Two weeks ago, a low-income residential tower in London tragically caught fire resulting in the death of at least 79 occupants. The incident has sparked a national (and even international) conversation about the safety standards set by London officials for low-income residents as it has been discovered that certain precautions like sprinkler systems were deemed unnecessary in the interest of cutting costs. In addition, a cladding on the exterior of the building has been largely determined as the reason the fire lead to such deadly results. The same material is said to clad tens of thousands of buildings in more than 87 tower blocks across the United Kingdom.

In an attempt to avoid similar failures in the future, British officials have inspected over 600 high-rise buildings across England. From this, the Department for Communities has concluded that 34 apartment blocks across the country fail to meet safety standards. The aluminum cladding that covered Grenfell has begun to be removed from buildings that are considered at risk. However, for some of these complexes, a number of faults have been discovered that require more extensive work to get up to code. Many of the buildings that have been deemed unsafe have been evacuated (in manners that are themselves questionable) and some have refused to leave their homes for the time being. The work on these blocks are expected to take three to four weeks.