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Grenfell survivors call for ‘no more government excuses’ after east London fire

A group of survivors and bereaved families from Grenfell Tower have called on the government to take the cladding scandal “seriously” after a fire broke out in an east London development that has the same type of cladding as Grenfell almost four years after the tragedy.

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Two people have been taken to hospital following a fire at New Providence Wharf (Picture: London Fire Brigade)
Two people have been taken to hospital following a fire at New Providence Wharf (Picture: London Fire Brigade)
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“We’ve said all along that another tragedy is waiting to happen unless this crisis is dealt with properly and swiftly” – @GrenfellUnited #EndOurCladdingScandal #UKhousing

In a statement, Grenfell United said they want “no more games” and “no more excuses” after the fire broke out and injured more than 40 people at the New Providence Wharf development.

The statement said: “When will the government take this scandal seriously? Enough is enough. The government promised to remove dangerous cladding by June 2020. It has completely failed its own target and every day that goes by lives are at risk.

“Today more people have lost their homes in another terrifying fire.

“The government needs to treat this as an emergency and stop stonewalling residents who are raising concerns. No more games, no more excuses.

“We’ve said all along that another tragedy is waiting to happen unless this crisis is dealt with properly and swiftly. Our thoughts are with those affected.”

The statement followed the news that a fire had broke out at New Providence Wharf, a 559-home development in east London, which has nearly a quarter of its external wall clad with the same aluminium composite material (ACM) cladding that was determined as being the main cause of the fire spread at Grenfell.


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The London Fire Brigade said that the fire is now under control and that two men have been taken to hospital suffering smoke inhalation, while a further 38 adults and four children have been treated at the scene.

It is understood that work to remove the ACM cladding was due to begin this coming Monday after a long debate over who should be responsible for paying for the remediation work.

Last month, Inside Housing reported that the building’s freeholder Ballymore had been allocated £8m in grant funding from the government to carry out the works, which the developer had previously said would begin last month.

A representative from the End Our Cladding Scandal campaign said the group was “devastated to see this fire happen at a building that still has ACM cladding and where the developer, Ballymore, has been playing hardball with residents in terms of how and if it will help.”

They added: “But our full ire is directed at the government. Ministers have chosen to deny the full scale of the building safety crisis, repeatedly saying that it has intervened with ‘exceptional’ funding, and focusing on massaging statistics to support this fallacious position…

“Ministers continue to bury their heads in the sand about the extent of the building safety crisis – just as they continue to keep their fingers crossed that another tragedy, on the scale of Grenfell Tower, will not occur.”

Labour’s shadow housing secretary Thangam Debbonaire said: “The reports of another high-rise fire in London are extremely distressing. Our thoughts are with all those affected.

“The government must take full responsibility. Ministers promised this dangerous cladding would all be removed by June last year. They failed to keep this promise.

“It is a disgrace that, four years on, this tower still had the same cladding as Grenfell – and four years on, we are yet again seeing the horrifying results of inaction.”

London mayor Sadiq Khan said: “My thoughts are with all those affected by this very serious fire and I am in close contact with the fire commissioner. The London Fire Brigade attended and acted swiftly to bring the fire under control and ensure residents were safely evacuated.

“The spectre of the tragedy at Grenfell still hangs over our city. Today we have seen again why residents in buildings with flammable cladding are living in fear.

“It is vital that government, developers, building owners and local and regional authorities work together to urgently remove the cladding from every affected building. If re-elected by Londoners, I am absolutely committed to doing that.”

A spokesperson for the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government, said: “We thank the emergency services for their work to extinguish the fire in New Providence Wharf. As we await their report on the cause of the fire it is too early to speculate, but we are working closely with the London Fire Brigade.

“The building has received £8m government funding to remove unsafe ACM cladding - this work was set to take place on Monday and we have been in regular contact with Ballymore over the last two years to make progress, including publicly naming Landor, their subsidiary, as one of the companies that has consistently failed to take action. Ministers have met Ballymore repeatedly to urge action.

“We are spending £5bn to fully fund the replacement of all unsafe cladding in the highest risk buildings and are making the biggest improvements to building safety in a generation. It is essential that building owners take swift action to remediate defective cladding and the government will fund every eligible application. Workers are on site in 95% of buildings identified as having ACM cladding at the beginning of 2020 and we expect that work to be completed at pace in the coming months.”

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