The lessons contained in his writings are truly priceless. The Joys of Living has to be read with the date it was published kept in mind, What is the book about? Sadly Marden wrote about what he perceived to be the wrongful paths that so many people in the s and earlier had taken. His objective was to point out where they had gone astray and what they could and should do to insure they in fact do live a life of joy.
What makes this book doubly sad to me is that the same things apply in that he wrote about in ; it is quite apparent, at least to me, that we as a society have learned very little since he published this wonderful book. Like all of his books, it would be fruitless of me to think I could write an adequate review of the Joys of Living.
Every chapter, every paragraph, every sentence packs powerful messages that can literally lead someone from the darkness of uncertainty to the light of success. The lessons apply to everyone. It is hard to read this book and not be affected in a very positive way.
It is hard to imagine a better use of a dollar. Here is an excerpt from this wonderful book to give you a feel for his style of writing and content. As you read it, keep in mind how few of us today ever read just one book a year. When I was active in real estate sales I was shocked at how few real estate agents ever read a book on sales. The pursuit of education by a soul hungry for knowledge, yearning for intellectual growth, is the highest kind of pleasure, because it gives infinite satisfaction and infinite advantage.
He is the greatest man whose supreme ambition is to make the most of his life, to enrich it by self-education, self-culture, self-development and helpful service, until every fiber of his being becomes responsive to every good and helpful influence in the entire range of his environment. What a joy people who have had the advantages of education and superior opportunities for culture and refinement may find in helping others who have been deprived of these opportunities, and whose souls hunger for the richer, fuller life to gain them. One of the grandest sights in the world is that of an adult seizing every opportunity to make up for the loss of early educational advantages, pouring his very soul into his spare moments and evenings, trying to make himself a larger, fuller, completer man.
It is of immense importance to teach children to avoid unpleasant, disagreeable, soul harrowing books. Keep them from reading morbid stories, morbid descriptions of crime and misery in the newspapers. Do not let these black pictures etch their hideous forms into their tender, sensitive minds. There was no TV, no video games and probably not many violent movies in like there are now.
Studies have shown that very few people in read a book a year! Many people who have lived troubled lives have regarded their love for books, their library, as their most precious possession— their Heaven upon earth.
In their books they find solace, comfort, peace of mind, which passeth all understanding. Whenever things go wrong with us and we are weary of life, when everything seems to bore us, when we are too tired and too distressed and too weary to work, we can call to our side the greatest writers that have ever lived and find rest and refreshment.
The humblest citizen can summon Shakespeare or Emerson to his hovel, and he will give him his best. Oliver Goldsmith once said: One who has but one hundred choice books in his library has one hundred doors each of which opens on prospects of infinite joy. Who should read it? Everyone from the age of 8 on up but especially teenagers! How the world would be different if Marden's wisdom was actually taught in our schools. As time goes by ageless wisdoms like his books will become lost in time and therein IS the pity!
Would I read it again? Absolutely Would I buy it as a gift? Delores Williams rated it really liked it Jun 10, Ge-ni-u-s rated it it was amazing Jun 15, Gurudatt Ahuja rated it it was ok Oct 05, Kanika rated it it was ok Apr 10, Louis Hawkins rated it it was amazing May 11, Bill Wilberg rated it liked it Aug 04, Frederick Ford rated it it was ok Feb 16, Renae rated it really liked it May 28, Nicolas rated it it was amazing Jan 27, Ashley Christensen rated it it was amazing May 24, Micah rated it liked it Jan 25, Bill rated it really liked it Jan 23, Rand H Packer rated it really liked it Dec 27, The government is not paying to put sprinklers into older tall buildings though sprinklers are required in new buildings over 30 metres tall.
He asked that local authorities without the means to make buildings safe should contact central government. Of the fire he said: On 4 January , BBC News reported the Met Police were asking the Home Office to pay for the investigation, which was one of the largest, most complex and most expensive in its history. A total of homes were destroyed in the tower and surrounding area. People from surrounding buildings were evacuated due to concerns that the tower might collapse. The Kensington Aldridge Academy , at the base of Grenfell Tower and inside the police cordon, was closed for more than a year after the fire.
