Bryan T. Grenfell’s lecture available online: the 2022 Kyoto Prize laureate in Basic Sciences

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INAMORI FOUNDATION

 

IMAGE: BRYAN T. GRENFELL’S LECTURE "EPIDEMIOLOGICAL AND EVOLUTIONARY DYNAMICS OF PATHOGENS IN TIME AND SPACE" IS NOW AVAILABLE ON THE 2022 KYOTO PRIZE SPECIAL WEBSITE. view more 

CREDIT: INAMORI FOUNDATION

Why do many pathogens persist? What mechanism underlies the long-lasting wax and wane of pathogen-host interactions? 

Bryan T. Grenfell, a population biologist, aka father of “phylodynamics,” received the 2022 Kyoto Prize in Basic Sciences for his development of an innovative approach for integrative analysis of pathogen evolution and epidemics.

Grenfell’s Commemorative Lecture, “Epidemiological and Evolutionary Dynamics of Pathogens in Time and Space” is now available on the 2022 Kyoto Prize Special Website.

In his lecture, Grenfell presents a big picture of infectious disease epidemics using mathematical models that addresses how pathogens and hosts interact through viral evolution and host immunity in time and space.  

“Biology is often extremely complex, but sometimes, simple models can explain some of the complexity.”, says Grenfell, summarizing his achievements. He is still eagerly investigating COVID-19 using his methodology, and steadily providing guidance on infectious disease control.

To learn more about his science, passion, and wisdom, click here.

Bryan T. Grenfell
Population biologist, Kathryn Briger and Sarah Fenton Professor of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology and Public Affairs, Princeton University

Grenfell and the other two 2022 Kyoto Prize laureates are featured on the 2022 Kyoto Prize Special Website with information about their work, personal profiles, and five-minute introductory videos.

Carver Mead’s lecture available online: the 2022 Kyoto Prize laureate in Advanced Technology

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INAMORI FOUNDATION

 

IMAGE: CARVER MEAD’S LECTURE "A PERSONAL JOURNEY THROUGH THE INFORMATION REVOLUTION" IS NOW AVAILABLE ON THE 2022 KYOTO PRIZE SPECIAL WEBSITE. view more 

CREDIT: COURTESY OF INAMORI FOUNDATION

Carver Mead, an electronics engineer and applied physicist, has been awarded the 2022 Kyoto Prize in Advanced Technology for leading contributions to the establishment of guiding principles for very large-scale integration (VLSI) systems design. Mead’s Commemorative Lecture, “A Personal Journey Through the Information Revolution” is now available on the 2022 Kyoto Prize Special Website.

In his lecture, Mead reveals a number of innovations that were foundational to permitting practical design of complex integrated circuits containing millions of transistors and creation of mask patterns for their production.

How did he arrive at the guiding principles for VLSI system design using billions of transistors? How did he create a unified view of the physical integrated circuit and incorporate it in an academic course? Click here to learn more.

Carver Mead
Gordon and Betty Moore Professor of Engineering and Applied Science, Emeritus, California Institute of Technology

Mead and the other two 2022 Kyoto Prize laureates are featured on the 2022 Kyoto Prize Special Website with information about their work, personal profiles, and five-minute introductory videos. 

• Zakir Hussain (Tabla Player)

About the Kyoto Prize

The Kyoto Prize is an international award of Japanese origin presented to individuals who have made significant contributions to the progress of science, the advancement of civilization, and the enrichment and elevation of the human spirit. The Prize is granted in the three categories of advanced technology, basic sciences, and arts and philosophy. Each category comprises four fields, representing a total of 12 fields. Every year, one Prize for each of the three categories is awarded with prize money of 100 million yen per category.

One of the distinctive features of the Kyoto Prize is that it recognizes both “science” and “arts and philosophy” fields. This is because its founder, Kazuo Inamori, held the conviction that the future of humanity can be assured only when there is a balance between scientific development and enrichment of the human spirit.

