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Show Me the Bodies: How We Let Grenfell Happen

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Memorial to the 72 people, including 18 children, who died in Grenfell Tower, 2017 (Picture: Matt Brown)

In 2001 a 30-minute government funded test of ACM cladding had to be stopped after nine minutes because the flames reached 20 metres high. Sixteen years later it was burning on the walls of Grenfell. Almost exactly two years ago, just after the cross examinations with the insulation companies, I wrote about how the Inquiry had revealed a construction industry devoid of morality or ethics. I wrote optimistically about how architects might form part of a solution: custodians of a new set of values that can run through every stage of a project. People are already circling on this. Heavy timber and cross-laminated timber do not burn like plastics; they char and take hours, not minutes to catch. The buildings made of it are usually sprinklered. It is not the same thing, but I guarantee that the concrete and masonry people are already composing their advertisements."

Apps, who has covered the inquiry daily, alternates these narrative chapters with a forensic examination of how building regulations and corporate safety standards have been watered down since Margaret Thatcher’s deregulation bonanza.

COINCIDING with last week’s closing of the 300-day inquiry into the Grenfell Tower fire comes the publication of a damning and moving account of the events leading up to the entirely preventable disaster that claimed 72 lives, 17 of them children.Author has done a fantastic job of outlining accounts of some that made it out and others that didnt, while interspersed throughout are facts that were already in public domain prior to grenfell, along with others that were kept under wraps by various parties, but primarily the cladding suppliers of the products which weren't safe for use on such a tower under the conditions used. And with only ourselves and South Korea allowing these items on, surely it would have occurred to somebody that it's not a great idea. Grenfell was not an accident, but a foretold and carefully planned tragedy, built up for decades. It was prepared through a series of decisions and political or economic games, aiming to maximize profit, thus setting the value of human life below the importance of financial interest. Peter Apps provides a multilateral understanding of the events leading up to the Grenfell disaster, through the revelation of the multitude of factors that led up to it. Should be mandatory reading for policymakers in this country around social housing and construction in general for high rise structures.

Change the plan you will roll onto at any time during your trial by visiting the “Settings & Account” section. What happens at the end of my trial? In his Observer review of Apps’ winning book, Rowan Moore wrote: “Never before, in years of reviewing books about buildings, has one brought me to tears. This one did, with the story of a Grenfell resident struggling to escape with his young daughters and heavily pregnant wife.” The book also details how the council and its tenant management organisation ignored tenants’ warnings. Instead they labelled them “troublemakers” when they raised concerns about the refurbishment of the tower from 2015. Seventeen books have been shortlisted for the two book prizes, including eight works of fiction and nine non-fiction titles. If you ask most people in the building world why 72 died in the fire at the Grenfell Tower on 14 June 2017, the answer will likely be either "combustible cladding" or the "single stair." Most people in North America will not pay much attention because "it can't happen here." But the story is far more complicated. It can happen here because it was due to failures by people who were corrupt, greedy, incompetent and in over their heads, and that happens everywhere. But, unfortunately, it also appears that the wrong lessons are being learned from it.Joining Tonkin on the fiction judging panel were New Scientist comment and culture editor Alison Flood, UCL professor of English Julia Jordan and New Statesman contributing editor Tomiwa Owolade. Never before, in years of reviewing books about buildings, has one brought me to tears. This one did, with the story of a Grenfell resident struggling to escape with his young daughters and heavily pregnant wife. Those who justified the deregulating policies that led to this misery sometimes spoke of the interests of “UK plc”. But, even if you put basic humanity aside, how is it good business to create the situation we now have, where billions have to be spent correcting mistakes that should never have been made?

I also wrote about the principle of compartmentalization, where people are advised to stay in their apartments until the fire is put out. That's why single-stair designs were permitted in tall buildings. It usually works, but as Mark Coles, head of Technical Regulations at the Institution of Engineering and Technology, explained in the Engineer:The fire climbed up cladding as flammable as solid petrol. Fire doors failed to self-close. No alarm rang out to warn sleeping residents. As smoke seeped into their homes, all were told to 'stay put'. Many did - and they died. The intent at the design stage of this building was such that the staircases were not intended to be used as a mass escape route. The advice given to residents was that, in the event of a fire, the occupants should remain in their properties. The speed at which this fire spread would suggest that there has been a serious failure in the design and installation techniques employed."

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