By 18 September , a temporary school in Scrubs Lane had been built by Portakabin in 12 weeks. Philip Hammond , the Chancellor of the Exchequer , had been due to address the event, but had said he would not do so following the fire. The fire also severely affected three low-rise " finger blocks " adjoining Grenfell Tower. Their residents were evacuated due to the fire. The blocks, Barandon Walk, Testerton Walk and Hurstway Walk, also lost access to hot water as they shared a boiler beneath Grenfell Tower that was destroyed in the fire.
People in the immediate area and from across London rallied to assist victims of the fire. Nearby Queens Park Rangers F. The Prime Minister, Theresa May, said she was saddened and called for a cross-government meeting, and a meeting with the Civil Contingencies Secretariat. May made a private visit to Grenfell Tower to speak with London Fire Brigade commissioner Dany Cotton and other members of the emergency services, though not with any survivors. May made a visit to some of the victims at the Chelsea and Westminster Hospital.
Minor scuffles broke out. This included funds to support people in temporary accommodation, a discretionary fund to help with funeral costs, and funding to help with residents' legal representation. The same day, Theresa May said in the House of Commons that there had been a "failure of the state — local and national — to help people when they needed it most", adding, "As Prime Minister, I apologise for that failure. As Prime Minister I have taken responsibility for doing what we can to put things right.
That is why each family whose home was destroyed is receiving a down payment from the emergency fund so they can buy food, clothes and other essentials. And all those who have lost their homes will be rehoused within three weeks. A national minute's silence was held at On 22 June , Theresa May stated in the House of Commons that anyone affected by the tragedy, regardless of their immigration status, would be entitled to support, including healthcare services and accommodation. May said that further residential buildings with flammable cladding of the type used in Grenfell Tower had been identified.
On 18 June the government relieved Kensington and Chelsea London Borough Council of responsibility for supporting the survivors, after their supposedly inadequate response to the disaster [] but O'Hagan's investigation contradicts this description. John Barradell , City of London Corporation chief executive, is leading the response team.
Neighbouring councils sent in staff to improve the rehousing response. The government also announced that they would send in a task force to take over some of Kensington and Chelsea London Borough Council's functions when the GRT is gradually wound down. This move from the government stops short of demands from the London mayor who called for ministers to appoint external commissioners to take over the running of the whole council.
The Grenfell Action Group posting a message on its website that highlighted their earlier warnings:. Regular readers of this blog will know that we have posted numerous warnings in recent years about the very poor fire safety standards at Grenfell Tower and elsewhere in RBKC. The Queen said that her thoughts and prayers were with the affected families. In the afternoon, he spent his time with survivors, and also helped collect charity donations in various churches around his parish.
The Queen and Prince William visited the Westway Sports Centre, where a relief centre had been set up to help the victims of the fire. Jeremy Corbyn visited a nearby community centre and spoke to some of the volunteers who were helping those affected by the fire. During the afternoon of 16 June , hundreds of people protested at Kensington Town Hall , demanding that victims be rehoused within the borough and that funds be made available for those rendered homeless. On her Official Birthday , the Queen released a statement in which she said it was "difficult to escape a very sombre national mood" following the Grenfell Tower fire, and terrorist attacks in London and Manchester shortly before.
Sink or Swim , scheduled for 7. Responsibility for managing the aftermath of the fire was removed from Kensington and Chelsea London Borough Council. It was transferred to a new body comprising representatives from central and other local London government, the London Fire Brigade, Metropolitan Police and Red Cross. Some families reportedly returned home after being told that rehoming priorities were aimed at those who had lived in Grenfell Tower, amid confusion and uncertainty over whether their homes were safe.
The Glastonbury Festival opened with a minute's silence for the victims of the Grenfell tower fire and the Manchester Arena bombing , led by Peter Hook , co-founder of Manchester band Joy Division. The Football Association announced that proceeds from the FA Community Shield match, between London rivals Arsenal and Chelsea , will be donated to support the victims. On 2 September , the Game 4 Grenfell football match took place to raise money for those affected. It was held at Loftus Road , the home ground of Queens Park Rangers and only a mile away from the tower.
