27 August 2024, 13:10 | Updated: 27 August 2024, 13:24

By Matt Hodges-Long

Bank Holiday Monday 7am and my mobile rang.

Just two words from one of my team “Grenfell 2”

The code word used in the Building Safety world as a hypothetical for another major building fire, was being said for real.

Fires in apartment buildings happen regularly and thankfully the vast majority are resolved without injury.

Each flat is designed as a compartment that should contain a fire for long enough to allow the Fire Service to attend and extinguish the fire. Other systems vent smoke and protect escape routes.

Compartmentation works beautifully. Until it doesn’t.

In the case of Grenfell, the fire ran up, down and across the external walls due to the installation of a combustible cladding system. Compartmentation was fatally undermined.

Over 3,000 blocks across England are waiting for their combustible cladding systems to be fully removed and replaced. Dagenham was one the........

© LBC