At a meeting of the bereaved and survivors of the June 2017 fire last night, housing secretary and deputy prime minister Angel Rayner announced that the decision has been taken to deconstruct Grenfell Tower.
In doing so, Rayner is following professional advice but dividing sentiments.
As long ago as 2021 specialist structural engineers from Atkins told the Ministry of Housing: “There is unanimous agreement and unambiguous advice from all the technical experts and engineers involved in the Grenfell project that the tower should not be propped for the medium to long-term but should be deconstructed at the earliest possible opportunity, with deconstruction commencing no later than May 2022.”
Conservative secretaries of state were unprepared to risk appearing heartless. In March 2022 Michael Gove wrote to local residents in the tower vicinity of North Kensington saying that “now is not the right time to take a decision about the future of Grenfell Tower”.
“This is not a time-limited conversation,” Gove said then, three years ago. “It is right that we give more time as a decision about the tower must be approached sensitively and in a way that people feel as comfortable as possible with.”
Consensus emerged within the political class that no decision on the tower’s future would be announced until after Sir Martin Moore-Bick’s official inquiry into the Grenfell Tower Fire had published its final report. The inquiry took six years to complete and the final report was published last September.
It explored in depth why 72 people died as a result of a kitchen fire in the 24-storey tower block on 14th June 2017. Many villains were exposed, particularly among the people who sold, specified and installed lethally flammable building components that accelerated what might otherwise have been a containable fire.
Responding to Rayner’s decision that now the tower should come down, groups representing those who escaped the building that night and relatives of those who did not were divided in their reactions. They see the site as sacred, but differ on the extent of its inviolability.
The Grenfell United bereaved and survivors family group said: “We’ve said this to every secretary of state for housing since the very beginning: consult the bereaved and survivors meaningfully before reaching a decision on the tower.
“Angela Rayner could not give a reason for her decision to demolish the tower. She refused to confirm how many bereaved and survivors had been spoken to in the recent, short four week consultation. But judging from the room alone – the vast majority of whom were bereaved – no one supported her decision. But she claims it is based on our views.
“Today’s meeting showed just how upset bereaved and survivors are about not having their views considered in this decision.
“Ignoring the voices of bereaved on the future of our loved one’s gravesite is disgraceful and unforgivable.
A separate organisation representing the bereaved, Grenfell Next of Kin, said: “This is an uncomfortable conversation with uncomfortable truths at its heart. If wishful thinking was an option, we would wish the fire had not killed our parents, our children our siblings, our partners, our grandchildren and our grandparents who we miss every single day. We would want the tower to stand as a permanent reminder forever.
“But the truth is the tower is being propped up by approximately 6,000 props. It has cost £340m (projected costs to 2028). It cannot be propped up indefinitely due to safety concerns. As people who have lost families to tragedy, we would never want the responsibility of endangering anyone else. Furthermore, the lack of closure, the continuous discussions and consultations the retraumatisation of a divisive and painful debate, brings nothing to the table except pain and further division.”
It added: “It must have been difficult for Angela Rayner to make this announcement. We know this because all previous secretaries of state avoided making a decision despite the harm it did to us and the community.”
There will be no changes to the site before the eighth anniversary of the fire in June 2025.
The Labour government is also honouring the previous government’s commitment to a community-led Grenfell Tower Memorial Commission that will develop a proposal for the future of the site.
Deconstruct UK is currently responsible for the day-to-day maintenance and safety of the Grenfell Tower site. It has been working at the site since 2017, initially as a subcontractor to Wates before taking over as principal contractor in July 2021. Its contract was renewed in May 2024.
It is unclear whether Deconstruct UK can simply be instructed to begin deconstruction this summer under the terms of its existing contract or whether a new contract will have to be tendered.
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