Anger erupts in London over tower’s feared renovation flaws
LONDON — Grief turned to outrage Friday over a deadly high-rise tower fire in London amid reports that materials used in the building’s renovation could have fueled the inferno that left dozens dead and missing as it decimated the public housing block.
Engineering experts say outside insulation panels on the 24-story Grenfell Tower may have helped the fire spread rapidly from one floor to the next.
The Guardian newspaper reported Friday that contractors installed a cheaper, less flame-resistant type of paneling in the renovation.
Tensions were high Friday two days after the overnight fire gutted the huge housing block, killing at least 30 people and leaving dozens missing and hundreds homeless.
Scuffles broke out near the Kensington and Chelsea town hall offices as demonstrators chanting “We want justice!” surged toward the doors.
London has a chronic housing shortage even in the best of times, and those left homeless by the fire — already angry over what they see as government inequity and incompetence — fear being forced out of the British capital.
The Grenfell Tower housed 600 people in 120 apartments. Britain’s Press Association reported that some 70 people are still missing after the fire.
London Mayor Sadiq Khan said people were frustrated by the lack of information about the missing and the dead as well as a lack of coordination between support services. Residents who survived have no idea where they are going to live or how they will get back on their feet.
“The scale of this tragedy is clearly proving too much for the local authority to cope with on their own,” Khan said in an open letter to Prime Minister Theresa May.
After meeting with Grenfell survivors Friday, May announced a $6.4 million fund to help them and expressed sorrow for their plight. The package includes a guarantee to rehouse people as close as possible to where they previously lived — a poor neighborhood surrounded by extreme wealth.
“(This aims) to give the victims the immediate support they need to care for themselves and for loved ones,” May said.
But the Conservative leader still struggled to overcome accusations that she lacked compassion because she had failed to meet with victims on her first visit to the devastated site. Police surrounded May as she left a church Friday following the meeting with survivors and protesters shouted “Shame on you!” and “Coward!”
Using drones and sniffer dogs, firefighters continued to search the burned-out housing block.
The fire surprised many as they slept, and the speed with which it spread shocked fire experts.
London police have launched an investigation to determine whether any crimes contributed.
Grenfell Tower is a public housing project owned by the local government council and managed by a nonprofit known as the Kensington and Chelsea Tenants Management Organization. The group last year completed a $12.8 million renovation that included new outside insulation panels, double-paned windows and a communal heating system.
Aluminum composite panels consist of two thin layers of aluminum sandwiched around a lightweight insulating material. Standard versions use plastic such as polyethylene for the core, while more expensive variants use fireresistant material.
The Guardian newspaper reported Friday that Omnis Exteriors supplied the aluminum composite material used in the cladding. The newspaper quoted company director John Cowley as saying the building used Reynobond PE cladding, which is $2.56 cheaper per square meter than Reynobond FR, which stands for “fire resistant.”
The International Building Code calls for the use of fire-resistant cores in buildings over 40 feet tall to slow the spread of flames.
The company that installed the exterior cladding, Harley Facades, issued a statement this week saying the panels are “commonly used” in refurbishing buildings.