On the 14th of June 2017, just before 1am a fire starts in the kitchen of flat 16, on the fourth floor of Grenfell Tower. The Fire Brigades are called and arrive at the building a few minutes later. The fire quickly spreads. The policy is to ‘stay put’. Residents are ordered to stay in their flats. The fire reaches the roof, then spreads horizontally. At 2.35am the control room revokes the ‘stay put’ advice. It’s too late. Too many are now trapped. 72 people die. 

That wasn’t an accident. It was well known that cladding was dangerous. Before Grenfell, there were fires in the UK and other countries where cladding played a significant role in the spreading of the fire, such as Lakanal House in London in 2008, Mermoz Tower in Roubaix, France in 2012, Lacrosse Tower in Melbourne, Australia in 2014. 

It was well known that the ‘stay put’ policy was wrong. Six people died at Lakanal House because residents had been told to stay put. It was well known that high-rise blocks needed sprinklers. Yet, still in 2023 Inside Housing reported that over 80% of social housing blocks lacked sprinklers and fire alarms. Sprinklers and the evacuation of residents at Lacrosse Tower ensured that there were no deaths.

Removing cladding and retrofitting sprinklers and fire alarms costs money. Telling people to stay put is easier than evacuating. It also means you don’t need to worry about specific measures to evacuate disabled people. Before the fire, residents raised concerns about safety in the building. They were dismissed, bullied, stygmatised as trouble makers. Deregulation, profit-making, and prejudice killed 72 people.   Grenfell was not an accident.

Chapter Arts Centre honours the victims by showing Steve McQueen’s short visual medidation on the fire at Grenfell Tower and by hosting a series of events, including the ‘We Stand With You’, Common Wealth exhibition, which opens on the 5th of June. The full programme for the events can be found here.