It featured a line-up of professional footballers, celebrities, firefighters and survivors. Grenfell Tower had flats but rehousing will require over dwellings. This is due to multiple households asking to be rehoused in more than one dwelling, such as those with grandparents or grown-up children. Of these, 83 are living in a permanent home up from 28 in October Of the who are not in a permanent home, 52 are in temporary accommodation and 68 are in emergency accommodation 42 in hotels, 22 in serviced apartments and 4 with family or friends.
The government acquired 68 flats in a newly built development at Kensington Row [] The development is in Kensington, in the same borough as Grenfell Tower, and about 1. It was initially reported that the fire had been started by a faulty refrigerator. Sixty-four thousand of these models were made between March and July , after which the model was discontinued. It is unknown how many are still in use.
Independent experts examined the remains of the appliance recovered from Grenfell and exemplar models of the same type. They concluded that the design met all legal safety requirements, and there was no need to issue a recall of the model. Tenants had repeatedly complained about electrical power surges causing appliances to smoke and such a surge may have set the fridge-freezer on fire. The Local Authority knew about complaints and had paid tenants compensation for damaged appliances. Judith Blakeman, a local Labour councillor, said the surges affected many appliances including fridges.
Blakeman maintains that the cause of the surges was never solved. On 27 November , evidence given to the Grenfell Tower inquiry by electrical investigating engineer Dr J. Duncan Glover suggested that in Flat 16 the fridge-freezer compressor relay wiring was not tightly fitted.
In his view this probably created additional electrical resistance leading to overheating and igniting the outer plastic insulation of the wire at 90C. Glover described the state of the fusebox following a short circuit to the compressor. During questioning, he compared US and UK safety standards noting that US regulations require a steel back to the fridge to help contain a fire, whereas UK fridges were allowed to have only a plastic backing. Both the aluminium-polyethylene cladding and the PIR insulation plates failed fire safety tests conducted after the fire, according to the police.
The Guardian saw a certificate from the building inspectors' organisation, Local Authority Building Control LABC , which stated that the chosen insulation for the refit should only be used on tall buildings with fibre cement panels, which do not burn. Combustible panels with polyethylene were put up on top of insulation known as Celotex RS, made from polyisocyanurate , which burns when heated giving off toxic cyanide fumes. Despite the above, the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea certified the Grenfell tower building work as allegedly conforming to "the relevant provisions".
Council building inspectors visited the site 16 times from August to July Kooltherm, a phenolic insulation, was also used on Grenfell. Kooltherm was never tested with polyethylene core aluminium panels according to the manufacturer. The manufacturer, Kingspan, "would be very surprised if such a system [ Kooltherm's LABC certificate states phenolic products, "do not meet the limited combustibility requirements" of building regulations.
The combustible materials used on Grenfell Tower were considerably cheaper than non-combustible alternatives would have been. There appear to have been intense cost pressures over the Grenfell refurbishment. A building control officer from the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea reportedly passed the cladding on Grenfell Tower on 15 May , though there was a nationwide warning that the combustible insulation used should only be used with cladding that does not burn. Fire safety experts have said that the building's new external cladding was a possible cause of the rapid spread of the fire.
The cladding went up like a matchstick.
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Concerns about the dangers of external cladding were raised years before, following a fire in at flats in Knowsley Heights , Merseyside. One of the products used was Arconic 's Reynobond, which is available with different types of core material—polyethylene, as reportedly used in Grenfell Tower Reynobond PE , or a more fire-resistant material Reynobond FR. According to Arconic's website and brochure for the mainland European market at the time of the fire, the Reynobond PE cladding used was suitable only for buildings 10 metres or less tall; the fire-retardant Reynobond FR was suitable for buildings up to 30 metres tall; and above the latter height, such as the upper parts of Grenfell Tower, the non-combustible A2 version was supposed to be used "As soon as the building is higher than the firefighters' ladders, it has to be conceived with an incombustible material".
Similar cladding containing highly flammable insulation material is believed to have been installed on thousands of other high-rise buildings in countries including Britain, France, the UAE and Australia. In September a building regulations notice for the re-cladding work was submitted to the authority, and marked with a status of "Completed—not approved". Building inspector Geoff Wilkinson remarked that this type of application is "wholly inappropriate for large complex buildings and should only be used on small, simple domestic buildings".
