Grenfell Tower: this must not happen again

The Grenfell tragedy follows less than a year after the fire in nearby Shepherd’s Bush; a near miss that thankfully did not lead to loss of life but so easily could have.

“Landlords must urgently refresh their understanding of the issues”

All three fires were characterised by flames ripping up the outside of buildings via external panels.

Many will be asking how this could happen again. The answer will be complex - and is likely to take time to emerge. There will be many factors and questions for many organisations - from the council to the tenant management organisation, product suppliers, regeneration firms, risk assessors and the fire brigade. There will rightly be a focus on understanding in forensic detail what went wrong. There may well be a criminal case to answer.

The sad paradox is that the desire to gain understanding is likely to make it harder to learn the lessons to prevent further tragedy. The inquest following the 2009 Lakanal House disaster took four years to complete, and the criminal case was concluded only four months ago. As a result, some of those lessons were hidden for eight long years.

We need greater transparency and better communication. This will require greater collaboration between landlords and fire services. A case in point: following the Shepherd’s Court blaze, the London Fire Brigade issued a warning about the risks of external panels months later and only to London landlords - these messages must not be confined by geography, and landlords must be fully engaged and aware.

Even before full detail of the Grenfell fire emerges, it is clear that several key actions are required now. Only three months ago experts reiterated warnings that successive governments have put tenants at risk by dragging their heels on building regulations updates in response to the Lakanal House fire. It is time for new housing minister Alok Sharma and colleagues to follow-through with this important change.

Landlords must urgently refresh their understanding of the issues presented by the Lakanal and Shepherd’s Court fires, including exterior panels and measures to prevent the spread of fire internally, and review their fire risk assessments for high-rise blocks.

Landlords and the fire service must re-assess the use of ‘stay put’ policies. Even where they are deemed appropriate and effective, tenants’ trust and confidence in the measure will have been eroded.

There is a hard conversation to be had between landlords and government about the extent to which retrofitting of safety features such as sprinkler systems is required - and how this will be paid for.

Important details will surface relating to the Grenfell fire. There may be blame to lay. But the hunt for the truth must not stymie sector-wide changes now that could save lives in future.

Emma Maier, editor, Inside Housing