At least three other tower blocks feature the same cladding as Grenfell Tower, Prime Minister Theresa May announced earlier today.
Downing Street previously stated that 600 buildings in England had aluminium composite material (ACM) cladding, but this was later revised and revealed to have been based on a misunderstanding between all claddings and the specific type of cladding present at Grenfell Tower. The exact number that have the ACM cladding is still to be announced.
Local authorities around the country are racing to ascertain which of their buildings feature ACM cladding and subsequently what can be done to minimise the risk of fire. Many experienced fire officials expressed surprise at the speed at which the flames engulfed the 24-storey tower, going from a contained fire on the lower floors into a full scale inferno within the an hour.
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PM May, speaking in the House of Commons for the first time on the issue, told MPs that a report would be published in the coming 48 hours that would question whether the tower conformed to existing fire safety regulations. A judge will be named to chair an inquiry into the whole incident in the near future.
Residents had raised concerns about fire safety within the tower well before the disaster last week and had in fact predicted that such a catastrophe would occur. An exclusive in The Guardian revealed that the tower had undergone 16 inspections by Kensington and Chelsea council, but none of them raised the issue of the cladding, which was known to be flammable.
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Philip Hammond, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, claimed on Sunday that the cladding was illegal, but Theresa May refused to back him up for fear of jeopardising any prosecutions that might arise as a result of the fire. ACM cladding is illegal on buildings higher than 22 stories in Germany and the United States.
Tests have already been carried out on tiles from the ACM cladding that have shown it to be flammable. A sample was removed from a tower block in Barnet by specialists and removed for testing.
Sheffield City Council has announced that it will add sprinkler systems to all 24 of their tower blocks in response to the fire at Grenfell Tower. "In not all cases will it be the case that the retro-fitting of sprinklers is actually going to be the thing that makes the difference," PM May told the House of Commons.
Sources: AP, The Guardian
Featured Image Credit: PA ImagesTopics: UK