Judith Blakeman, local Labour councillor questioned the competence of the inspectors. Blakeman, representing the Grenfell residents, said, "This raises the question of whether the building regulations officers were sufficiently competent and did they know what they were looking at. It also begs a question about what they were actually shown. Was anything concealed from them? The Department for Communities and Local Government stated that cladding with a polyethylene core "would be non-compliant with current Building Regulations guidance.
To perform the test, the entire planned assembly is constructed on a standardised test rig two storeys tall, with a window opening in the middle, and is continuously ignited with gas burners from two different angles for 30 minutes. Fire safety experts said the tests the government is doing on cladding only are insufficient, as the whole unit of cladding and insulation should be tested including fire stops. Fire safety experts maintain further that the testing lacks transparency, as the government has not described what tests are being carried out.
The refurbishment also used an insulation foam product named Celotex RS, installed behind the cladding. According to its datasheet, the polyisocyanurate PIR product—charred pieces of which littered the area around Grenfell Tower after the fire—"will burn if exposed to a fire of sufficient heat and intensity". At least three survivors were treated for cyanide poisoning.
It states that any changes from the tested configuration "will need to be considered by the building designer". It has been asserted that cavity barriers intended to prevent the spread of fire in the gap between the facade and the building the chimney effect were of insufficient size and, in some cases, incorrectly installed, facilitating the spread of fire. It has been asserted that windows and their surrounds installed as part of the refurbishment were less fire resistant than those they replaced due to the materials used and that the windows were of insufficient size necessitating larger surrounds.
This would facilitate the spread of fire between the interior and exterior of the building. The fire safety policy for Grenfell Tower was that residents were advised to stay in their flats "stay put" if a fire broke out elsewhere in the building. It relies on the assumption that construction standards such as concrete and fire-resistant doors will allow firefighters to contain a fire within one flat.
The Joys of Living
This was not possible at Grenfell Tower, as the fire spread rapidly via the exterior. There was only a single narrow staircase, and no centrally-activated system of fire alarms that could alert residents. In a July Grenfell Tower regeneration newsletter , the KCTMO instructed residents to stay in their flat in case of a fire "Our longstanding 'stay put' policy stays in force until you are told otherwise" and stated that the front doors for each unit could survive a fire for up to 30 minutes.
The smoke detection systems have been upgraded and extended. The Fire Brigade has asked us to reinforce the message that, if there is a fire which is not inside your own home, you are generally safest to stay put in your home to begin with; the Fire Brigade will arrive very quickly if a fire is reported. The advice was repeated to residents who called the fire service. Multiple survivors argued that they would have died had they followed the "stay put" advice. He added, "These are some of the questions that have to be answered.
We have lots of people in London living in tower blocks We can't have people's lives being put at risk because of bad advice or lack of maintenance. Dany Cotton said Grenfell was unique in terms of volume and behaviour of fire. She said it was a matter for the inquiry, but defended the general "stay put" policy for most high-rise buildings by reasoning that if residents all evacuate at once, they could block firefighters from entering. Furthermore, smoke and fire could be spread within a building by residents opening doors.
The initial incident commander Watch Manager Michael Dowden told the Inquiry that he was preoccupied and uncomfortable dealing with "a very, very dynamic situation" that he was not prepared to deal with, and that he did not consider evacuating the building.
He added that in hindsight, he did not believe it would have been possible, as there were not enough firefighters present to evacuate 20 floors. Station Manager Andrew Walton, who was incident commander for a short period after, said that as smoke was spreading to the stairwell and many lobbies, residents could not have escaped and he believed they were safer staying in unaffected flats. The use of this policy by the Fire Brigade is now under police investigation. There was insufficient mains water pressure for the hoses the fire service used and Thames Water had to be called to increase it.
Also, a high ladder did not arrive for 32 minutes, by which time the fire was out of control. Matt Wrack of the Fire Brigades Union said, " An independent fire expert told the BBC having the ladder earlier could have stopped the fire getting out of control. Firefighters said inside the building they lacked sufficient 'extended duration' breathing apparatus.
They had difficulty getting vital radio messages through due to 'overuse of the system' and from the need to get the signal through layers of concrete. At the inquiry one firefighter described the radios as "useless. The Surrey platform did not arrive until the fire had been burning for several hours. A London Fire Brigade spokesman said, "The commissioner has made clear her intention to fully review the brigade's resources and seek funding for any additional requirements. Commissioner Dany Cotton later said having more firefighters may not have helped as there would not have physically been enough room for them in the building.
