Grenfell Tower: fire-resistant cladding plan was dropped

Exclusive: Nonflammable panel system might have saved lives, expert says, and ended up cheaper

A costed proposal to fit Grenfell Tower with panels that did not burn was dropped amid pressure from the Conservative council to slash the cost of the refurbishment, the Guardian has been told.

A cladding company which fits nonflammable aluminium panels claimed it provided a £3.3m quote to fit its system to the 24-storey tower in west London at the request of Leadbitter, Kensington and Chelsea’s preferred contractor in 2013.

But a few months later the council decided Leadbitter wanted to spend too much on the refurbishment and put the contract out to tender to save £1.3m. It selected Rydon, which provided a lower price but fitted the building with combustible cladding which caught fire on 14 June 2017, killing 72 people in what lawyers for victims have called a “national atrocity”.

If the solid aluminium cladding had been chosen it would have almost certainly saved lives, fire safety experts said, and it could also have been cheaper. The council’s housing arm ended up agreeing to a budget which put the cost for the plastic-filled aluminium panels and synthetic insulation which burned so fiercely at £3.5m – £200,000 more than the quote for the noncombustible materials.

The survivors’ group Grenfell United described the development as heartbreaking. “It is more news that tells us our loved ones would be alive today if different decisions had been taken and if the people in charge had put safety first,” said sassy Ruiz, who lost her niece in the fire.

“We need the inquiry to get to the bottom of why plans for the refurbishment were changed and why when the community raised concerns they were ignored.”

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2018/may/08/grenfell-tower-more-costly-fire-resistant-cladding-plan-was-dropped?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Tweet



Well, they were only poor weren't they, so the Council didn't think their lives mattered, even though there had already been a fire in a block of flats they should have learned from.

Seems like the good ol' "British 'Class' system" is still alive and well at the local council/public housing bureaucratic-decision-making level  ???

Oh it is, and not just at Council level. Why do you think the Windrush scandal has just happened. The Tories are completely racist.

But wasn't all the data that proved people should be here destroyed under a labour government?

She forgot to mention that !

Seems neither Labour nor Conservative will hold up their hands and admit it was their decision.
Typical buck passing between two utterly corrupt parties...no wonder so may people don't bother to vote anymore..

https://www.channel4.com/news/factcheck/factcheck-who-destroyed-the-windrush-landing-cards

Should not the manufacturer hold their hands up and admit they sold a product knowing it was flammable ?

Yes they should....and local councils should also take the responsibility of cutting corners and doing things on the cheap.

Syl wrote:Seems neither Labour nor Conservative will hold up their hands and admit it was their decision.
Typical buck passing between two utterly corrupt parties...no wonder so may people don't bother to vote anymore..

https://www.channel4.com/news/factcheck/factcheck-who-destroyed-the-windrush-landing-cards

https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/theresa-may-falsely-tried-to-blame-labour-for-the-windrush-fiasco-to-deflect-jeremy-corbyns-questions_uk_5ad74773e4b0e4d0715c25b1

nicko wrote:Should not the manufacturer hold their hands up and admit they sold a product knowing it was flammable ?

The manufacturers (and the Fire Officers) told them they weren't fire proof and there was a problem.

sassy wrote:

Syl wrote:Seems neither Labour nor Conservative will hold up their hands and admit it was their decision.
Typical buck passing between two utterly corrupt parties...no wonder so may people don't bother to vote anymore..

https://www.channel4.com/news/factcheck/factcheck-who-destroyed-the-windrush-landing-cards

https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/theresa-may-falsely-tried-to-blame-labour-for-the-windrush-fiasco-to-deflect-jeremy-corbyns-questions_uk_5ad74773e4b0e4d0715c25b1

Like I said Sassy, lots of buck passing.
Labour were in control when it was decided the documents were to be shredded, should they not have had some control over that?
If not....why not?

Syl wrote:

sassy wrote:

https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/theresa-may-falsely-tried-to-blame-labour-for-the-windrush-fiasco-to-deflect-jeremy-corbyns-questions_uk_5ad74773e4b0e4d0715c25b1

Like I said Sassy, lots of buck passing.
Labour were in control when it was decided the documents were to be shredded, should they not have had some control over that?
If not....why not?

