Owners of London's Grenfell Tower are expected to announce later this month that the tower will be demolished due to safety concerns. This decision comes more than four years following the fire that claimed the lives of 72 people. UK housing secretary, Robert Jenrick, has been notified that the building poses a risk to the local community, which includes the Kensington Aldridge Academy, a secondary school near the site.

This decision comes after the release of a report on Grenfell Tower by government-hired engineering consultancy Atkins. The structural engineers behind the report “unambiguously and unanimously” advised that the tower be “carefully taken down.” Government officials are expected to formally announce the fate of the tower block later this month. 

The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG), which has assumed ownership of the tower since 2018, issued a letter to former residents with the news. They’ve assured the families that the building will not be demolished before the fifth anniversary of the tragic fire in June 2022.

As reported by The Guardian, Grenfell United, a group of survivors and bereaved families, said it was “shocked” by the news “given the promise by the government that no decision would be made on the future of the tower without full consultation with the bereaved and survivors.” The group believes this decision should be made by the survivors and community, not the government. 

In May, there were reports that relatives of the victims proposed plans to convert the building into a vertical forest after the government announced its demolition plans. The tower would be covered with 72 species of plants, one for every person who lost their lives in the June 2017 fire.