Grenfell Tower

[highlandsflyer]

Hopefully we can discuss this without getting out of hand.

I worked a stone's throw away and we still have a house nearby.

Ladbroke Grove was the first place I went to when I moved to London at 18. Thanks Van Morrison.

I loved getting my jerk chicken under the Westway, and browsing the market at Portobello.

The people make the place, as they say, and Grenfell was full of all sorts.

A genuine rainbow mix of all nations and persuasions.

London is little by little losing that colour, as the central areas are gentrified.

I mourn that, along with all the people, old, young, local, new in town and hopeful, who filled that concrete tree with vibrant and varied life.

Tragic.

 

[KermitGKona88]

Re:

Agreed a genuine tragedy.

I only hope that those responsible for the poor maintenance and lousy initial decisions, are well and truly hung out to dry.....

The emergency services did a sterling job as always despite the pressures put upon them by their political masters of both parties over many years....

The human cost is incalculable, so many lives pointlessly lost and all the families effected.... Awful.......

Coming from a small rural town. London scares the hell out of me, too many people all in one place, too brash, too loud, but the sense of community comes through loud and clear, I hope they are strong enough to pull through this after all that has happened......

I fear that the usual suspects will politicise this thread once more, which in some ways is the saddest thing of all.....

 

[Silvergoat]

Re:

Biking into work from Enfield early that morning, I could see the plume billowing ominously into London's clear blue skyline. Going over the higher bits of Ally Pally, Haringey and Finsbury Park, I had no idea of the significance of what I could see. Got a call from my partner at home who'd switched on the Mac for the day, telling me about a big tower block fire in West London. As I completed my journey into work on the train from Waterloo to Wimbledon, there were points along the route where I could see the top of the tower with thick smoke looming across London from it.

In the communications department where I work, the rolling news of it all was on and watching it was a shockingly vivid reminder of seeing the real time news coverage of the attack on the Twin Towers on 9/11 all those years ago. In Comms, we were monitoring all the social media too. A couple of my work colleagues had friends and relatives in the blocks close to Grenfell and the reports from them were truly horrifying. I'm not religious by any means but God rest all their poor souls.

Although this is an utterly pointless tragedy for those who perished and for those who have lost family and friends in it, unfortunately the ramifications are going to be politically very messy indeed. I only hope that the victims and all those affected by the event are not forgotten and I hope that we never ever see a repeat of something that should have been preventable in this day and age.

 

[integerspin]

I loved getting my jerk chicken under the Westway, and browsing the market at Portobello.

I was trying to think where Grenfell Tower is?
I lived in a squat in Cambridge gardens in 1974 and knew my way round pretty well.

 

[RobMac]

Re: Re:

I fear that the usual suspects will politicise this thread once more, which in some ways is the saddest thing of all.....

Absolutely spot on :?

 

[Bats]

Re: Re:

I fear that the usual suspects will politicise this thread once more, which in some ways is the saddest thing of all.....

It became political years ago, when they decided that pretty plastic cladding was worth spending £2.6 million, but sprinklers at £138,000 weren't. They even haggled £2 a square meter lower price on the cladding, by getting them to use the dangerous kind that burns.

And then when the residents complained about this, and all the other fire safety problems, they got sent legal threats and told to shut up.

So saying "don't politicise it" is just letting those who's fault it is get away with it.

 

[KermitGKona88]

Re: Re:

I fear that the usual suspects will politicise this thread once more, which in some ways is the saddest thing of all.....

It became political years ago, when they decided that pretty plastic cladding was worth spending £2.6 million, but sprinklers at £138,000 weren't. They even haggled £2 a square meter lower price on the cladding, by getting them to use the dangerous kind that burns.

And then when the residents complained about this, and all the other fire safety problems, they got sent legal threats and told to shut up.

So saying "don't politicise it" is just letting those who's fault it is get away with it.

And away we go again, honestly just F*ck off and peddle this shit somewhere else !!!

 

[Bats]

You could be honest and say you're alright with people dying for the sake of five grand more on cladding. I'm not saying anything that the victims and survivors of this disaster haven't been saying for years.

https://grenfellactiongroup.wordpress.com/

"don't politicise it". The fire was caused by politics. Stuff your ears over this and it'll happen again.

 

[Silvergoat]

Re:

Wow.

"Honestly just F*ck off and peddle this shit somewhere else !!!"

That's a bit savage.

I Hope I'm not being referred to as one of the usual suspects. My post was genuine and heartfelt and part informed by work colleagues who knew people caught up in the event in some way. I avoided political input myself. You can't cosily separate politics from real life. And it's a shame differing points of view can't be handled in a grown up way. Hmmm.

 

[KDM]

The trouble is, in today's society they want tomorrow's answers yesterday and with social media vying for space with mainstrean media, many of the inputs coming out are just not true or twisted to the point it forgets those involved.

It looks, and like most stuff, it is just looks, like an electrical fire has happened which in itself would be an issue but a mixture of building issues such as the type of cladding and plastic windows appears to have allowed the fire to spread real quick and real hot.

I saw an article in Fridays Guardian where it said the cladding used is legal and has a level of fire protection built in but in the U.S. where this is used also, (the stuff "alledgedly" fitted to Grenfell) is only fire rated to 40ft use so basically 2 or 3 story buildings. It is illegal to use that stuff with that rating in the states on buildings built above 40ft.

The question IF this is the same stuff, what restrictions do we have in the U.K. in regards to it's use or do we have any restrictions at all and if we do, was the stuff fitted, inline with regulations for tall buildings

If there is anywhere to focus here at the moment in relation to the actual fire itself then the focus is what are the rules, what was actually fitted, did the company fit the incorrect stuff and who from the council signed it off as okay. On the fire itself these points fall within the councils and building contractors responsibility.