Grenfell Tower: Forever in our hearts

June 14 was the first anniversary of the defining event in the UK last year — the Grenfell Tower fire, an entirely preventable disaster, in which 72 people died when an inferno engulfed a 24-storey tower block in North Kensington in west London. On the 14th of every month since, a Silent Walk has taken place in the vicinity of the tower, and thousands of people turned up on Thursday June 14, from across London as well as from other places in the UK, to show solidarity with the survivors and the local community. The Silent Walks are extremely moving experiences, and the 1st anniversary walk was, of course, no exception.
I took this photo from Bramley Road, just south of the tower, as I arrived by bike from south London, of the skeleton of Grenfell Tower, which had been covered in time for the anniversary, with its poignant message for the bereaved.
The disaster last June should never have happened because the tower was built of concrete that is largely resistant to fire, and because of a ‘compartmentalisation’, which is meant to ensure that any fire will be contained within the individual apartment in which it breaks out for an hour, giving the fire services time to arrive on the scene. However, Grenfell’s structural integrity had been fatally compromised during recent refurbishment, which was designed to make it look better, but which involved the application of highly flammable cladding.
The truth about Grenfell, which is slowly coming to light in the government’s official inquiry but was known to anyone paying attention at the time of the fire, is that those responsible for the safety of the residents of social housing in tower blocks — central government, local government, management companies and contractors — were all part of a world in which red tape had deliberately been cut to enable greater profits to be made, and it was somehow considered acceptable for dangerously inflammable material to be used as cladding.
For a truly shocking warning of the fire before it happened, see this Grenfell Action Group article from November 2016, just one of many ignored by Kensington and Chelsea Council and the Kensington and Chelsea Tenant Management Organisation, which managed all of the council’s social housing: grenfellactiongroup.wordpress.com/2016/11/20/kctmo-playin...
Please also read my article for the 1st anniversary: www.andyworthington.co.uk/2018/06/14/grenfell-one-year-on...
And check out ‘Grenfell’ by my band The Four Fathers: youtu.be/BLehKWOhMyY

Taken on: June 14, 2018

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London

London W11

North Kensington

Notting Dale

Grenfell

Grenfell Tower

Grenfell Tower fire

politics

protest

political protest

street photography

social housing

council housing

council estates

tower blocks

hearts

London W10

Bramley Road « less

Sets appears in: • Grenfell 1st anniversary: The Silent Walk

Groups appears in: • demo, demonstration, protest

Camera: Canon PowerShot SX270 HS, f/5.0, 1/1000 sec, 27.1mm, ISO 400 (more info) (hide info)

Camera:	Canon PowerShot SX270 HS
Lens:	4.5-90.0mm
Aperture:	f/5.0
Exposure Time:	0.001 sec (1/1000)
Focal Length:	27.1mm
ISO:	400
Exposure Bias:	0 EV
Flash:	Off, Did not fire
Exposure Mode:	Auto
Metering Mode:	Multi-segment
White Balance:	Auto
Color Space:	sRGB
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