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Grenfell Tower fire in North Kensington - news and discussion

There are many reasons for heads to roll at KCTMO but I think the temporary accommodation is now being dealt with by a government task force .
Are you sure about that Camden have a dedicated emergency planning department set up after 7/7 and this is exactly the sort of thing they were set up to deal with eta if you're referring to Camden that is
 
With so many buildings in the UK having this cladding, isn't it just a short matter of time some religious nutter sets one on fire in the name of religion? I'd guess some right wing group like the EDL will be next to start a blaze.
 
With so many buildings in the UK having this cladding, isn't it just a short matter of time some religious nutter sets one on fire in the name of religion? I'd guess some right wing group like the EDL will be next to start a blaze.

Your imagination is getting the better of you. :)
 
Work colleague of mine has lost some family in the fire. Please sign and share.

Grenfell Tower Fire Victim Grieving | Campaigns by You
This isn't any comment on the petition, but only an observation on my own reaction to it, which I thought I may as well pass on for comment.

I don't believe I'm particularly special, so I assume my reaction's not unique.

I saw this post and immediately thought "Oh, another one" and scrolled on. I didn't even click on the link to see what the petition was for. It was just another petition for something that I probably thought was a good idea but eh, done loads of these and cba tbh. Change and Degrees clog most of my inbox up each day ffs. WTF does it achieve anyway.

In this case, fwiw, I checked myself and signed it. But there are countless examples to the contrary.

I'm not making a point (I think, maybe I am. FFS...), just an observation. And even if I'm not special or unique in this, it's still a bit of a depressing one when I look in the mirror. :(

Meh.
 
It seems Camden are very pissed off with Rydon



Edit: I just noticed this was published on Thursday, sorry if this has been posted up before
 
I get that. My point is more that there was absolutely nothing up in either of the tower blocks I lived in saying what you should do if there was a fire. Nothing about staying in your flat or leaving. Nothing at all.
Sue, I have lived in tower blocks, not in London, but in Glasgow, and there was, as you say, no fire advice. At all.
And that is a bit odd, isn't? And quite a bit mad and brainless?

I don't think I have ever been in a workplace, (or, thinking back many years, my school), where there was not at least some kind of fire drill procedure. Often ignored,of course. :(

When I moved into a flat on the 16th floor, I did kind of think "oh, what if there's a fire?". Quickly followed by "well, it's a flat I can have, and anyway, it has never burned before". And "well, if there be fire, then I'm fairly certainly dead". The way you think when you think the fire is not possible. :(

But you are so right, Sue, even little notices, ANY sodding notices, were noticeable by absence.

No gas in any high-rise I lived in. Def. no gas.
Ronan Point? Clarkston? After those disasters, certainly no gas in multi-storey blocks of flats. Electricity only.

But it comes down to what the hell was going on for that fire not only to do its thing up along the outside, but to be able to travel inside also so fast and so fierce.

Horrible, horrible.
 
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<snip>

Meanwhile...

Two board members of the housing charity Shelter, including its chairman Sir Derek Myers, have resigned amid reports of internal disquiet over the organisation’s allegedly muted response to the Grenfell Tower fire.

Myers is a former chief executive of Kensington and Chelsea council, which owns Grenfell Tower, while trustee Tony Rice is chairman of Xerxes Equity, the sole shareholder in Omnis Exteriors – the company that sold the cladding used in the tower.

Two Shelter board members quit after Grenfell Tower fire
[/QUOTE]

There does seem to be an awful lot of this shit.

Developers and contractors infiltrating the boards of organisations that are supposed to provide support and/or governance to *protect* people from developers and contractors.
 
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Sue, I have lived in tower blocks, not in London, but in Glasgow, and there was, as you say, no fire advice. At all.
And that is a bit odd, isn't? And quite a bit mad and brainless?

I don't think I have ever been in a workplace, (or, thinking back many years, my school), where there was not at least some kind of fire drill procedure. Often ignored,of course. :(

When I moved into a flat on the 16th floor, I did kind of think "oh, what if there's a fire?". Quickly followed by "well, it's a flat I can have, and anyway, it has never burned before". And "well, if there be fire, then I'm fairly certainly dead". The way you think when you think the fire is not possible. :(

But you are so right, Sue, even little notices, ANY sodding notices, were noticeable by absence.