Deregulation & ignored warnings on Grenfell a “national scandal” – FBU

 

21st August 2024Leave a Commenton Deregulation & ignored warnings on Grenfell a “national scandal” – FBU

“The Grenfell Tower fire was a crime caused by deregulation and institutional failings at the highest level. By the time of the fire, the residents of the tower had warned on multiple occasions that their building was unsafe.”

Matt Wrack, FBU General Secretary

By the Fire Brigades Union

Recent reports have focused on the issue of ‘stay put’ guidance at the Grenfell Tower fire, with London Fire Commissioner Andy Roe saying that residents were asked “to stay put for too long”.

In a statement, the Fire Brigades Union has said that while it is “right that stay put is reviewed for situations like Grenfell”, the fire “was a crime caused by deregulation and institutional failings at the highest level.”

FBU general secretary Matt Wrack said that firefighters attending Grenfell “were forced to work under impossible conditions, lacking appropriate preparation, planning and training”.

The union cites a number of examples of when its warnings on building safety and evacuation preparation were ignored.

Matt Wrack, Fire Brigades Union general secretary, said:

“The Fire Brigades Union called for a review of ‘stay put’ in 2007 in a report into a 2005 fire in Harrow Court in Stevenage, in which two firefighters and one resident were killed. These warnings were not heeded. This has been the story on far too many occasions.

“The Grenfell Tower fire was a crime caused by deregulation and institutional failings at the highest level. By the time of the fire, the residents of the tower had warned on multiple occasions that their building was unsafe.

“There were various warnings over many years about the dangers of cladding fires, including from the Fire Brigades Union. There had already been fatalities, including at Garnock Court in 1999 and Lakanal House in 2009. It is a national scandal that our warnings were ignored. 

“These failings do not rest with front line firefighters. For years, Chief Fire Officers failed to pass on vital knowledge to front line firefighters. Despite obvious warnings, they failed to prepare firefighters for compartmentation breaking down because of flammable cladding.

“Firefighters at Grenfell were forced to work under impossible conditions, lacking appropriate preparation, planning and training. These high level failings of policy continue to this day.

“It is right that stay put is reviewed for situations like Grenfell. But we must ask why flammable cladding is still wrapped around the homes of hundreds of thousands of people and why there are other significant fire safety failings on many buildings across the country.

“The government has still not produced proper guidance on how to evacuate a high-rise tower in the middle of a fire, despite having had years to do so. We highlighted this in a letter to the Home Secretary in March this year.

“The FBU will not rest until we achieve justice for all victims of the fire and until everyone has a safe and decent home.” 

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• A copy of the Fire Brigade Union’s (FBU) correspondence to the previous Home Secretary can be viewed here.
• Matt Wrack is the General Secretary of the Fire Brigades Union. You can follow him on Twitter/X, and can follow the FBU on Facebook, Twitter/X and Instagram.
• This article was originally published by the FBU on 20 August 2024.

 Opinion

The Shame of Grenfell

05 Sep 2024 NATION CYMRU

Photo Victoria Jones/PA Wire

Ben Wildsmith

Yesterday’s report into the Grenfell fire was the most serious piece of official business the UK has produced in many years.

Listening to Martin Moore-Bick outline the concerns and demands that emerge from it was salutary in several ways.

Firstly, after a period when government business has lacked seriousness and professionalism, it was jarring to hear somebody performing competently under pressure, adhering to his brief, and unswayed by political motives.

Secondly, his tone was matched to the gravity of the events at hand. He concluded by reading the names of those unfortunates who had died in the disaster and had clearly taken time to ensure that his pronunciation of them was correct.

That’s a small detail that can mean the world to people, as we in Wales know too well.

Finally, the work he had overseen was wide-ranging in its outlook, recognising the overarching failings in national life that conspired to allow the shameful series of events and omissions under investigation.

There are echoes of Aberfan in the Grenfell story. In particular, how the voices of ordinary people can be ignored on even the most vital of topics, audible only in the hush of an enquiry room when it is too late.

