Grenfell survivor blasts Tories for rejecting fire-resistant cladding to save money
A Grenfell survivor has hit out at the Tory council of Kensington and Chelsea for putting “profit over people,” as news emerged of a proposal to put non-flammable cladding on the tower being turned down to save money.
The council of one of the richest areas in London snubbed a costed proposal of £3.3 million by cladding company D+B Facades to fit non-flammable aluminium panels on Grenfell Tower.
In a bid to save costs, the council assigned the contract to Rydon, which installed combustible cladding which caught fire. The inferno resulted in the deaths of 72 people in last June’s atrocity.
Alison Moses, who resided in the now-burnt out tower, told RT she “already knew” the Tory council had sought to save money at the expense of the residents’ safety.
“I have good eyes and good brain, and I know where this council is coming from when it comes to people and money,” Moses told RT.
“We are all a commodity for them. Profit over people.”
She added that the extra funds would likely be splashed out by the Tory councilors on “Christmas parties and luxurious yachts.”
According to fire experts, had aluminum cladding been used, it would have almost certainly have saved lives.
“There would have been little or no fire spread, so the lives lost at Grenfell may have been prevented,” said Stephen Mackenzie, an independent fire safety consultant, the Guardian reports.
An enraged Moses, who has finally been given a permanent home in Paddington, after months of being in temporary accommodation, said: “If you care so much about the tenants the cost of keeping us safe is irrelevant, and mandatory.
“But you thought so little about us that you went for a cheaper option that you knew would kill us.”
In what is likely to further embarrass the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, the final contract for plastic-filled panels, which caused the fire to spread so quickly, ended up costing £200,000 more than what the solid aluminum cladding would have cost.
Peter Hillyard, the director of D+B Facades, said learning his company’s safer and cheaper system would not be used sent a ‘shiver down his spine’.
Downing Street suggested the public inquiry into the Grenfell Tower fire, which opens on 21 May, would examine the claims. A spokesperson said: “It will be a decision for the public inquiry exactly what they choose to look at, but the prime minister has set out her view that the truth of what happened must be fully established.”
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