‘Would respond to their considerations shortly’.

The knock-on effects of dangerous cladding on highrises continues to reverberate around the country with the End our Cladding Scandal campaign undeterred after failing to influence the Fire Safety Bill. Campaigners had fought for the Bill to contain an amendment that would see leaseholders not responsible for paying for fire safety remediation works.

Shortly after the Bill received Royal Assent, there was a fire in Providence Wharf, a high-rise residential block in Poplar, East London. Firefighters tackled the fire on the blaze in the 19-storey building where parts of the 8th, 9th and 10th floor were alight. The building had some ACM cladding and it was due to be removed by the developers as part of a remediation programme but had been delayed.

Campaigners shared stories of failures in waking watch, fire alarms and other fire precautions.

The campaign continues, with leaseholders contributing data to create the claddingscandalmap.co.uk.

Crowd sourced, it gives an idea of the geographical and financial impact of the cladding remediation problem across the country.

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A new tax on the residential property development sector will raise at least £2 billion to help cover the costs of the Government’s remediation programme. We are also providing £30 million to pay for the cost of common alarm systems, to help end costly waking watch measures in buildings waiting for remediation’.

The Housing Select Committee’s pre-legislative scrutiny of the Building Safety Bill estimated the true cost of remediation across all building types would be more like £15 billion. They are clear about where the responsibility for the costs should lie. ‘It has been our unwavering position that leaseholders should bear no cost whatsoever for the remediation of building safety defects that were not of their making’.

Cladding Scandal The report called Cladding Remediation – Follow up, set out a series of recommendations that included scrapping the government’s proposed cladding remediation loan scheme and an extension of the waking watch relief fund.

The committee called for a Comprehensive Building Safety Fund that: • Applies to all high-risk buildings of any height, irrespective of tenure • Covers all fire safety defects, including combustible insulation • Covers all associated costs.

Transformation Journey There is so much going on in response to the Grenfell Tower fire that it can seem rather overwhelming. This is, at its heart, a massive change programme that has elevated fire safety to a place that no one would ever have wanted.

The transformation that is required is complex, the vehicles for doing so are slow and the interdependence of it all increases the risk of getting it right.

The continued scrutiny of the government by the Housing Select Committee and by parliament is crucial to ensure successful transformation. Without the loud voices of campaigners like Grenfell United and the End our Cladding Scandal, the work and the debate could all fade into obscurity and out of public consciousness and that must not be allowed to happen. www.fire–magazine.com

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