As we pick through the facts of events like these, finding negligence, greed, and dishonesty, we invariably find that the people ultimately effected had warned us all along that they were in danger. Reaching for explanations, we might put some failings down to human frailty or overwork.

The outright refusal to listen when it might have helped is the toughest pill to swallow, speaking, as it does, to a contempt with which no human being should ever be held.

The shameful characterisation of the Hillsborough victims by the Sun newspaper also reverberated through this tragedy. In its immediate aftermath, ‘Tommy Robinson’ and his supporting cast of amoral opportunists sought to foreground the immigration status of people who had perished in the fire.

We should never have heard from him again. What sort of country allows somebody like that to style himself as a patriot; to wear its flag and speak its name.

The same sort of country, I suppose, that tolerates the Sun climbing the pulpit this morning to demand the prosecution of those held responsible in the Grenfell report.

The same paper that shamed journalism over Hillsborough has been the leading propagandist for every malign force that coalesced against the poor people in Grenfell on 14th June 2017. From the miners’ strike to Brexit, it has pumped out disinformation to the British public, encouraging people to turn against their own.

Every expression of community: trade unions, public service, social housing, has been denigrated and maligned as if cohesion was an undesirable societal trait.

If you are a manufacturer selling dangerous goods, or a developer who wants them to cover up an inconvenient cluster of disadvantaged humanity in sight of your luxury apartments, or a council who does business with such a developer, then social cohesion is, indeed, undesirable.

You need those threatened by your plans to be othered, silenced, and powerless.

Just as Aberfan was about much more than tip management, and Hillsborough told us a story beyond football and crowd policing, Grenfell is a tragic fable.

The obscene centring of profit at the expense of humanity in our society, and the proliferation of public dishonesty that facilitates it are marks of shame upon us all if we allow it to continue.

One of the accounts of the night describes a man on the phone to his young nephew who was trapped in the tower with no hope of escape. He was telling the youngster that Spiderman would come to save him, trying to offer some hope and comfort when all was lost.

We can count the days until The Sun resumes bullying anyone who stands in the way of its owner’s interests. When Moore-Bick’s words have faded, perhaps the Daily Mail will try to convince us that the judiciary are our enemy again.

Their noise, and that of politicians who cash cheques from the same source, needs to be drowned in a new conversation on these islands. We need to listen to each other.

 

How the healthcare system failed survivors in the aftermath of the Grenfell fire

Victoria MacdonaldHealth and Social Care Editor5 Sep 2024

Survivors of the Grenfell fire were failed by health and care services who did not listen to their needs, according to a new report by The Kings Fund.

After years of not being listened to, the survivors and the bereaved and the Grenfell community, then had to contend with the health and care services, who did not listen to their needs all over again.

In a report by the think tank The Kings Fund, those most impacted by the fire talk about structural racism and discrimination. That health and care authorities imposed what they believed was needed.

But the community told them otherwise, and The King’s Fund, which will release its report on Monday, says there are many lessons to learn from this, not least services need to be willing to make changes informed by what they learn from the people who are living in that neighbourhood or borough.

The report gives examples of tick box exercises for mental health including offering Muslim men cognitive behaviour therapy with white female therapists; or a screen and treat programme that was a door-knock of 11,000 homes – missing those most impacted.

The mental health teams are praised for reacting quickly and listening. On the physical health side, there remain concerns.

Enhanced screening for the survivors did not always happen because some GP services weren’t aware they were meant to be doing it.

Natasha Elcock, who escaped from the tower block with her partner and daughter, told Channel 4 News about asking for blood samples to be taken so they could be checked in the future and being told this couldn’t be done.

Yet, she says, the fire fighters had bloods taken for research to see what impact the fire had on their health.

The King’s Fund says its report is about sharing what went wrong and what worked, so health and care authorities can be prepared.

Construction professionals believe fire safety training remains 'inadequate' post-Grenfell

by Birmingham City University

Credit: Birmingham City University

A third of construction professionals believe the industry still has 'inadequate' knowledge and training around fire safety in the wake of the Grenfell Tower disaster, new research has found.

