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England's housing developers have been given an ultimatum - commit to repairing unsafe buildings or be banned from operating in the market.
Developers now have six weeks to sign a government contract to fix their unsafe buildings from the past 30 years.
According to the government's new plan, homeowners living in buildings whose construction poses a potential fire risk will be reimbursed, and building companies who installed the unsafe cladding must pay to replace it with a safer material.
— BBC
Speaking to the press on Sunday, UK Housing Secretary Michael Gove admitted “faulty” guidance was to blame for the Grenfell Tower tragedy, stating his opinion that the building industry had gone underregulated for years. Cladding manufacturers like Celotex and Kingspan were not included in the... View full entry
The close of the 300-day-long inquiry into the devastating 2017 Grenfell Tower fire in London saw attorneys for the victims pinning the “primary responsibility” on the building's designer, Studio E Architects, adding that a “rogue's gallery” comprised of Arconic Architectural Products and... View full entry
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... View full entry
Executives who sold combustible insulation for use on Grenfell Tower perpetrated a “fraud on the market” by rigging a fire test and making “misleading” claims about it, a public inquiry has heard.
Celotex, a subsidiary of the French construction materials company Saint-Gobain, behaved in a “completely unethical” way, admitted Jonathan Roper, a former assistant product manager.
— The Guardian
Despite the fact that mass timber testing has consistently shown that the material performs better than required in fire and structural situations, the government of the United Kingdom is considering imposing new height limitations for mass timber structures in the aftermath of the Grenfell... View full entry
The London fire brigade’s readiness for the Grenfell Tower fire was “gravely inadequate” and fewer people would have died if it had been better prepared, a long-awaited public inquiry report into the disaster that killed 72 people has concluded ... [despite] “compelling evidence that the external walls of the building failed to comply with requirements” of building regulations governing fire safety. — The Guardian
The Fire Brigades Union published a damning report in September that accuses former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher's deregulation — followed, and reportedly amplified, by Tony Blair — of having gutted building and fire safety regulations. At the same time, firefighters are blamed for... View full entry
Legislation that would force developers and landlords to comply with rigorous new safety standards will be announced in the Queen’s speech on Monday with the aim of preventing a repeat of the Grenfell Tower disaster.
Ministers say that the creation of a new buildings safety regulator will be the biggest reform of the sector in 40 years, imposing far stronger obligations on those responsible for the safety of high-rise buildings throughout design, construction and occupation.
— The Guardian
The creation of a new national building safety regulator comes as the UK government prepares to release a report investigating the 2017 Grenfell Tower fire that killed 79 people. The report is set to be released on October 30th. View full entry
American attorneys famous for claims in construction disasters have launched a landmark wrongful death lawsuit in Philadelphia against three US companies on behalf of 69 of the 72 people killed in the 2017 Grenfell Tower fire in London, and 177 who were injured in the tragedy. — Global Construction Review
"They are targeting Arconic, Inc., which they claim supplied the Reynobond Polyethylene Cladding (PE) panels on Grenfell; Celotex Corporation, which they claim supplied the insulation used in the cladding system; and Whirlpool Corporation, which manufactured the fridge-freezer thought to be linked... View full entry
The public inquiry into the Grenfell Tower disaster has sacked its expert architectural witness after it emerged he was not a registered architect.
John Priestley, who was appointed on Wednesday to produce a report into the architectural design of the refurbishment of Grenfell Tower, was sacked on Friday. [...]
According to the inquiry, before he was instructed, Priestley told officials he was a UK registered and chartered architect.
— The Guardian
The insulation that burned out of control on Grenfell Tower had never passed the required safety test and should never have been on the building, a BBC investigation has discovered. Panorama understands the manufacturer, Celotex, used extra fire retardant in the product that qualified for the safety certificate.
A more flammable version was then sold for public use, the programme believes. Celotex said it is co-operating with the police investigation and inquiry.
— bbc.com
Last June the Grenfell Tower fire in London killed 72 people prompting ongoing investigations. It has been found that the RS5000 insulation used in the building's refurbishment gives off toxic fumes containing cyanide when burned. Almost all who perished in the fire were killed by smoke. The... View full entry
A homeowner in a housing complex in London with Grenfell-type cladding has been told the value of her £475,000 home has collapsed and is now just £50,000.
Galliard Homes, the developer of the 11-block complex in New Capital Quay in south-east London, is facing a £30m-£40m bill to replace the cladding and is locked in a legal dispute over who should pay.
— The Guardian
The New Capital Quay development—home to about 2,000 residents—is believed to be the largest private development to have flammable cladding after the 2017 Grenfell fire tragedy that killed 71 people, The Guardian reports. The apartments are now considered unsellable. View full entry
Over the last few months, the team at Forensic Architecture, housed at London’s Goldsmiths University in Lewisham, has been working to piece together data and footage from the event using a mixture of video and imagery from Youtube, Periscope and other forms of social media, as well as footage from Sky News, which is a partner on the project. — Wired
In June of 2017 the Grenfell Tower fire killed 71 in the London public housing block. Criminal investigations are still ongoing with no one yet held accountable. Forensic Architecture has taken on the case in order to piece together how the fire spread within minutes throughout the... View full entry
[...] according to a U.K. government press release published Thursday, the site will become a formal memorial to the fire’s victims.
The announcement of the plan—which could also see the nearby Latimer Road Tube station renamed to Grenfell—strikes the right note so far, making it clear that residents of the West London housing project will get the deciding say on any kind of memorial that happens on the tower’s site.
— citylab.com
While the memorial signals a commitment to remembrance and honoring the victims, the article points out the shortcomings in the official response, the display of incompetence, the ongoing hardship for Grenfell Tower's former residents, and the still looming fire hazard of countless other... View full entry
Out of the 208 households that needed rehousing after the fire, 118 will still be in emergency accommodation or with friends over the holiday period, including 29 families with children. A further 48 households have accepted permanent housing offers, but have not yet moved in and are currently still in temporary homes, [support group] Grenfell United said. Days after the fire the prime minister, Theresa May, promised that families would be rehoused within three weeks. — The Guardian
In the aftermath of the Grenfell Tower fire, progress has been painfully slow to permanently rehouse all the families who lived in the west London tower block. “Only 42 families have moved into new permanent homes, leaving 166 households still in temporary housing,” The Guardian reports... View full entry
Following the Grenfell Tower tragedy, the British government put out a call for evidence for the independent review of building regulations and fire safety. Led by Dame Judith Hackitt, the review will make recommendations to ensure there is a sufficiently robust regulatory system for the future... View full entry