The single stairwell also restricted access. One of the major obstacles to the firefighters was that the tower's only stairwell filled with smoke within an hour of the fire breaking out. Basically you couldn't see your hand in front of your face. It was just thick black smoke. You didn't see anybody else. You literally had to bump into them. In section 19 of her report, Barbara Lane notes that smoke was reported in the lobbies of four floors as early as She suggested that possible causes for this included inadequate fire doors, fire doors being propped open by hoses and problems with the ventilation system.
In October the London Fire Brigade announced that it is to use specialist hoods to protect people from smoke and toxic fumes for up to 15 minutes. Kensington and Chelsea Council was warned in that building a new secondary school very near Grenfell Tower could block access by emergency vehicles. A blog post by Grenfell Action Group stated, "There is barely adequate room to manoeuvre for fire engines responding to emergency calls, and any obstruction of this emergency access zone could have lethal consequences in the event of a serious fire or similar emergency in Grenfell Tower or the adjacent blocks.
This added to congestion and parked cars in streets around Grenfell Tower that were already narrow and made it hard for fire engines to get to the fire. Like the vast majority of high-rise buildings in the UK, Grenfell Tower did not have sprinklers. England, Wales and Scotland now require sprinklers to be installed in newly-built tall buildings, but there is no requirement to fit them in existing buildings.
A few days after the fire, the Conservative leader of the council Nicholas Paget-Brown was asked why sprinklers had not been installed in the tower during the recent renovation. Paget-Brown said that the Grenfell Tower residents did not have a collective view in favour of installing sprinklers during the recent renovations. He also said that if they had been installed, it would have delayed the refurbishment and been more disruptive. Russ Timpson of the Tall Buildings Fire Safety Network told The Telegraph that "foreign colleagues are staggered" when they learn that UK regulations permit high-rise buildings to have only a single staircase, and called on government to review the relevant regulations.
The New York Times reported that because of the Great Fire of London , UK building codes have historically been overly focused on containing horizontal fire spread between buildings or between units in larger buildings, as opposed to vertical fire spread in high-rise buildings. The Royal Institute of British Architects fears flammable cladding will not be totally banned, they further fear sprinkler systems and extra escape staircases will not be required. These three measures could have saved lives in Grenfell according to widespread beliefs. Former Conservative Housing Minister , Gavin Barwell , faced criticism after political journalist Joe Watts reported in The Independent that he had delayed a fire safety review, and that a report into fire safety in tower blocks had been shelved for four years; Barwell had been due to meet the All-Party Parliamentary Fire Safety and Rescue Group to discuss the review in , but the meeting was postponed after the snap June general election was called.
There is a political tension between those who focus the blame on technical failures, such as the refrigerator fire and the installation of flammable cladding, and those who focus the blame on politically-charged explanation, such as deregulation, spending cuts and neglect. Bagehot in The Economist [] and Nick Ferrari [] accused Labour Party politicians of exploiting the disaster for political gain.
On the day after the fire, May made a private visit to Grenfell Tower to speak with members of the emergency services, but did not meet with any of the survivors. BBC political editor Laura Kuenssberg commented that May's decision not to meet those who lived in the tower might be interpreted as indicative of a lack of empathy. She wanted an entirely controlled situation in which she didn't use her humanity".
The following day, she visited survivors in hospital and a church that was serving as a relief centre; during the latter visit she was heckled by some of those present. In an article for the London Evening Standard on 11 June , Prime Minister Theresa May wrote of her regret for the handling of the fire and its public perception. The local council's response to the Grenfell Tower fire has been subject to widespread criticism.
Council member Emma Dent Coad , also the newly elected Labour MP for the area Kensington constituency and a former board member of KCTMO, [] accused the council of having failed and betrayed its residents; characterising the fire as "entirely preventable", she added that "I can't help thinking that poor quality materials and construction standards may have played a part in this hideous and unforgivable event". We were the carcass and they were the vultures. North Kensington was like a goldmine, only they didn't have to dig for the gold. All they had to do was to marginalise the people who were living here, and that's what they were doing.
