On 14 June, the 24-storey Grenfell Tower block in North Kensington caught fire, burning for approximately 60 hours before finally being extinguished. With emergency services receiving the first report of the fire at 00:54, and more than 200 firefighters and 45 fire engines attending the scene, the fire is believed to have caused the deaths of least 80 residents, although that number could still rise as investigations continue. Reports which emerged after the incident suggested that the residents’ organisation, Grenfell Action Group, had raised concerns about the buildings fire safety, while questions have also been asked of current building and safety regulations in the UK, which, if they had been updated, may have prevented such an incident from taking place. For example, Grenfell Tower only contains one single central staircase, as UK regulations do not require a second to be created. The Telegraph reported on 16 June that residents had repeatedly claimed that, in the event of a fire, their escape path was limited to a single staircase, but such worries were dismissed. Additionally, the Kensington and Chelsea Tenant Management Organisation (KCTMO) issued guidance to tower residents in 2014, advising them to remain within the flat incase of a fire, repeating the advice in May 2016. The Grenfell Tower regeneration newsletter of that month read that ‘if there is a fire which is not inside your own home, you are generally safest to stay put in your home to begin with’. Latest reports show that fire service advice to ‘stay put’ inside Grenfell Tower during the fire which destroyed the building lasted nearly two hours, before the policy was changed. The aforementioned safety concerns, raised by the Grenfell Action Group, were voiced following a major renovation project on the high rise, which reached completion in 2016. Following a change of contractor by the KCTMO, the project saw new windows and new aluminium composite rainscreen cladding added to the building. According to a report, also printed in the Telegraph, alternative cladding with better fire resistance was refused due to cost. The Guardian also reported in the week following the fire that the material used in the new cladding was a cheaper, more flammable version of the two available options. The newspaper reported that Omnis Exteriors manufactured the aluminium composite material (ACM) used in the cladding, with the manufacturer telling the paper that they had been asked to supply Reynobond PE cladding, which is £2 cheaper per square metre than the alternative fire resistant Reynobond FR cladding. LOCAL AUTHORITY INSTRUCTIONS Following the fire, Melanie Dawes, Permanent Secretary at the Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG), issued local authorities with a list of instructions that must be taken if insulation within cladding ‘is unlikely to be compliant with the requirements’ of current
building regulations. The measures included checking that the fire risk assessment had been carried out within the previous 12 months and that the recommendations within the action plan of the assessment have been completed, and to confirm that there had been no material changes (to the building, the fire safety measures or the occupancy that could, potentially, undermine the validity of the fire risk assessment. Following this instruction, it emerged that Camden Council began removing cladding from five of its blocks after discovering that the outer cladding panels on five blocks in the borough were made up of aluminium panels with a polyethylene core, similar to that which helped the fire at Grenfell Tower to spread across the building. The council fitted the cladding in 2006 as part of a £150 million PFI deal with the same contractors that were used on Grenfell Tower – Rydon and Harley Facades. The London council has since agreed to conduct an independent review, due to begin in August, into the circumstances which required the evacuation of residents from the region’s Chalcots Estate, and has also announced plans to appoint a new director responsible for resident safety and establish a borough-wide Camden Fire Safety Advisory Panel led by tenants and leaseholders. Georgia Gould, Camden Council leader, said: “The panels that were fitted were not to the standard that we had commissioned. In light of this, we will be informing the contractor that we will be taking urgent legal advice. Camden council has decided it will immediately begin preparing to remove these external cladding panels from the five tower blocks on the Chalcots Estate. Camden council will do whatever it takes to ensure our residents are reassured about the safety of their homes.” Councillor Alison Butler, the deputy leader, also announced at the council’s cabinet meeting that council blocks with 10, 11 or 12 storeys would be receiving fire sprinklers. Butler said: “This council is committed to installing fire sprinklers in 25 council blocks with 10 storeys or taller because last week’s tragedy showed we all need to bolster fire safety measures for our residents. I will also be writing to the government challenging them to give us more support in our plans to make our borough safer. In the meantime, we will continue to work with London Fire Brigade to ensure our housing continues to meet fire safety standards, and we will respond to any recommendations that emerge from the Grenfell Tower investigation.” Sheffield City Council and Southampton City Council are also looking to put sprinklers in their high-rise tower blocks
Fire Safety
BUSINESS INFORMATION FOR LOCAL AND CENTRAL GOVERNMENT – www.governmentbusiness.co.uk
in the aftermath of the Grenfell Tower fire. Sheffield confirmed it will be putting sprinklers in all its 24 blocks, claiming that it had ‘always intended’ to review the sprinklers policy later this year but will bring the review forward to ‘provide extra reassurance’. PUBLIC SECTOR BUILDINGS Three hospitals have since failed fire safety checks after conducting assessments on their buildings. Buildings at London’s King’s College Hospital, Sheffield’s children’s hospital and the North Middlesex Trust have been found to have combustible cladding, with all three hospitals undertaking steps to improve safety. The trusts, along with another 35 across the country, have been instructed to introduce 24-hour fire warden patrols to improve safety. Meanwhile, the National Union of Teachers, the Fire Brigades Union and the Association of Teachers and Lecturers have called for urgent checks of fire safety measures in England’s schools, including the analysis of cladding on school buildings. Reports indicated that fire safety rules for schools were to be ‘toned down’, although the Department for Education has maintained that there were no plans to bring in any changes which would make fire safety laws less strict. Fire safety guidance for schools, known as Building Bulletin 100, requires all new schools to be fitted with sprinklers – except for a few low-risk schools. However, figures, stated by the above associations and shared by the BBC, indicate that only 35 per cent of new schools built since 2010 had been fitted with sprinklers, compared to 70 per cent of schools built between 2007 and 2010. This has caused many to question the Coalition government’s ‘efficient’ school building programme, Priority Buildings for Schools, leading to the unions to argue that ‘current guidance is being ignored in the rush to build new schools as cheaply as possible’.
ts Residentedly ea had rep that in claimedt of a fire n the eve pe path was ca their es d to a single limite se, but such stairca ies were worr ssed dismi
RESPONSE On 15 June, Communities Secretary Sajid Javid confirmed that the Bellwin scheme would be activated to support the immediate response operation in North Kensington. The emergency scheme provides financial assistance to local authorities to help with immediate costs following a disaster or emergency in their area that involves danger to life or property. He said: “Emergency services and the local community have been tremendous in their response. As the Prime Minister has been clear, the government stands ready to help in anyway possible. We’re determined to stand squarely behind the affected communities. Funding through the Bellwin scheme will help councils support the ! Volume 24.4 | GOVERNMENT BUSINESS MAGAZINE
19