What Happened at Grenfell?
The Grenfell Tower was named after the road where it is to
be found, which in turn was named after the 1st Baron Field Marshal
Francis Grenfell, a war hero of the Sudanese and Boar wars.
On the 14th June 2017 seventy two people died when
a fire broke out on the fourth of twenty four floors in the tower. It was thought to have caused by an
electrical fault in a refrigerator. Seventy
other people were injured and two hundred and twenty-three people escaped the
fire.
The tower was designed in 1967 by Clifford Weardon and
Associates in the brutalist (or strong) style.
The design was praised for been adaptable and enduring. It was said to
have had a projected lifespan of 100 years.
Each floor had six generously proportioned flats. It quickly became known as the Moroccan Tower,
because it appeared to be adopted by the local Moroccan residents of Kensington
and Chelsea. In 1974 when it opened, each
floor had six flats, with 120 flats in total.
What went wrong?
The first issue was the cladding, fitted to the tower in 2016. It was designed to fulfil the UK government requirement
to reduce harmful climate affecting emissions. Cladding was sourced from an American company
called Arconic. It was a polyethylene
and aluminium ply. Before the cladding
was fitted, it can be argued that a fire in this massive concrete tower block would
have been quite easily contained.
The cladding appears to have passed fire safety standards by
the lax building and fire regulatory systems at the time. At £8.6 million pounds, a close eye will have
been kept on the public expenditure involved.
Ironically, the subsequent fire will have turned this cost into pocket
money.
Who are the protagonists?
The Government.
The Government is responsible for setting the building
regulations and agreeing acceptable levels of risk. In times of austerity, corners are often
cut. The acceptable level of risk for
people in highly congested public housing appears to be significantly lower
than anything that would be allowed for the wealthier residents of the
borough. Successive governments have
encouraged the building industry to set their own standards, to avoid the cheapest
product always winning contracts, irrespective of safety. This did not happen, and the inevitable consequence
of capitalism prevailed where the cheapest and most irresponsible product was
chosen. It can be argued that ethical building contractors could not exist in this climate.
The Building Contractors and Suppliers.
Arconics has become the villain of the piece. They argued that they played no part in the decision
making of what was put on tower. “Nothing
to do with me mate.” As has been pointed
out, some buildings are clad in wood. Here
the risks are very clear to see. Would a
tower block clad in wood be allowed?
What would the supplier of tons of wood cladding say to an inquiry? “More fool you?”
The Architects and Planners.
Architects and Planners should put the needs of the
residents of the tower block, and the borough, at the heart of all decisions. Fire testing is conducted by the industry
itself. Architects and planners are able
to choose the materials they are working with and should be clear about what is
in the best interest of the residents.
The voice of the residents appears to be a muted whisper. These people are not likely to be
stupid. They will know about the risks posed
by aluminium and polyethylene.
The Fire Brigade.
One of the roles of the fire brigade it to prevent
fires. This is why electrical items in
public places are PAT tested. Should
tower block residents have their appliances regularly tested? This would certainly reassure neighbours of
their communal safety.
Fire in London has a horrific history. In 1666 the ‘Great
Fire of London’ destroyed most of the then city. However, Grenfell’s horror far exceeds the
estimates of death in 1666 with only 6 recorded deaths at the time. Why did so many people die? One answer is because the fire brigade gave outdated
advice for people to stay in their flats until rescued by the fire fighters. Fire doors are said to offer protecting for
30 minutes. There was an idea that the block
could be evacuated in a systematic way with sufficient time for people to be
escorted from their flats. This was not
the case, because at high temperatures created by burning aluminium and the ferocity of the fire. Also the cladding created a hazard
in itself as it fell off the exterior walls, coated in highly flammable and
toxic polyethylene, onto the firefighters below.
Why did the System go wrong?
Systems are as good as the people who create them. Where there is power, there is also abuse of
power. Systems need to be held to
account by non-profiteering parties.
These parties need to have substantial power.
When things go wrong, it can be observed that time appears
to slow down…. considerably. One mechanism
of obfuscation used by the system is to inject what appears to achingly slow
processes. The Grenfell report was concluded
last week, seven years after the incident occurred. Currently, we are told, 4000 building in the
UK still have similar dangerous cladding.
One of the reasons for this is that people who have bought their flats
have been told that they have to pay to have the cladding removed and
replaced. Often these are some of the
poorest people in our society. They have
become victims to the system.
The enquiry drew a picture of responsibility for the fire at
Grenfell as describing a perfect circle of blame. One participant pointed to the next and so on,
much like the Flanders and Swan song called “T’was on a Monday Morning”, where tradesmen
create work for each other in a never ending relay.
Ultimately Government must fix things. Government will pick up all the major parts
of the bill. This will be in legal fees,
demolition and recompense to victims. Government
will have to work out how this tragedy does not happen again.
The citizens of the UK will pay the bill.
What is to be done?
The best way to prevent tragedy is to construct systems that
monitor and balance the selfish inclinations of the powerful parties involved. Each
will have it’s own vested (and often secret) agenda. The key is for a commonly help charter of
standards to be formulated and agreed by all parties. These agreements can happen at a national
level, and a local level. They will require
a legal backbone, and not act as guidelines.
The obvious bottom line will be that the living conditions of the tenants
in any tower blocks need to be those with which the vast majority of the
population would be able to agree.
Political mess-ups of our time.
Housing: The Office of National Statistics says that 8% of homes in London are vacant. Of these 8% are second homes. That is 87,700 empty homes. The London Mayor says 66,000 new homes need to be built right now. Does anyone want to try to put these two things together?
Water: My understanding is that The EU was cracking down on water quality around the coastline of all EU countries. Funny how the UK's seas become polluted again after the UK leaves the EU. The government is in a cosy relationship with the water companies. They pay fines for breaching pollution targets, and everyone's happy. The companies themselves have very little interest in improving their environmental rating.
Pensions and Health: We all know that the longer people live for, the state's greatest expense will just increase. It's a vicious circle because the older people live, the less likely they are to be able to contribute to the economy. Also the Health service grows larger and larger.
Health: another part of the health problem is the inability to define limits. Need is infinite. If demand exceeds capacity, waiting lists grown there are certain factors that moderate the waiting lists, but they grow to some natural limit which might be 2 years or 4 years, depending on the situation. People on long waiting lists either go private, which in itself reinforces the long waits, because with is just paying to jump the waiting list. Or people have a crisis, and become urgent. Or they grow out of one list and onto another- or die.
Alcohol and Drugs: It has long been known that 20% of all hospital admissions have alcohol as a component. Drugs are used in society to pacify certain populations. In the West, Alcohol and Drugs are part of the culture, and it is almost too difficult to extricate society for this problem. In Scotland this is more of a priority with minimum alcohol pricing laws.
Petrol and Coal: We all know that our society must move over to electric power. But the shift is so slow. National government could do so much through incentives, but none exist at the moment. Part of the problem is not only that the oil companies have such significant power over our lives, but that the electric only infrastructure may yet prove a disaster. The weight of electric vehicles is considerably more than petrol vehicles. There is talk of multi-story car parks falling down and bridges having to be rebuilt.
Travel: In order to reduce congestion and pollutants, we all need to travel less, and use public transport more. Public transport must be significantly cheaper that uses private cars. People must stop flying so much. Trips into space are unsustainable. We have seen this with the increase in wealth across certains parts of the world leading to a dramatic increase in air flights. This cannot go on indefinitely. The individual is not likely to have the will-power to create the change needed.
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