Grenfell Tower is in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, one of the wealthiest local authorities in the country, containing some of the most expensive houses in the world, and with the highest gap between rich and poor anywhere in the country. The Conservative-run council [] was criticised for neglecting the borough's poorer residents, and some have blamed their neglect as a cause of the fire.
The analysis found that it is a borough with some very high incomes, as well as the highest average incomes in London, but there are pockets of deprivation, particularly in the north end of the borough, including the ward in which Grenfell Tower is located. The philosophical difference of providing a high standard of public housing and providing the bare minimum to house only those most in need first occurred as the Lancaster West Estate was being built.
The incoming Conservative government revised the standards down, using the Local Government, Planning and Land Act to replace the mandatory Space in the Home document. After the fire, volunteer people and groups worked to help those made homeless and without possessions. The idea of being energy efficient and safe was not impossible, or even undesirable in theory. That sum may be what people died for. The council received further criticism for their lack of support on 18 June We can't get access to this money.
London mayor Sadiq Khan said "years of neglect" by the council and successive governments were responsible for what had been a "preventable accident". Dawn Foster , contributing editor on housing for The Guardian , said that this was an "atrocity" that "was explicitly political" and "a symbol of the United Kingdom's deep inequality". Labour leader, Jeremy Corbyn brought this to the attention of the House; he said these "terrible consequences of deregulation and cutting corners" stemmed from a "disregard for working-class communities".
Sadiq Khan, London Mayor said: This was contrasted with the increasing complexity of processes faced by prospective benefits claimants including those with mental health issues. Cockburn said long inquiries were not necessary to establish what went wrong. Cockburn said that "The Government is clearly frightened that the burned bodies in Grenfell Towers will be seen as martyrs who died because of austerity , deregulation and outsourcing. In his column on the disaster, Aditya Chakrabortty of The Guardian drew comparisons to the often lethal living and working conditions faced by the working classes and poor in Victorian Manchester, which Friedrich Engels characterised as social murder in his study The Condition of the Working Class in England.
Chakrabortty stated that "those dozens of Grenfell residents didn't die: What happened last week wasn't a 'terrible tragedy' or some other studio-sofa platitude: Over years later, Britain remains a country that murders its poor. The council had tried to exclude the press and public from the meeting, citing safety concerns. Journalists sought an injunction to force the council to let them attend, which was granted.
The meeting was adjourned shortly after it began, with members of the council's cabinet saying that to proceed would be prejudicial to the forthcoming public inquiry. Sadiq Khan and Robert Atkinson, Labour group leader on the council, both called for the council's entire cabinet to resign. Atkinson described the situation as "an absolute fiasco". Khan said that it beggared belief that the council was trying to hold meetings in secret when the meeting was the first chance the council had to provide some answers and show transparency.
All about LIFE.
He said that some people were asking whether or not the council was involved in a cover up. Jon Snow , a veteran television journalist, used the MacTaggart Lecture at the Edinburgh International Television Festival to complain that the media was "comfortably with the elite, with little awareness, contact or connection with those not of the elite" and this lack of connection was "dangerous". He demanded "Why didn't any of us see the Grenfell action blog? In November , a branch of the Kensington Conservative Party caused anger by sending out a survey to local residents asking them to rate how important the Grenfell Tower fire was, alongside issues such as parking and recycling.
There are estimated to be about high-rise blocks of flats in the UK that have similar cladding [] and unspecified fire safety tests have been carried out on panels sent in by councils at the Building Research Establishment in Watford , on behalf of the Department for Communities and Local Government. The government's fire safety tests were criticised for looking only at the cladding and not the insulation behind it, which had burned rapidly in the Grenfell Tower fire; testing the insulation is left to councils and landlords.
In August , it was announced that the bed trauma unit at the John Radcliffe Hospital , Oxford was to close for up to twelve months due to concerns over flammable cladding on the building and other "serious and embedded" fire safety issues. On 20 September , it was revealed that combustible cladding had been identified on 57 buildings across Glasgow.
