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| The deaths at Grenfell Tower were no surprise. Many of us saw it coming | The deaths at Grenfell Tower were no surprise. Many of us saw it coming |
| (7 months later) | |
| Mon 19 Jun 2017 17.36 BST | |
| Last modified on Mon 27 Nov 2017 22.07 GMT | |
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| The toll from Grenfell Tower is relentless. On Monday, police gave 79 as the latest total of the dead or missing presumed dead, voicing a hope that it will not rise significantly. That is what we cling to now. | The toll from Grenfell Tower is relentless. On Monday, police gave 79 as the latest total of the dead or missing presumed dead, voicing a hope that it will not rise significantly. That is what we cling to now. |
| As an architect who has long campaigned for greater tower-block safety, I had been expecting a fateful call, but still it took me by surprise. My phone rang at 4.30am last Wednesday; there was emotion and urgency in the voice: “Go and switch on the TV news.” The scene that greeted me was truly horrific. A 24-storey tower block ablaze from top to bottom, every window glowing bright red. Flames leapt up the facade. Behind some windows I could see terrified people, some of them children, desperately trying to attract attention. Later, as more calls came in, friends in London told me that mothers had thrown their babies out of windows. | As an architect who has long campaigned for greater tower-block safety, I had been expecting a fateful call, but still it took me by surprise. My phone rang at 4.30am last Wednesday; there was emotion and urgency in the voice: “Go and switch on the TV news.” The scene that greeted me was truly horrific. A 24-storey tower block ablaze from top to bottom, every window glowing bright red. Flames leapt up the facade. Behind some windows I could see terrified people, some of them children, desperately trying to attract attention. Later, as more calls came in, friends in London told me that mothers had thrown their babies out of windows. |
| Why had this happened? After all there had been enough warnings. It was like Lakanal House – the south London tower block fire that claimed six lives in 2009 – all over again. Only this time much worse. If Lakanal House was, at the time, the worst postwar fire in a block of flats in the UK, Grenfell House will prove to be the worst fire in British history. Like the Ring Theatre fire in Vienna in 1881, which led to escape doors opening outwards, or the Victoria Hall stampede in Sunderland in 1883 and the Iroquois Theatre fire in Chicago in 1903, which both led to the introduction of “panic bars” on fire doors, such dramatic events change history. So it will be with Grenfell Tower. | Why had this happened? After all there had been enough warnings. It was like Lakanal House – the south London tower block fire that claimed six lives in 2009 – all over again. Only this time much worse. If Lakanal House was, at the time, the worst postwar fire in a block of flats in the UK, Grenfell House will prove to be the worst fire in British history. Like the Ring Theatre fire in Vienna in 1881, which led to escape doors opening outwards, or the Victoria Hall stampede in Sunderland in 1883 and the Iroquois Theatre fire in Chicago in 1903, which both led to the introduction of “panic bars” on fire doors, such dramatic events change history. So it will be with Grenfell Tower. |
| Ronnie King, a highly qualified former chief fire officer – and the man who alerted me to the disaster – is the administrative secretary of the all-party parliamentary group on fire safety and rescue. We met during the initial coroner’s hearing following the Lakanal House fire, and we became the expert witnesses advising the legal team acting for the families. My initial reaction to that fire, when I stood under Lakanal House the day after it happened, was simple: either it failed to comply with the building regulations, or there was something seriously wrong with the regulations. As it turned out, both were true. Grenfell Tower is no different. | Ronnie King, a highly qualified former chief fire officer – and the man who alerted me to the disaster – is the administrative secretary of the all-party parliamentary group on fire safety and rescue. We met during the initial coroner’s hearing following the Lakanal House fire, and we became the expert witnesses advising the legal team acting for the families. My initial reaction to that fire, when I stood under Lakanal House the day after it happened, was simple: either it failed to comply with the building regulations, or there was something seriously wrong with the regulations. As it turned out, both were true. Grenfell Tower is no different. |
| The all-party group recommended a complete revision of Approved Document B: Fire Safety (AD B) long before the Lakanal House fire. They had also been recommending sprinklers in buildings such as this and in schools. During the inquest, an expert explained AD B to the court. At the end of his period in the witness box, the judge apologised to the court, and particularly the jury, because the evidence had been hard to understand. The judge’s expertise was in building law. To overcome this, she proposed to instruct the jury before they retired. | The all-party group recommended a complete revision of Approved Document B: Fire Safety (AD B) long before the Lakanal House fire. They had also been recommending sprinklers in buildings such as this and in schools. During the inquest, an expert explained AD B to the court. At the end of his period in the witness box, the judge apologised to the court, and particularly the jury, because the evidence had been hard to understand. The judge’s expertise was in building law. To overcome this, she proposed to instruct the jury before they retired. |
| The late submission I made with the legal team led by John Hendy QC to counter this evidence was brushed aside. Before the jury retired, the judge directed the jury that the spandrel panels on the outside, which burned through in four and a half minutes, did not need to be fireproof. They only needed a Class 0 surface spread of flame coating on the outside. Why have all these requests fallen on deaf ears? The coroner, Judge Frances Kirkham, wrote to Eric Pickles MP, then communities secretary, asking for a complete revision of AD B and the provision of sprinklers in refurbishments. He was in charge of the minister responsible for these changes. Nothing happened. | The late submission I made with the legal team led by John Hendy QC to counter this evidence was brushed aside. Before the jury retired, the judge directed the jury that the spandrel panels on the outside, which burned through in four and a half minutes, did not need to be fireproof. They only needed a Class 0 surface spread of flame coating on the outside. Why have all these requests fallen on deaf ears? The coroner, Judge Frances Kirkham, wrote to Eric Pickles MP, then communities secretary, asking for a complete revision of AD B and the provision of sprinklers in refurbishments. He was in charge of the minister responsible for these changes. Nothing happened. |
| Even the reference to sprinklers in the coroner’s letter may have been the result of a chance meeting I had on the tube one night with James Scott-Maxwell QC, the lead counsel for the coroner. The next day, Ron Dobson, then London fire brigade commissioner, was to give evidence. I suggested Scott-Maxwell should ask Dobson what he would have expected to find if sprinklers had been installed. Dobson replied: “No fire.” Without that meeting, the coroner might not have mentioned sprinklers in her letter. | Even the reference to sprinklers in the coroner’s letter may have been the result of a chance meeting I had on the tube one night with James Scott-Maxwell QC, the lead counsel for the coroner. The next day, Ron Dobson, then London fire brigade commissioner, was to give evidence. I suggested Scott-Maxwell should ask Dobson what he would have expected to find if sprinklers had been installed. Dobson replied: “No fire.” Without that meeting, the coroner might not have mentioned sprinklers in her letter. |
| Those of us who have campaigned over the years for greater fire safety in buildings have been ignored, ridiculed and sometimes physically threatened. In 1999, a serious fire following refurbishment of flats in Irvine near Glasgow led to this pronouncement from a select committee: “We do not believe that it should take a serious fire in which many people are killed before all reasonable steps are taken towards minimising the risks.” Was that not Grenfell Tower? | Those of us who have campaigned over the years for greater fire safety in buildings have been ignored, ridiculed and sometimes physically threatened. In 1999, a serious fire following refurbishment of flats in Irvine near Glasgow led to this pronouncement from a select committee: “We do not believe that it should take a serious fire in which many people are killed before all reasonable steps are taken towards minimising the risks.” Was that not Grenfell Tower? |
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