30th June 2020 Prime Minister Boris Johnson has pledged to 'scythe through red tape' as part of a new faster house building initiative dubbed 'Project Speed'. Whilst new homes are much needed, it is essential that the governments' ambitions include addressing the issues faced by many thousands of people up and down the country who live in substandard and dangerous housing. Following the Grenfell tragedy, the government solemnly promised to remove all unsafe cladding from UK tower blocks. More than three years later, that hasn't happened. Instead, the full scale of structural and fire safety failings has been further unveiled. Numerous wooden cladding and balcony fires in newer built blocks
Grenfell United will be holding a series of online events on Sunday 14th June to remember the 72 lives lost in the devastating fire 3 years ago. Visit the Grenfell United website here Tower Blocks UK wholeheartedly support Grenfell United and join in remembrance, and in the calls for change and justice. Forever In Our Hearts 💚
As we approach the 3 year anniversary of the Grenfell tragedy, slow progress to make UK tower blocks safe from fire has now completely ground to a halt. Fires continue to spread in blocks of flats where they should be contained. On 20th May a fire broke out on the balcony of a 5th floor flat in a 6-storey block in Deptford. It caused extensive damage and spread upward over the exterior of the building damaging most of the roof and also part of a roof of an adjacent building. Photographs from the scene show what appears to be timber wall cladding as well as timber flooring to the balconies. This comes almost a year after fire ripped through Samuel Garside house on the Barking Riverside estate