It was also revealed that neither residents nor the fire service had been informed of this by Glasgow City Council. MSP Bob Doris described the development as "deeply concerning". In October , it was revealed that Slough Borough Council was hiring a fire appliance to be on standby at Nova House, a tower block which was deemed to have unsafe cladding and was privately owned. The council was negotiating with the building's owners to take possession as it was in a better position to deal with the issues affecting the safety of the building.
Of buildings tested, have failed combustion tests conducted since the Grenfell fire. The tragedy at Grenfell Tower has clearly exposed a systemic failure of the current system of building regulation. The government must commit to meet the full cost to councils of removing and replacing cladding and insulation systems. It is also imperative that this testing process moves quickly to identify what landlords should be replacing these systems with as soon as possible.
Actualités
With these latest test-fails affecting buildings owned by a range of different landlords across the country, the government also needs to make sure there is capacity within the housebuilding industry to take quick action to carry out the scale of remedial work that looks likely to be needed. On 7 July , BBC News reported that new cladding previously thought to be safe, which was to replace known flammable cladding similar to that used on Grenfell Tower, has itself failed fire safety tests in Dubai, Australia and the UK.
The new cladding is composed of separate material components which individually are considered to be of "limited combustibility. The discovery that this new cladding has failed fire tests undermines existing testing policy. Building regulations are currently under review in the light of the fire due to concerns with the rules and their enforcement. This independent review was led by Dame Judith Hackitt , who is a senior engineer and civil servant with experience as the Chair of the Health and Safety Executive. The two main aims of the review are firstly to develop improved building regulations for the future, with a focus on residential high-rise blocks, and secondly to provide reassurance to residents that their homes are safe.
On 18 December , Hackitt published her initial report. She described the entire building regulatory system as "not fit for purpose" and made interim recommendations for significant change. The government is consulting on a possible ban on combustible materials. It is unclear if this applies only to cladding or to insulation as well. The Department for Communities and Local Government DCLG commissioned "whole system" tests, which are designed to see how different cladding systems reacted in a fire. Seven combinations were tested, and six deemed dangerous. It reported in August that there were buildings in the United Kingdom cladded using these methods.
The seventh, a combination of aluminium composite material ACM cladding with a limited flammability filling and stone-wool insulation, was deemed safe. There are no existing buildings in the UK using this combination, but it could be used to reclad all the buildings that are currently using the other combinations. These findings will be used to help revise the Building Regulations. Other tower blocks are being investigated over structural safety concerns.
Four storey tower blocks on the Ledbury estate in Peckham have had their gas supplies cut off as a precaution. In the event of a gas explosion, they could be at risk of collapse. These blocks, containing flats, were constructed using the same "large panel system" as Ronan Point , which partly collapsed in There are fears that more tower blocks across the country may also be at risk.
Leaseholders living in a tower block in Croydon have been told by a tribunal they must pay to remove Grenfell type cladding. This could lead some to financial ruin. The decision may be subject to appeal and could affect other properties where cladding failed fire tests. Steve Reed maintains faulty safety regulations were responsible for dangerous cladding being put up on many buildings and maintains the government should pay for replacement.
On 29 June , the government revealed that there were still high rise apartment blocks with infllammable cladding. This is a rise of on the previous total as private sector properties have been included; it is expected to rise by a further when they have all been accounted for.
In Australia, authorities decided to remove similar cladding from all its tower blocks. It was stated that every tower block built in Melbourne in the previous 20 years had the cladding. A month after the fire at Grenfell Tower the external cladding of the newly build room Hilton Hotel at Schiphol airport in The Netherlands was partly removed, over concerns of fire safety. Additional to the replacement, an external video system was installed specifically to detect fires.
Also a university building in Rotterdam was found to have the same cladding and was subsequently closed and refurbished. The local borough pledged to carry out a full investigation into the fire. Sophie Khan, who acted as solicitor for some families in the Lakanal House fire, told BBC Two's Newsnight that inquests would be better for the families as they would allow the families to participate and ask questions. She said the coroner was independent but a public inquiry was government-led and she wondered what information the Prime Minister knew that she wanted to hide.
She wrote about a promised public inquiry for Lakanal House being "downgraded to an inquest" [] and that inquests would be delayed by a criminal investigation. She acknowledged that victims' interests are often sidelined in a public inquiry but wrote that the scope of a public inquiry is wider and that a rapid inquiry would put the government under more pressure to implement its findings immediately. Leilani Farha fears tenants' human rights were breached because they were not sufficiently involved in the way the building was developed, notably safety issues, before the fire and are not sufficiently involved in the investigations after the fire.