A study carried out by Iman Farah Mohamed, a Quantity Surveying student at Birmingham City University, looked at industry views on fire safety following the tragic incident in June 2017, which saw 72 people lose their lives and more than 70 others injured.

It found that most professionals think "knowledge surrounding fire safety in the construction industry" is inadequate, while the majority also believe higher education institutions need to do more to educate construction students on fire safety before they enter the sector.

The research, which surveyed dozens of people working in construction professions and interviewed one expert directly involved with the Grenfell inquiry, also raised concerns around fire evacuation procedures in UK hospitals.

One respondent said:

"Current building regulations are compliant but I'm not sure if they're good enough. Interestingly there are no specific building regulations for mass evacuations and having spoken to fire services, they are frightened about hospital fires as the patients are not always mobile, making evacuation difficult."

The paper, which has been published in the International Journal of Building Pathology and Adaptation, suggests that specific roles should be created dedicated to fire safety, or that existing staff members are given the issue as a key responsibility.

It also recommends that higher education institutions encompass fire safety training in their courses, to ensure the next generation of construction professionals have the skills needed to prevent future disasters from happening.

The report also found that:

• There has been an increased awareness of fire safety concerns in the profession since the Grenfell fire
• There are concerns that the UK hospitals may struggle to evacuate immobile patients in the event of a fire
• Many believe the current fire safety regulations are 'not fit for purpose'
• 37 percent of those surveyed believe industry knowledge on fire safety is 'inadequate'
• Only 28 percent of respondents believe university curricula provide sufficient education on fire-proofing buildings
• 50 percent thought communication between residents and constructors around fire safety should be formalized
• New roles should be created to prioritise fire safety or this responsibility should be a requirement of existing jobs such as facilities managers
• Respondents were conflicted on whether race and class played a role in allowing the neglect which led to the tragedy at Grenfell.

Responders to the research highlighted concerns with the sector's approach to fire safety in the wake of the Grenfell Tower fire with one saying:

"It is not expected that fire could spread externally as there is a mind-set that fire risk is unlikely outside the facade of the building."

One respondent also challenged higher education institutions to do more and said a focus on driving profits was currently taking precedent over developing the skills needed to keep residents safe:

"Educational institutions have drifted from equipping students with detailed knowledge and they now just focus on making money. Standards of education are now severely compromised as there many students entering the industry without knowledge. This explains the poor selection and compromise on building materials. Gone are the years of durability and safety. It's all money."

Iman Farah Mohamed who wrote the paper said: "The research showed that there remains some concern in the construction industry around the knowledge and training provided in relation to fire safety.

"Grenfell was a major incident which brought the issue to the front of people's minds, but while the awareness in the industry has increased, most professionals want to see more from the sector and higher education providers to prioritize fire safety.

"The recommendations suggest how we can make sure professionals of the future are equipped with the knowledge they need to prevent a tragedy like this in the future, and that regulations and guidelines are updated to add a much needed extra layer of protection."

Recommendations:

• Specialist training be made available to workers across the sector
• Visiting lecturers and specialist practitioners, such as fire safety engineers, should form part of higher education construction courses
• New regulations should be introduced to protect against future disasters based on building materials or practices
• Funding should be made available to ensure professionals are equipped with the knowledge they need

Combating combustible cladding hazards

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More information: Iman Farah Mohamed et al. An investigation into the construction industry's view on fire prevention in high-rise buildings post Grenfell, International Journal of Building Pathology and Adaptation (2019). DOI: 10.1108/IJBPA-05-2019-0048

 

UK

GRENFELL Victims' fury as Tory MPs block fire reforms

Kensington MP Felicity Buchan among Conservatives who stopped push for swifter action

THE RESULT OF FORTY YEARS OF AUSTERITY

Grenfell Tower continues to burn the day after the fire claimed the lives of 72 people on June 14, 2017

GRENFELL campaign groups and the Labour Party slammed the Tories today for voting against proposals to implement safety recommendations from the inquiry into the blaze.