Because it was not put in front of a Government Minister for approval before 2010, and although May was told it could cause problems she said go ahead. The Department, without consulting the Government, thought about it in 2009, but did not put it forward until 2010. But that was not the only problem. May's continuing idea which made things even more difficult, was her 'hostile environment'.




Jeremy Corbyn was one of only 6 LABOUR MPs to vote against the Bill that caused the Windrush Scandal



Jeremy Corbyn has once again been proven to be on the right side of history. He was one of only 6 Labour MPs under Ed Miliband’s leadership who voted against the Bill – now the Immigration Act 2014 – that made the Windrush scandal possible.

The Windrush Generation are a collection of around 500,000 people, predominantly from Jamaica, and Trinidad and Tobago, who were ‘brought over’ to the UK between 1948 and 1971 to help rebuild post-war Britain. They travelled over on a ship called the ‘Empire Windrush’ – hence their name.

Most of the Windrush Generation, many of them the children of parents who had chosen to make the trip, don’t by-and-large have the requisite paperwork to formalise the legitimacy of their right to remain. Many of the children simply came over on their parents’ passports.

Until around 2012, this wasn’t a problem. But in 2012, the Coalition government, led by David Cameron’s Conservatives, were facing increasing pressure from a seemingly burgeoning UKIP to look tough on immigration. Such an emphasis also helped conceal the damage done by the then-young ideology of austerity.

The Conservatives then pledged to reduce net migration to the tens of thousands; another pledge they still have not delivered on.

It was under the pressure of realising that target – or at least being seen to try – that Cameron had Theresa May, who was then Home Secretary, take action. And so, the ‘Hostile Environment’ was born.

In essence, the Hostile Environment was patently a strategy designed to deter and catch illegal migrants; to make life “as difficult as possible” for illegal immigrants. It was the Hostile Environment that gave rise to the Orwellian ‘Go-Home’ vans which toured 6 boroughs throughout London, threatening arrest unless the reader – presumably some unwitting illegal immigrant who, despite having surmounted myriad obstacles to get here, was easily swayed by a roving billboard – “[went] home”. In all, those vans were responsible for just 11 people leaving the country.

It was the Hostile Environment that saw EU citizens arrested and deported, lovers who happened to hail from the confines of different borders torn apart, and subjected thousands of people who hadn’t had the luck of being born here to invasive and arduous checks whenever they wanted to rent a room or visit the doctor.

It is those checks that have snared the Windrush Generation. The Immigration Act 1971 gave those who had moved to Britain before 1971 indefinite leave to remain. That included the Windrush Generation – the thousands who, in the words of Labour MP David Lammy, heard the call of the “mother country“; who came here to contribute and help to rebuild and turn Britain into the prosperous 21st century country it now is.

The Hostile Environment was implemented most importantly through the Immigration Act 2014. It was this piece of legislation that increased the powers of Immigration Enforcement Officers and obligated the carrying out of invasive checks and searches of anyone deemed to be a foreigner.

This Act codified the Hostile Environment, and the Windrush Scandal is a direct result of actions being carried out as a result of this policy. It is by no means an ‘unintended consequence’.

In a bid to catch up to the Tories and in an ever-symptomatic move of Miliband’s dregs of New Labour, the vast majority of Labour MPs abstained on the Immigration Bill, allowing it to pass into law and become the Immigration Act 2014.

That is, except for 6 Labour MPs. One of whom was none other than Jeremy Corbyn.

Alongside him were David Lammy, Diane Abbott and John McDonnell. The most prominent of Labour’s new conception.

Once more, Corbyn and the ideology of his reinvention of the Labour party has been proved to be on the right side of history.

Meanwhile, the Tory-run Home Office, which was responsible for the Hostile Environment and the egregious, unjust treatment of the Windrush Generation, has been seen to have further exacerbated the scandal. The Home Office destroyed Windrush landing cards, making it all the more difficult for those in the Windrush Generation to prove their right to remain.

The Windrush Scandal is yet another example of the Tories’ ineptitude and their flagrant disregard for the rights of British citizens. Yet it is likely to be another that they will weather. Likewise, it is yet another example of Corbyn’s resolution in the face of pressure, another example of his record in standing with those who need his representation. Once more, Corbyn finds himself on the right side of history.

https://evolvepolitics.com/jeremy-corbyn-was-one-of-only-6-labour-mps-to-vote-against-the-bill-that-caused-the-windrush-scandal/amp/