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February deadline set to decide future of Grenfell Tower site

13 January 2025

DEPUTY PRIME Minister Angela Rayner, who also serves as Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, will be making a final decision on the future of the Grenfell Tower site next month. The derelict 24-storey residential building in London’s North Kensington has been wrapped in protective sheeting subsequent to the tragic fire that occurred on 14 June 2017.

In a statement directed to the Grenfell community, the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government notes: “The Government is responsible for Grenfell Tower. We know the site is deeply sensitive, and that decisions about the tower are personal to you as bereaved families, survivors and residents in the immediate community. Your views and concerns are an important part of the Government’s future decision-making.”

Rayner has made a firm commitment that the Grenfell community will continue to be at the heart of the decision-making process. As part of this, the Deputy Prime Minister wishes to “set out a clear path ahead” with a view towards bringing transparency to the decision-making process. With a range of views involved, Rayner has “committed to listen, to respect the different views shared and for these conversations to inform the approach”

The news emerges three years after plans were unveiled by Robert Jenrick (former Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government) to demolish the building were shelved by successor Michael Gove in the wake of an outcry from bereaved families.

An international design competition to fashion a memorial honouring the victims of the tragedy was launched back in July last year, with a winner due to be announced in the first half of 2025. The Government has set aside a site of circa 3,000 m2 for the memorial, which includes the ground on which the tower block stands in North Kensington as well as adjacent land on either side.

Four key principles

In 2018, the (then) Conservative Government outlined four key principles designed to guide a decision about what would happen to Grenfell Tower. These principles continue to guide decisions.

The Government also committed that, alongside this, the community-led Grenfell Tower Memorial Commission would develop a proposal for what happens to the Grenfell Tower site in the future and set out how the memorial site will be owned and managed in the longer term. The Commission is not responsible for decisions about the tower.

The Government has confirmed that there will be no immediate changes to the site, whatever the decision taken (including the possibility of the building being demolished), meaning there will be no changes to the site before the 8th Anniversary, which occurs in June 2025.

Engaging with the Grenfell community

The Government began engaging with the Grenfell community about the tower, and a decision on its future, in 2020. Views that have previously been shared with politicians have been recorded and will inform the decision-making process. This conversation continues.

Some of the themes mentioned to date (and often) include the following:

*Grenfell Tower is a sacred site, with particular significance to those directly affected. Decisions must honour the tower, those lives lost and those lives that have been changed forever

*The tower is a symbol of what the community has lost. Its presence on the skyline helps to ensure the tragedy is not forgotten

*Grenfell tower is a painful reminder of what happened and has an impact on those who live, work and study nearby and see it regularly

*The importance of creating a fitting memorial determined by the community that will last in perpetuity

*The importance of justice: the site was a crime scene until 2018 and there’s a need for assurances that decisions on the future of the tower will not interfere with the path to justice

The Government is being advised by a range of experts and independent structural engineers. The tower itself is monitored 24/7, alongside regular inspections and visual floor-by-floor checks carried out by structural engineering specialists. They have also independently undertaken structural assessments of Grenfell Tower and its condition. Engineers continue to monitor the tower.

2024 report: key points

In summary, key points from the 2024 report are that:

*Engineers confirm the tower remains stable and it continues to be safe for people to live, work and study nearby

*Safety works were carried out to ensure the continued stability of the tower. In 2022, these works were extended to install props (‘Stage 3 propping’) from the basement to the fourth floor. Props are now installed from the basement to the roof (ie the 24th floor) to ensure the ongoing stability of the structure

*Engineers advise there have been no significant changes to the tower in the reporting period, but the propping does not change the underlying condition of the structure, which will “continue to worsen over time” as a result of the significant structural damage caused by the fire. Conditions will continue to worsen the longer the building is left in place

*Given the level of damage to the structure, engineers advise that it’s not seen as practicable to remediate all or part of the damaged structure to bring it back into use. The tower is especially damaged above the 10th floor

*Engineers’ advice remains unchanged in that, in their opinion, the building (or that part of it that was significantly damaged) should be carefully taken down

Path to justice

The Government has remained in contact with the Metropolitan Police Service, the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS), the Grenfell Tower Inquiry Panel and His Majesty’s Coroner to ensure that decisions about the Grenfell Tower site don’t interfere with their work. The police released Grenfell Tower as a crime scene in August 2018, duly confirming at that time – as well as subsequently – that all of the required evidence has been recovered from Grenfell Tower.

The Government will write to the Metropolitan Police Service, the CPS and His Majesty’s Coroner once again before any decision on the future of the tower is reached.

Further, the Government has committed that elements from Grenfell Tower and the site can be retained for use as part of the aforementioned memorial if the Grenfell community wishes. The development of design options (particularly so in tandem with input from bereaved families and survivors) continues.

 
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