Urgent safety work sees 800 homes evacuated

DecanTeD: Mass displacement in wake of Grenfell

Eight hundred households are to be evacuated from a council estate in north London in the wake of the Grenfell Tower fire to allow “urgent fire safety works” to take place.

The high-rise buildings on the Chalcots estate in Camden were being emptied last night after firefighters said they “could not guarantee our residents’ safety”, local council leader Georgia Gould said.

She told Sky that a rest centre had been set up and residents were being found hotels and other accommodation.

Camden Council initially said just some 161 households in the Taplow building on the estate were being “temporarily decanted” to allow up to four weeks of work to be done to the building.

But Ms Gould later told Sky: “We think at the moment it’s about 800 (households) but it’s an emerging picture.”

The rest centre is at Swiss Cottage library, she said, adding: “People are on the ground now talking to residents, working with them to move them to the rest centre. It is happening immediately.”

The council had already announced that it would immediately begin preparing to remove cladding from five towers on the estate discovered in checks following the fire in Kensington which killed at least 79 people.

Ms Gould said that it was expected the work would take three or four weeks, adding: “We realise that this is hugely distressing for everyone affected and we will be doing all we can, alongside the London Fire Brigade and other authorities, to support our residents at this difficult time.

“The Grenfell fire changes everything – we need to do everything we can to keep residents safe.”

It came as four more victims of Grenfell Tower were formally identified, taking the known victims of the fire to nine.

Michelle Urquhart, who has been living in the estate’s Bray tower, said: “It’s a bit frightening.

“They are talking about evacuating all five blocks.

“At the moment they haven’t done it and they are saying they will knock on everyone’s doors when they are ready.

“I don’t know where we are going to go.

“One man in a suit said to me ‘you can’t stay here tonight’,” she added.

“I’m so angry because we had the meeting with the council last night and they tried to reassure us.

“We have been living in these flats for the last 10 years with this cladding.”

Refurbishment on the Chalcots estate in Camden was overseen by Rydon, the company involved in the refit of Grenfell Tower, according to the Rydon website.

The work included external thermal rain screen cladding to five towers, new aluminium thermally broken windows to five towers and overhaul of external roofs

Meanwhile, Manslaughter charges are being considered by detectives investigating the Grenfell fire as it emerged the structure had failed fire safety tests.

Metropolitan Police Detective Superintendent Fiona McCormack said a faulty fridge-freezer started the inferno, which has killed at least 79 people.

Cladding and insulation encasing the building did not pass any fire safety tests, she added, increasing concern the 24-storey block’s facade accelerated the blaze’s spread.

Ms McCormack said a string of criminal offences were now being considered.

Documents and materials had been seized from a “number of organisations”, she added.

She said: “We are looking at every criminal offence from manslaughter onwards.

“We are looking at every health and safety and fire safety offences and we are reviewing every company at the moment involved in the building and refurbishment of Grenfell Tower.”

The Grenfell fire changes everything – we need to do everything we can to keep residents safe