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Regional secretary with the National Education Union
Buried at Grenfell: a disaster foretold
Three months to the day after the worst fire in England for over half a century, ANN CZERNIK questions how such dangerous materials ever made it onto the sides of Grenfell Tower

THE BLACKENED, twisted shell of Grenfell Tower looms darkly over north Kensington as a monumental tombstone marking the site of Britain’s largest open grave.

Following the fire, a range of organisations supporting and campaigning for the rights of private renters across London and Britain — Generation Rent, Acorn, Digs, the Radical Housing Network, Renters Power Project, Advice4Renters and Renters’ Rights — issued a statement: “The Grenfell fire has exposed gross failings on the part of governments and institutions and the urgent need for proper regulations to keep us safe,” they declared.

Last week, Communities and Local Government Secretary Sajid Javid told MPs: “Across England there are 173 social-housing buildings that are over 18m tall and clad with some form of aluminium composite material. In July, the Building Research Establishment began a series of large-scale fire safety tests on aluminium composite material (ACM) cladding systems — both the visible cladding and the internal insulation.

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