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Grenfell Tower fire in North Kensington - news and discussion

And that gets right to it as well. Nobody can give definitive answers on the cause of the fire, but how we got to the point where this particular refurbishment was carried out, who decided, why other concerns were ignored, is absolutely central. It's about power.

I strongly suspect that over the next few months, RBKC and KCTMO will wheel out sheaves of documents showing how thoroughly they "consulted" the residents through opinion surveys and informal "events" in community spaces. Analysis of this consultation will show that far from offering choices, the options offered were what the landlord wanted, not what the tenants wanted.
 

Indy article is incomplete and has the wrong end of the stick and the telegraph one is just utter nonsense. There is no real information out there so people are speculating whilst riding their hobby horse.

Its basically the written word version of 24 hour rolling news covering a big story. There is no actual evidence so they just talk shit when really they should just run repeats of porridge and dads army until somebody has worked out what the hell is / was going on.
 
This is certainly true. There was a contractor who used to do a load of these type projects who were famous for quoting 20% below cost to win the project. After winning it they would then take an axe to everything to make their price viable.

Something that's also a well-known practice for the "big four" maintenance contractors to local authorities in London and the south-east, too, but where they also multi-charge for jobs (same job, 3 or 4 different job numbers) to bump up their profits.
 
Fwiw any privately owned flats would have had to contribute to the renovation works. If you own a flat in a council block and they are going to do works like this you just get a bill land on your door matt.

Section 20 notice of works estimate, followed by the actual bill after works are completed. Usually very scary pieces of paper, as local authorities invariably don't work them out properly.
 
Seen a couple of survivors today say they phoned 999 and were told to stay in their flats to wait for rescue. Once they realised how bad it was getting they ignored that advice and got out.

I can't even imagine how those call handlers are feeling now.
 
not read all through there but found this little gem

View attachment 109413
p.8 sustainability & energy statement

i don't suppose the issue of people chucking stuff out of windows was sufficiently severe for it to be a genuine reason for changing the windows. the block i lived in, the issue with people chucking stuff out of windows was a few young people very occasionally throwing stuff from the stairwell, not people chucking from flats

The usual cause of people hoying stuff out of their windows, when it does happen, is rubbish chutes that are semi-permanently blocked. Back when the towers went up, caretakers constantly checked and rodded the chutes. Nowadays a job has to be raised to clear a single blockage, sometimes meaning a day or two days of delay.
 
The usual cause of people hoying stuff out of their windows, when it does happen, is rubbish chutes that are semi-permanently blocked. Back when the towers went up, caretakers constantly checked and rodded the chutes. Nowadays a job has to be raised to clear a single blockage, sometimes meaning a day or two days of delay.
Another area in which Hackney is crap - never had a chute
 
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There's been a few more posts about last calls on the Guardian and BBC news feed, they make absolutely grim reading :(
 
I hope this isn't true...




The motives of 'the media' are surely conjecture at this point though. If there was an official death toll, or more confirmed casualties, there is no way that some news outlet wouldn't run the story. Even the normally tame BBC has come straight out of the gate on this talking about systematic institutional neglect of the poor, social cleansing etc.

I would assume the delays in updating the list of casualties will be a result of the problems of recovering and identifiying bodies. The building was still burning last night remember.
 
Indy article is incomplete and has the wrong end of the stick and the telegraph one is just utter nonsense. There is no real information out there so people are speculating whilst riding their hobby horse.

Its basically the written word version of 24 hour rolling news covering a big story. There is no actual evidence so they just talk shit when really they should just run repeats of porridge and dads army until somebody has worked out what the hell is / was going on.
green energy concerns? So now it's the lefties that are to blame? Fuck off!
 
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