Tower block fire. Why did it happen?

[Doha]

POST MOVED FROM TOWER BLOCK FIRE THREAD.

 

Unreal that such an incident can occur in Britain 2017.

 

Without a doubt, there will be people going to Prison over this.

 

 

Grenfell Action Group: 'We have posted numerous warnings in recent years about the very poor fire safety standards at Grenfell Tower and elsewhere in Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea (RBKC).

'All our warnings fell on deaf ears. This was inevitable and just a matter of time.'

 

The group had been posting about their concerns of tower block's safety regularly calling for it to be torn down before it went up in flames in the early hours of this morning in White City.

 

'It is a truly terrifying thought but the Grenfell Action Group firmly believe that only a catastrophic event will expose the ineptitude and incompetence of our landlord, the KCTMO, and bring an end to the dangerous living conditions and neglect of health and safety legislation that they inflict upon their tenants and leaseholders.

 

'We believe that the KCTMO are an evil, unprincipled, mini-mafia who have no business to be charged with the responsibility of looking after the every day management of large scale social housing estates and that their sordid collusion with the RBKC Council is a recipe for a future major disaster.

 

'Unfortunately, the Grenfell Action Group have reached the conclusion that only an incident that results in serious loss of life of KCTMO residents will allow the external scrutiny to occur that will shine a light on the practices that characterise the malign governance of this non-functioning organisation.

 

'We believe that the KCTMO have ensured their ongoing survival by the use of proxy votes at their Annual General Meeting that see them returned with a mandate of 98 percent in favour of the continuation of their inept and highly dangerous management of our homes.'

[Doha]

POST MOVED FROM TOWER BLOCK FIRE THREAD

 

Earlier in the year, current Tory chief of staff Gavin Barwell, previously housing minster, delayed a review of tower block safety standards.

 

http://www.frmjournal.com/news/news_detail.government-endangering-tower-blocks-by-delaying-fire-safety-regulations-review.html

[JOHNNYAITCH]

Painful interview with the company that did the refurb on GMB but there are wider issues. Delays in govt, recent fines for local authorities such as Southwark. a complacent culture, profiteering, ignoring tenants

 

I know we don't know exactly what happened and why but the same message keeps coming g out from different people

[geosname]

Little bit to early to point the finger at just yet but definitely worth looking in the direction of...

[Fosse69]

It would appear that the building had the windows double glazed, and the outside cladded a year or so back. How did the cladding get building approval or was it not a seen as a risk?

[Bea Smith]

Little bit to early to point the finger at just yet but definitely worth looking in the direction of...

 

Some people seem to have made it heir pet project though, and swamped the threads with self-righteous inappropriate posts on it. Might be better just to send condolences and show some dignity for the dead and injured and let those whose job it is investigate it in due course without hysterical rants on here.

 

Opening a second thread with this title is not appropriate at all as it only happened hours ago, perhaps better merged ?

[Fosse69]

Some people seem to have made it heir pet project though, and swamped the threads with self-righteous inappropriate posts on it. Might be better just to send condolences and show some dignity for the dead and injured and let those whose job it is investigate it in due course without hysterical rants on here.

 

Opening a second thread with this title is not appropriate at all as it only happened hours ago, perhaps better merged ?

As a compromise, separate threads one for condolences and one for causes gives both angles, I have moved non-condolence posts onto this thread..

[CambridgeDon]

Came across this useful piece: 5 fast facts you need to know about KTCMO, the body that manages Kensington and Chelsea's housing stock:

 

http://heavy.com/news/2017/06/kctmo-grenfell-fire-action-group-kensington-chelsea-tenant-management-organization-cause/

 

The senior management of this august body are likely to be in complete panic as the prospect of prison looms its ugly head.

[Fosse69]

One view is that the cladding was added purely to improve the view of the tower block from the surrounding posh areas in Notting Hill, in doing so a gap of 25/30 cm behind the cladding created a chimney effect with devastating effect, The composition of the cladding has not been revealed.

[Howjy04]

Good old Jez,couldn't ****ing wait.****.

[JOHNNYAITCH]

Came across this useful piece: 5 fast facts you need to know about KTCMO, the body that manages Kensington and Chelsea's housing stock:

 

http://heavy.com/news/2017/06/kctmo-grenfell-fire-action-group-kensington-chelsea-tenant-management-organization-cause/

 

The senior management of this august body are likely to be in complete panic as the prospect of prison looms its ugly head.

 

I know north Kensington quite well and its seen by much of the rest of the borough as blot on their landscape. Generally felt that its in managed decline so people will move out. and then it can be rebuilt to be like the rest of the borough (in their narrow minds) If true that may have been a factor.

[JOHNNYAITCH]

Good old Jez,couldn't ****ing wait.****.

 

Saw that and I was surprised..too soon for someone in his position to point fingers. Not very respectful.

[For Us All]

Good old Jez,couldn't ****ing wait.****.

 

He'd been better waiting until the investigation had finished instead of trying to win brownie points?

[whotobeakiller]

Here's my opinion for what it's worth...most council flats are old, outdated and un refurbished ...the councils install alarm systems because it is cheaper than changing the whole building structure where they could build balconies with fire steps or a proper evacuation route from each floor.

 

How do I know? Because I've lived in one and (For example) those flats opposite Vale park, Hanley are a death trap and outdated with very few contingencies and escape routes. The concentration of people whom live in these flats are very hard up and poor whether working or not...there is no sense of community in flats and they do not share concern even where it may be.

 

Living in a flat is the opposite of living in a nice semi with a Rosie garden...your whole life is different because you live in a flat. The council know that many of the tenants are short of money and will not invest in a proper heating system or safety contingencies...why should they bother? The tenants cannot afford anything else anyway

 

Council flats that exist after years have fell behind in every way with Health and Safety from various angles...anybody who has lived in them will know exactly what I mean. Do not blame Tories because Stoke on Trent have had a Labour council for years and they did nothing...because they do nothing for working class people...they do not have to because many working class people do not vote!!!

[Bea Smith]

Here's my opinion for what it's worth...most council flats are old, outdated and un refurbished ...the councils install alarm systems because it is cheaper than changing the whole building structure where they could build balconies with fire steps or a proper evacuation route from each floor.

 

How do I know? Because I've lived in one and (For example) those flats opposite Vale park, Hanley are a death trap and outdated with very few contingencies and escape routes. The concentration of people whom live in these flats are very hard up and poor whether working or not...there is no sense of community in flats and they do not share concern even where it may be.

 

Living in a flat is the opposite of living in a nice semi with a Rosie garden...your whole life is different because you live in a flat. The council know that many of the tenants are short of money and will not invest in a proper heating system or safety contingencies...why should they bother? The tenants cannot afford anything else anyway

 

Council flats that exist after years have fell behind in every way with Health and Safety from various angles...anybody who has lived in them will know exactly what I mean. Do not blame Tories because Stoke on Trent have had a Labour council for years and they did nothing...because they do nothing for working class people...they do not have to because many working class people do not vote!!!

 

Of course Tory councils are to blame, maybe SOT hasn't done much- I don't know for sure- , but blocks in Manchester and Liverpool and Sheffield have been improved a lot. The government are responsible for safety at the end of the day too, and this is what happens when those who whine about 'nanny state' get their way.