On Monday night, 318 Tory MPs, including Felicity Buchan, MP for Kensington, where the tower’s remains stand, voted against acting on the recommendations proposed by Labour in an amendment to the Fire Safety Bill.

The amendment was tabled after it emerged that over 80 per cent of private-sector accommodation and nearly 50 per cent of social-sector buildings with Grenfell-style flammable cladding have not had the dangerous material removed.

It sought to implement the recommendations of the Grenfell Tower inquiry’s phase one report published last October, which states that the removal of aluminium composite material cladding “should be pursued as vigorously as possible.”

Ms Buchan was elected in 2019, succeeding Kensington’s first-ever Labour MP Emma Dent Coad. She won by 150 votes after the vote was split by Lib Dem candidate Sam Gyimah.

In the Conservative manifesto on which Ms Buchan was elected, it says: “We have already committed to implementing and legislating for all the recommendations of the Hackitt Review and the first phase of the independent inquiry.”

Grenfell United said it was “outraged” by Ms Buchan’s vote against the Labour amendment.

“It’s no surprise as the government continues to fail the country — almost a year since the recommendations and so little has been done. Thousands still in dangerous homes.”

Justice4Grenfell urged Ms Buchan to state why she voted against Labour’s amendment.

Ms Dent Coad described the Tories’ actions as “just despicable.”

“Why bother with the inquiry when they disdain findings?” she added.

Shadow justice secretary David Lammy said that Ms Buchan had “let the victims and their families down.”

Labour’s deputy leader Angela Rayner pointed to promises made by Downing Street on the third anniversary of the fire.

On June 14, Downing Street was lit up green in memory of the 72 people who lost their lives in the west London blaze.

Downing Street’s tweet accompanying the photo said at the time: “We remain committed to uncovering the causes of this tragedy and ensuring it is never repeated.”

Ms Rayner said: “So why did Tory MPs, including the Tory MP for Kensington, vote down an amendment to implement the recommendations of Phase 1 of the Grenfell Tower inquiry last night?

“You should be ashamed of yourself Boris Johnson, if you were capable of it.”

The Fire Brigades Union tweeted: “Every single Tory MP who voted against this amendment should hang their heads in shame.”

Ms Buchan claimed that Labour was “trying to play politics with this tragedy” and was “misrepresenting the vote in the House of Commons.”

She said that the Tories’ vote was based on concerns regarding “sequencing for the legislation to be properly enacted.”

She added that she and the government were “absolutely committed to implementing the first phase recommendations of the Grenfell inquiry.”

Grenfell disaster was ‘a crime’ – firefighters' union says


A member of the public at the memorial at the base of Grenfell Tower in London in remembrance of those who died in the Grenfell Tower fire on June 14, 2017, June 14, 2024


Andrew Murray
Tuesday, August 20, 2024

MORNINGSTAR

THE Grenfell disaster was “a crime caused by deregulation and institutional failings at the highest level,” the Fire Brigades Union (FBU) said today.

Responding to official acknowledgement that residents in the west London tower block were told to “stay put” for too long during the 2017 fire, FBU general secretary Matt Wrack said: “It is right that stay put is reviewed for situations like Grenfell.

“But we must ask why flammable cladding is still wrapped around the homes of hundreds of thousands of people.

“The government has still not produced proper guidance on how to evacuate a high-rise tower in the middle of a fire, despite having had years to do so.”

He said the FBU had called for a review of “stay put” guidance long before the Grenfell fire, which killed 72 people and is now the subject of a protracted public inquiry.

London Fire Commissioner Andy Roe told the inquiry last week that residents had been told to remain in their flats for too long after the fire took hold.

But Mr Wrack said: “The Grenfell Tower fire was a crime caused by deregulation and institutional failings at the highest level.

“By the time of the fire, the residents of the tower had warned on multiple occasions that their building was unsafe.

