POSH NEW £5m FLATS FOR TOWER FAMILIES Victims get relief at long last
Apartments worth £5m are lined up
SURVIVORS of the Grenfell Tower fire are to be rehomed in luxury new apartments, it was announced yesterday.
More than 60 multi-million pound flats at the exclusive Kensington Row complex have been lined up for victims of the inferno that left 79 dead.
SURVIVORS of the Grenfell Tower fire will be rehoused in luxury apartments.
The 68 flats, with one, two and three bedrooms, have been acquired at the exclusive Kensington Row development, the Government announced yesterday.
The “newly-built social housing” is located in a complex where one-bed homes start at £1.5million. The majority of survivors are in line to get three-bed or four-bed flats worth around £5m.
They include a 24-hour concierge service and a private cinema, the website of developer St Edward says.
Each new home will be fully furnished and completed to a high specification, according to the Government.
It is hoped the news will appease angry residents who have been homeless since the 24-storey block caught fire just before 1am last Wednesday.
The blaze is believed to have claimed 79 lives after rapidly spreading through the tower as plastic cladding caught alight.
Action
Many residents have accused the Government and local council of a lack of action over the disaster.
Prime Minister Theresa May yesterday admitted her Government’s initial response was “not good enough” and this was a failure to help people “when they needed it most”. Addressing the Commons, she declared: “As Prime Minister, I apologise for that failure.”
It is unclear whether the new tenants from Grenfell will have access to the same facilities as those in the private properties, some costing up to £8.5m. The Department for Communities and Local Government said extra money had been found so the flats could be fitted out more quickly.
Communities Secretary Sajid Javid said: “Our priority is to get everyone who has lost their home permanently rehoused locally as soon as possible.”
Last night it emerged insulation boards fitted to the outside of the high-rise gave off hydrogen cyanide gas, which may have contributed to the deaths. At least three of the injured were treated with an antidote in hospital.
Married couple Omar Belkadi, 32, and Farah Hamdan, 31, were yesterday named as the latest victims.