Farha stated, "I'm concerned when I have residents saying to me they feel they are not being heard and that they are not always being treated like human beings. Those are the fundamentals of human rights: In July , the government offered an amnesty to those who had been illegally sub-letting [] and a one-year immigration amnesty to those who came forward with information, though did offer a full guarantee against deportation. Sir Martin Moore-Bick who leads the public inquiry wrote to the Prime Minister asking her to consider the long term future for these residents beyond their value as witnesses for the inquiry.
On 15 June , Metropolitan Police Commander Stuart Cundy announced that a criminal investigation had been opened to establish if there is any case for charges to be brought. Senior representatives of both organisations are likely to face police interviews under caution. More than 60 companies and organisations are associated with Grenfell Tower and police are keeping open all options for a range of possible charges.
In an interview with the London Evening Standard on 7 August , the Director of Public Prosecutions , Alison Saunders , said investigations are at an early stage and nothing is ruled out. Mrs Saunders said it was more important to build strong cases than to rush to court and that the DPP had yet to see the evidence. Health and safety legislation and other criminal laws will be considered. If proven, the offence of Gross Negligence Manslaughter carries a maximum life sentence, with a guideline minimum of twelve years.
Possible criminal offences under the Health and Safety at Work Act are under consideration. Police have started conducting interviews under caution. On 19 September , Commander Stuart Cundy briefed that eight people were being investigated for allegedly making false claims to financial support in the name of fictitious victims. New arrests were made in London on 7 June of a further nine people suspected of fraud.
Three people were charged with fraud while one additional suspect was initially charged with drug and theft offences but was eventually charged with fraud on 19 July. By mid-October , 15 people had been charged with fraud in connection to the fire. Detailed investigations into the causes and possible criminal charges of manslaughter or breach of regulations are in progress. Search dogs , fingertip searches, DNA matching, fingerprinting, forensic dentistry and forensic anthropologists have been used.
An external lift was fitted to the building to improve access. The scale of the search and recovery operation was challenging. Human remains were mixed within an estimated Disaster Victim Identification was expected by police to continue to Following the Newsnight report of 7 July , the LFB said issues encountered in its response to the fire would also form part of the police investigation. Council opposition leader Robert Atkinson, structural engineer Paul Follows and building inspector Geoff Wilkinson all expressed shock that the fire had happened given prior consultation with LFB.
London Fire Brigade said it had not given approval for the work, saying its legal powers are limited. It said firefighters regularly visit buildings to gain familiarity with the layout and equipment, but that this was not the same as a detailed inspection. One day after the fire broke out, Prime Minister Theresa May announced a public inquiry into the causes of the fire. Two weeks later, Sir Martin Moore-Bick was appointed to lead it. He pledged that the inquiry would be "open, transparent and fair". The inquiry will run alongside the criminal investigations.
On 15 August , Theresa May announced the terms of reference, accepting in full Moore-Bick's proposals.
LIFE Programme | London Fire Brigade
The inquiry plans to examine the cause and spread of the fire, the adequacy and enforcement of building regulations and fire protection measures, the actions of the council and KCTMO prior to the fire, and the responses of the London Fire Brigade, council and national government. The Inquiry's public hearings started on 14 September Grenfell Tower site manager Michael Lockwood told a public meeting on 26 July that the building is to be covered in a protective wrap supported by scaffolding during August.
This is initially to protect forensic evidence but would later allow the building to be taken down towards the end of The community will be consulted on how the space should be used after demolition. The following are similar fires that spread through exterior wall assemblies cladding, insulation, wall containing combustible components. Most of them involved high-rise buildings. From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Disasters portal Fire portal London portal. Grenfell Tower fire investigation". Retrieved 16 November Who were the victims?
Retrieved 29 June Met Police confirm 30 dead and 12 remain critical". Retrieved 1 July Six-month-old baby 'found dead in mother's arms ' ". Number of victims of Grenfell Tower fire formally identified". Retrieved 28 September Inquiry opens with tribute to stillborn baby".
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