“There were various warnings over many years about the dangers of cladding fires, including from the Fire Brigades Union.

“It is a national scandal that our warnings were ignored.

“Firefighters at Grenfell were forced to work under impossible conditions, lacking appropriate preparation, planning and training.

“These high-level failings of policy continue to this day.”

UK

Work to remove deadly cladding hasn't started on more than half of all residential buildings identified since Grenfell

The first batch of data to be published by the Ministry of Housing since the Grenfell Inquiry completed its work shows more than 258,000 flats have been highlighted as "life-critical" due to cladding issues or fire safety defects.

Rachael Venables

Sky News
News correspondent @rachaelvenables
Thursday 19 September 2024 

Work still hasn't started to remove deadly cladding on more than half of all residential buildings identified as at risk since the Grenfell tragedy

Work still hasn't started to remove deadly cladding on more than half of all residential buildings identified as at risk since the Grenfell tragedy.

The first batch of data to be published by the Ministry of Housing since the Grenfell Inquiry completed its work shows that 4,771 buildings have now been highlighted as having "life-critical" cladding or fire safety defects since 2017. This covers more than 258,000 individual flats.

The Grenfell Inquiry found that flammable cladding was the "principal cause of the rapid fire spread" in 2017. It concluded that "systematic dishonesty" from cladding and insulation companies and government inaction all contributed to the disaster in which 72 people died.

Flat owners ignoring cladding laws
Flat owners are ignoring laws aimed at stopping a repeat of the Grenfell Tower fire tragedy, Sky News has discovered

Flat owners ignoring cladding laws

After the fire, it emerged that hundreds of thousands of people around the country were also living in unsafe buildings with similar flammable materials on their external walls. The scandal trapped many leaseholders in dangerous homes that were unsellable, causing financial worries for owners.

Several schemes have been introduced by the government to fund and support the removal of cladding from social and private housing over 11 metres in height. But the latest data, published monthly, shows that yet again, remediation schemes are moving at a glacial pace.



Only 1,392 buildings (29%) have completed remediation, while 985 buildings (21%) have started the process.


Most alarmingly, the numbers show that each month more buildings are being identified than are being fixed.

From the end of July to the end of August, 42 buildings completed remediation, and 78 began the process. But another 141 buildings were brought to the government's attention.

At least another 4,000 "medium-height" blocks of flats are still to be investigated.

Matt Hodges-Long, founder of the Building Safety Register, said these figures are far from complete.

"This data only shows the blocks which have been accepted for the various funding schemes," he said. "There are still blocks out there, such as those under 11 metres, or with non-qualifying leaseholders, which are ineligible for help and so not recorded in the data."

Two new buildings with aluminium composite material (ACM) cladding, the same as that on Grenfell Tower, were only discovered in August for the first time.

Mr Hodges-Long says: "New buildings are being found all the time. No one knows how much bigger this problem really is. But it's clear we haven't hit the top of the hill yet."

Every month the MHCLG publishes the latest remediation data. There was a huge surge in October 2023 after they expanded the funding to medium-rise blocks, and included developer-funded projects in the numbers.

The government is investing £5.1bn into removing unsafe cladding and is trying to make the construction industry pay for the rest, including through a building safety levy.

A Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government spokesperson said: "The progress on remediation has been too slow - and this government is taking action to ensure that dangerous buildings are urgently dealt with.

"The full force of government will be brought to bear to make sure building owners fix this and people have the safe and secure homes that they deserve.

"We are ramping up work with regulators and local authorities and using new tools to identify properties with plans to accelerate the pace of remediation to be announced in the autumn."

UK

Grenfell Tower firefighters win £20m damages in out-of-court settlement


Robert Booth Social affairs correspondent
Thu, 1 February 2024 

Some firefighters who tackled the blaze at Grenfell Tower in west London have been unable to work again due to severe trauma.

