I tried to banish ‘risky’ building panels years ago
THe principle on which tower blocks are built is that every flat is a one- hour, fire- resisting box surrounded by fire-resisting material in the rest of the building.
A fire should completely burn out a flat without affecting anyone else in the tower. That clearly did not happen at Grenfell Tower, as the blaze spread very fast.
As a retired building control chief officer, I know the procedure is for building control, after consultation with the fire brigade, to approve plans for major works such as the £8.6 million refurbishment of Grenfell Tower.
Both should have inspected the work and, on completion, building control would have issued a certificate of approval to the owner and fire brigade.
As long ago as 1977, I tried to ban insulated sandwich panels from being used for walls and ceilings or roof panels in commercial buildings because of the fire risk and the dangerous fumes, including hydrogen cyanide, they produce in a blaze.
The manufacturer threatened to sue me and my employer, and I was ordered to apologise to them by the chief borough engineer and say I was wrong. I refused and we did not get sued. I also raised the problem with the Department of the environment, as it was then.
JOhN WRIGht, Northampton.
Honour 999 heroes
We SHoUlD have scrapped the usual gongs handed out to singers, sports stars, career civil servants and business movers and shakers in the Queen’s birthday honours list — and instead honoured the firefighters, ambulance crews and hospital staff who dealt with the horrific tragedies in manchester and london.
I felt humbled by the pictures of exhausted firefighters taking a brief break before going back into the hell that was Grenfell Tower. The emergency services should be recognised for the heroes that they are. DIaNE aSh-SMIth, Dartford, Kent.
Pathetic point-scoring
IneVITABlY, the blame game has started over who is responsible for the Grenfell Tower fire. But it was contemptible that some politicians’ first response was to make a political point.
Jeremy Corbyn is reported to have said that austerity was a possible cause, and Gavin Barwell, the ousted Tory mP for Croydon Central and Theresa may’s new chief of staff, is being criticised for apparently not acting on a report when he was housing minister.
none of this will help those who have died or lost everything
Mrs a. SMIth, Croydon, Surrey.
Fire doors puzzle
WHen I was a council housing officer, I managed several highrise blocks and attended frequent fires, often caused by unattended chip pans.
The fires were always contained within individual flats and never spread to adjacent floors or the rest of the building.
This was because each flat, landing and stairwell had doors with a guaranteed burn-through time of up to an hour, giving the fire brigade ample time to attend before the blaze spread. The rapid spread of the fire at Grenfell Tower must strike fear into the thousands of people living in high-rise flats throughout Britain. MIChaEL ShaUGhNESSY,
Worcester.
Dubai warning
THe original architect’s fire containment policy of compartmentalisation at Grenfell Tower appears to have been fatally compromised by the exterior insulating cladding applied last year.
From all the video footage and eyewitness accounts, it seems that this allowed the fire to engulf the whole building from the outside, and spread to the inside on all floors through windows broken in the heat or left open because of the hot weather.
It seems the cladding also generated black toxic smoke, making it difficult to escape down corridors and stairwells.
Did no one take heed of the three serious fires in Dubai involving high-rise buildings clad in the same sort of material, which allowed the rapid spread of the blaze past all the fire-stops?
The Grenfell Action Group has been complaining about safety issues for years, but it appears nothing was done by the local authority or the property management company.
Name and address supplied.
Different standards
WHen the fire brigade inspected my small pub with seven hotel rooms, I was told the three-yearold fire alarm system had to be renewed, at considerable cost, or they would close me down.
How can a block of flats where several hundred people live not be subject to the same stringent fire regulations? aNN WRIGht, West Wickham, Kent.
Melbourne lesson
AFTeR fire raced up the cladding on a high-rise block in melbourne in just 11 minutes, this material has been banned in Australia. I pray Britain does the same.
MaRIaNNE StEVENS, halls head, Western australia.
Raze all tower blocks
ToWeR blocks should have been razed years ago.
Unfortunately, rather than admit that the Sixties utopian grand plan was a disaster, town planners are still knocking down old buildings and putting up monstrosities, which have the potential to be crumbling and dangerous.
Building high rises on the cheap and cramming people in like sardines has never worked. PaUL ChaRLES COOK,
huddersfield, W. Yorks.
Sprinkler appeal
AS A surveyor with 30 years’ experience of dealing with high-rises, I am appealing for the regulations to be changed to enforce the installation of sprinklers in all new or refurbished houses and flats.
ChRIS FaRR, Bedford.
Firefighter praise
I Am from a brigade outside london but thank everyone for the praise given to the firefighters responding to the Grenfell fire.
All firefighters across the country would have entered the building, knowing it might collapse, to save life. After this terrible tragedy, is there any chance the Government will restore firefighters’ pensions?
JON hOPKINS, address supplied.
Banal centre ground
THe Conservative Party has only ever won when it has followed true-blue, conviction policies.
like other half-hearted Tories before him, David Cameron’s fixation with the centre ground served him poorly and Theresa may’s centre-ground fence-sitting delivered the inevitable rebuff.
meanwhile, labour’s fortunes have flourished by it distancing itself from the banal middle and making for clear red water. MaRtIN BURGESS,
Beckenham, Kent.