More flats have fire safety defects, brigade warns

Hundreds of blocks of flats in London still have serious fire safety defects, according to new figures from the London Fire Brigade (LFB).

More than 1,400 buildings have simultaneous evacuation plans should a fire break out in the block, indicating that they are unsafe for residents to "stay put".

Stay put - which was the initial advice for Grenfell tower and which remains the fire policy in most high-rise buildings - relies on a building being properly constructed. Regulations should prevent fire spreading from one flat to another for at least 60 minutes.

Edward Daffarn, of Grenfell United, said the latest figures showed that Londoners were "still going to sleep in buildings that aren't safe".

Seventy-two people died in the Grenfell fire in north Kensington on 14 June 2017.

Since then, the safety of high-rise homes across the capital has been brought into focus, with the LFB checking cladding, fire doors, windows and the compartmentation of flats.

The LFB said the number of buildings with simultaneous evacuation guidance in place had risen following its most recent count to 1,448.

There are 883 buildings more than 26ft (7.9m) tall on the evacuation list, and 565 buildings under 26ft on the list.

Mr Daffarn escaped from the 16th floor of Grenfell. He said: "Eight years ago, standing underneath the burning wreckage of Grenfell Tower, I was convinced it would be the catalyst for societal change; that something so awful, which resulted in the horrific loss of 72 lives, could not happen without things changing.

"And yet we sit here eight years later and people are still going to sleep in buildings that aren't safe.

"We need to create a legacy for Grenfell that means that people that live in social housing, people that live in high-rise blocks, are treated with respect and live in safe buildings."

Sharing his own opinion, and acknowledging the difficulty others feel in seeing the tower regularly, Mr Daffarn added: "I think the anniversary is made all the more poignant by the fact that this is the last time that we will meet with the tower in situ.

"We haven't got justice yet. It feels wrong to be pulling the tower down while so much remains unresolved."

Mr Daffarn is hopeful a new documentary about the fire, due to air on Netflix next week, will spur government efforts to take action.

He said: "It needs to put pressure on the government to ensure that the companies involved are not able to access public funding, and I'm hoping that this documentary will accelerate that process."

The Cabinet Office confirmed in February seven companies were facing possible bans - cladding firm Arconic, insulation firm Kingspan, former Celotex owners Saint-Gobain, fire inspectors Exova, design and build contractor Rydon, architect Studio E and subcontractor Harley Facades.

It is understood investigations were launched into all of them in March, looking into whether any engaged in professional misconduct for the purposes of the Procurement Act 2023, potentially leading them to be debarred from public contracts.

No timeline has been given for how long it might be before the outcomes are known.

Bereaved and survivors have long campaigned for criminal charges to be brought over the disaster.

Police and prosecutors have previously said investigators would need until the end of 2025 to complete their inquiry, with final decisions on potential criminal charges by the end of 2026.

The near 10-year wait for justice has been described by families as "unbearable".

A spokesperson for the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government said: "[We] have been clear that the pace of remediation has been too slow for too long.

"That's why we are taking decisive action through our Remediation Acceleration Plan to fix unsafe buildings by 2029 faster, while we continue to support residents and identify buildings at risk."

Additional reporting by PA Media

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