Photograph: Glyn Kirk/AFP/Getty Images

Firefighters who attended the Grenfell Tower fire have secured up to £1.1m each in compensation after they sued construction companies, the landlord of the council block and the London fire commissioner.

Payouts to 114 firefighters will vary from £10,000 to £1.1m and total £20m. The out-of-court settlement follows a £150m payout last year in a similar civil claim brought by nearly 900 bereaved, survivors and residents of the disaster in west London that killed 72 people.

Lawyers for a smaller group of residents of the tower, senior fire officers and police officers are understood to be in negotiations.

Some of the firefighters were unable to work again because of severe trauma, and the claims were brought for personal injury and loss caused by alleged negligence and breach of statutory duty when they attended the blaze on 14 June 2017.

Vincent Reynolds, a lawyer at Thompsons Solicitors, which represented the firefighters through the Fire Brigades Union, said the blaze exposed them to “unimaginable scenes”.

“We hope this settlement brings closure of a sort for these firefighters, although we know that for many, the injuries will be for a lifetime,” he said.

If the case had gone to trial the firefighters were likely to have argued that the London fire brigade was partly responsible because of a lack of training and preparedness for high-rise fires and the way the stay-put policy, which instructed residents to remain in their flats, was handled.

Reynolds said the organisations that settled were Arconic, the US firm which made the combustible cladding; Celotex, the arm of the multinational company Saint Gobain which made the combustible insulation; Rydon, the main contractor, and the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea and its tenants management organisation. The companies have been approached for comment.

A spokesperson for the London fire brigade, which was part of the settlement, said: “We’re committed to doing all we can to make sure this tragedy is never repeated again and have been working hard to transform and improve our ways of working. Support remains available to those who attended the Grenfell Tower fire, and all our staff.”

The government is facing growing pressure to commit funding to the multimillion-pound Grenfell Tower memorial, with leading community members demanding “greater budgetary certainty”. Sandra Ruiz, a member of the Grenfell Tower Memorial Commission who lost her 12-year-old niece Jessica Urbano Ramirez in the fire, last week confronted government officials on the issue at the Grenfell Testimony Week event.

The government has estimated that the costs of looking after the Grenfell Tower site and funding the memorial will eventually reach £340m, but it remains unclear what the budget for the memorial and its upkeep will be.

“Promises are made quickly,” Ruiz said. “Action is slow to follow. And the pain of not having somewhere to remember grows, as does the feeling of injustice. Are we being delayed so that people forget?”

On Wednesday the commission, which is chaired by Paul Boateng, a Labour peer who is a former minister, and Thelma Stober, the solicitor and mediator, also issued a statement which said that issuing a design brief to architects for the memorial was not possible without “greater certainty around the budgetary framework and about what the commitments made by government will mean in practice”.

The Department for Levelling up, Housing and Communities has been approached for comment.

UK

Jail profiteers responsible for Grenfell, bereaved say ahead of final report

A member of the public at the memorial at the base of Grenfell Tower in London, June 14, 2024, in remembrance of those who died in the Grenfell Tower fire on June 14 2017

Berny Torre

MORNING STAR

Monday, September 2, 2024


JAIL the profiteers responsible for Grenfell Tower, bereaved survivors said ahead of the final report into deadly blaze seven years ago.

The long-running inquiry will publish its findings on how the west London tower block came to be in a condition which allowed the flames to quickly claim the lives of 72 people on Wednesday.

Inquiry chairman Sir Martin Moore-Bick is set to expose any failings by corporate firms in the construction industry, the local authority, London Fire Brigade and the government.

But the bereaved and survivors face an “unbearable” wait which could stretch to a decade before any criminal charges are brought.

The Met Police says it needs until the end of 2025 to finalise its mammoth investigation into the fire, with a further year for prosecutors to haul culprits into court.

Sandra Ruiz, whose 12-year-old niece Jessica Urbano Ramirez died in the fire, said: “For me, there’s no justice without people going behind bars.

“People who have made decisions putting profit above people’s safety need to be behind bars.

“Our lives were shattered on that night, people need to be held accountable.