No gas in any high-rise I lived in. Def. no gas.
Ronan Point? Clarkston? Certainly no gas. Electricity only.

But it comes down to what the hell was going on for that fire not only to do its thing up along the outside, but to be able to travel inside also so fast and so fierce.

Horrible, horrible.
Gas and electric where I lived
 
Yep. It might have been a local Glasgow decision, I realise.
At least one on the estate near me is combined heat and power, it has its own small power plant. I suspect in that case it only has electricity because if the chp system has been properly designed you wouldn't need gas for heating. Other blocks may be similar.
 
It's likely down to the construction method.

After Ronan Point, gas was banned in Large Panel Systems [LPS] built blocks of seven or more storeys. As the name suggests, Large Panel Systems are built using large (usually around 3m x 4m) precast concrete panels that are bolted together, rather like you might assemble an Ikea wardrobe.

It was the when some of those panels were blown away the explosion on the 18th floor of the 22 storey Ronan Point that the whole corner of the building was taken out. The panels above the 18th lost their support and then fell onto the floors below, causing a progressive collapse of the structure down to the ground.

Glasgow built a lot of their tall buildings with large panel systems, which is probably why they didn't/don't have gas.

Grenfell tower was constructed (in 1974 under post-Ronan Point regs) with a reinforced concrete frame to which external panels were fixed. These panels do not perform any structural function, the strength of the building is in the frame. In the event of an explosion, a few panels in the immediate vicinity may have been blown off, but the structural integrity of the building would remain intact. No LPS, so gas is permitted.


Edited for sloppy grammar :facepalm:
 
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I get that. My point is more that there was absolutely nothing up in either of the tower blocks I lived in saying what you should do if there was a fire. Nothing about staying in your flat or leaving. Nothing at all.
free spirit

Has posted up about the stay in your flats policy. (this is long thread so can't catch up on everything).His dad who is professional working in building disagreed with this. Idea ( if I understand it correctly) is that fire in one flat can be contained. Leaving enough time for fire service to deal with a fire. Front doors with built in smoke seals mean that people are safer in there flats. In theory. This clearly didn't work in this case.

I'm pretty sure that there should have been signs with emergency evacuation procedures displayed prominently in the building, and not doing so would be a breach of the fire regs. CBA to go and find the exact regulation right now though.
 
It seems Camden are very pissed off with Rydon



Edit: I just noticed this was published on Thursday, sorry if this has been posted up before

That will be all in the wording of the tender / contract.

As I doubt the council can actually specify a specific product, they will probably have simply specified it as being 'class 0' fire resistant cladding, which the PE version of the cladding still actually is because our fire tests are so crap.
 
Are you sure about that Camden have a dedicated emergency planning department set up after 7/7 and this is exactly the sort of thing they were set up to deal with eta if you're referring to Camden that is
Er set up under civil contingencies act 2004, nothing to do with the events of July 2005.
 
I guess that's not irresponsible of her because she has diabetes.
I think she has her numbers correct this time.

from wikipedia:
The tower contained 127 flats, with 227 bedrooms, at the time of the fire
...
On 21 June, the government announced that 68 new flats in the same borough as Grenfell Tower are to be made available to survivors of the fire.
 
I think she has her numbers correct this time.

from wikipedia:

What, hundreds have died? Maybe she knows something we don't, but she says this knowledge that hundreds have died is based only on the block having 23 floors. She should really should shut up and stop feeding conspiracy theories.
 
What, hundreds have died? Maybe she knows something we don't, but she says this knowledge that hundreds have died is based only on the block having 23 floors. She should really should shut up and stop feeding conspiracy theories.
And it's 'conspiracy theory' because someone, somewhere would surely say that actually the true figure is much larger than the official one?
 
Fwiw Glasgow have confirmed none of the tower blocks in the city are affected. The ones near me are being refurbished and I think are covered in render not cladding. This is the nearest one I can see from my living room :

View attachment 110062

Amazingly you have captured a Lilliputian Airways flight a fraction of a second before it crashes into the second from top floor there. And yet still nothing on the MSM. Conspiracies abound. :hmm:
 
I'm a bit puzzled as to you guys. A minimising of the reported death toll to minimise public disorder is hardly a wild proposition especially with a Conservative government on the brink of failing.
 
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