“They know what part they played. The inquiry knows what part they played. And the police know what part they played. Now they just need to take some action about it.

“Let’s not drag this out another seven years.”

Ms Ruiz added the final report must be a “landmark report” which prompts “cultural, institutional and legislative change,” as “we’ve seen all too often” how people have “completely sidestepped their areas of responsibility.

“Those ethics have gone by the wayside in favour of profits, and this is what we see as a result.”

Former tower resident and Grenfell United member Edward Daffarn said he hopes it will “highlight the institutionalised indifference that saw private companies put profit before people.”

The safety campaigner, who famously predicted the fire in a blog post just months before it happened, hoped those like him who were painted as “rebel residents” for challenging the relevant local authorities will be vindicated in the report.

He also hoped it will “fully expose” the actions of the government and private companies and that “the buck-passing that took place during the public inquiry, where none of the corporate core participants took any responsibility for their actions, is going to come to an end.”

LA REVUE GAUCHE - Left Comment: Search results for GRENFELL 

Speed up cladding remediation deputy PM tells regulators



Today's Conveyancer
September 2, 2024

An industry roundtable convened following the major fire at flats in Dagenham has been told regulators and partners must speed up the remediation of unsafe buildings.

Deputy Prime Minster Angela Rayner and Building Safety Minister Rushanara Ali attended the roundtable, which also hosted West Midlands Mayor Richard Parker, Deputy Mayor of Greater Manchester Paul Dennett and Deputy Mayor of London Jules Pipe, along with key representatives from the London Fire Brigade, the National Fire Chiefs Council, the Local Government Association, the Building Safety Regulator, and other key partners.

Ms Rayner praised the bravery of the firefighters but took others to task on the lack of progress on unsafe properties, brought to light in the wake of the Grenfell Tower disaster and demonstrated at the Spectrum Building in Dagenham last week.

“Speeding up the remediation of buildings is absolutely critical. Seven years on from Grenfell, action has been far too slow and the fire in Dagenham is a horrific reminder of the risk unsafe cladding still poses to far too many people.”

“This government will expect more from regulators and partners to make sure action is being taken now to make homes safe, speed up remediation and ensure that buildings in the process of being remediated are managed safely for residents.”

Said Ms Rayner. Building Safety Minister Rushanara Ali added

“I would like to thank the emergency services, council and wider community for all they have done following the fire in Dagenham. It is absolutely essential that central and local government, regulators, and partners come together, as we have today, to drive fast and effective change to get buildings fixed, made safe and make sure residents are protected.”

ON THIS DAY THE GRENFELL TOWER FIRE

A 24-story building containing more than 120 flats lies in ruins after catching fire in the early hours of June 14, 2017, killing nearly 80 people. File Photo Hugo Philpott/UPI | License Photo

Grenfell Tower: What happened - BBC News

https://www.bbc.com › news

Just before 01:00 on 14 June, fire broke out in the kitchen of a fourth floor flat at the 23 storey tower block in North Kensington, West London. Within minutes, the ...

Grenfell Tower: Survivors say 'nothing has changed' - BBC News

https://www.bbc.com › news › uk-england-london-53040194

   mins ago - The survivors of Grenfell Tower fire, which killed 72 people, have said "nothing has changed" three years after the disaster. Those who escaped ...

UK marks anniversary of Grenfell Tower fire that killed 72 ...

https://www.aljazeera.com › news › 2020/06 › uk-marks-anniversary-gren...

2 hours ago - UK commemorates the 2017 blaze in a public-housing block that turned into the worst domestic blaze since World War II.

Combustible cladding on London's Grenfell Tower key to ...

https://www.cbc.ca › news › world › combustible-cladding-on-london-s-gr...

Oct 30, 2019 - "In its origin, the fire at Grenfell Tower was no more than a typical kitchen fire," the retired High Court judge wrote. Having broken out late at night ...

SEE https://plawiuk.blogspot.com/search?q=GRENFELL