Grenfell Tower is going to be demolished nearly eight years after 72 people were killed.
Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner, who is also Housing Secretary, met with bereaved families and survivors tonight to share the news with them.
The Government has previously said there will be no changes to the site before the eighth anniversary of the disaster in June.
A spokesperson for Grenfell Next of Kin, a group representing some bereaved families, said Ms Rayner had ‘announced the decision that the tower will have to be carefully deconstructed’.
The Government has previously said structural engineering advice remained unchanged ‘in that the building (or that part of it that was significantly damaged) should be carefully taken down’. It is expected more details will be set out by the end of the week.
What is left of the tower has stood in place since the fatal fire on June 14 2017 with a covering on the building featuring a large green heart accompanied by the words ‘forever in our hearts’.
The Grenfell Next Of Kin spokesperson said the decision around the tower’s future was ‘obviously a very sensitive and difficult’ one.
The Government has previously said there will be no changes to the site before the eighth anniversary of the disaster – which claimed 72 lives – in June
The west London tower block was covered in combustible products because of the ‘systematic dishonesty’ of firms who made and sold the cladding and insulation, inquiry chairman Sir Martin Moore-Bick said
Police and prosecutors said, in May last year, that investigators would need until the end of 2025 to complete their inquiry, with final decisions on potential criminal charges by the end of 2026
They added: ‘For the next of kin of the deceased, that building is a shrine and the death place of their immediate families, their brothers, sisters, mothers, fathers, husbands, wives and children – but they understand the hard facts around safety.’
Views have varied on what should happen on the site, with some bereaved and survivors feeling the tower should remain in place until there are criminal prosecutions over the failings which led to the fire.
The final report of the Grenfell Tower Inquiry, published in September, concluded the disaster was the result of ‘decades of failure’ by government and the construction industry to act on the dangers of flammable materials on high-rise buildings.
The west London tower block was covered in combustible products because of the ‘systematic dishonesty’ of firms who made and sold the cladding and insulation, inquiry chairman Sir Martin Moore-Bick said.
He said the ‘simple truth’ is that all the deaths were avoidable and that those who lived in the tower were ‘badly failed’ by authorities ‘in most cases through incompetence but, in some cases, through dishonesty and greed’.
According to the update from police and prosecutors lastyear, the mammoth police investigation into the fire has already generated 27,000 lines of inquiry and more than 12,000 witness statements.
A total of 58 individuals and 19 companies and organisations are under investigation for potential criminal offences, and more than 300 hours of interviews have taken place.
Potential offences under consideration include corporate manslaughter, gross negligence manslaughter, perverting the course of justice, misconduct in public office, health and safety offences, fraud and offences under the fire safety and building regulations.
The near 10-year wait for justice has been described by families as ‘unbearable’.
The 72 victims of the Grenfell Tower fire in June 2017 are pictured as follows – (top row left to right) Mohammad Al-Haj Ali, Ya-Haddy Sisi Saye, also known as Khadija Saye, Anthony Disson, Khadija Khalloufi, Mary Mendy, Isaac Paulos, Sheila, Gloria Trevisan, Marco Gottardi, (second row left to right) Berkti Haftom, Ali Yarwar Jafari, Majorie Vital, Yahya Hashim, Hamid Kani, Jessica Urbano Ramirez, Zainab Deen, Nura Jemal, Jeremiah Deen, (third row left to right) Yasin El-Wahabi, Firdaws Hashim, Hashim Kedir, Debbie Lamprell, Ernie Vital, Sakina Afrasehabi, Denis Mur-phy, Raymond ‘Moses’ Bernard, Biruk Haftom, (fouth row left to right) Yaqub Hashim, Mehdi El-Wahabi, Ligaya Moore, Nur Huda El-Wahabi, Victoria King, Mo-hammed Amied Neda, Maria del Pilar Burton, Hesham Rahman, Gary Maunders, (fifth row left to right) Alexandra Atala, Vincent Chiejina, Steve Power, Rania Ibrahim, Fethia Hassan, Hania Hassan, Fathia Ahmed Elsanousi, Abufras Ibrahim (silhouette), Isra Ibrahim (silhouette), (sixth row left to right) Mariem Elgwahry, Eslah Elgwahry (silhouette), Mohamednur Tuccu, Amal Ahmedin, Amaya Tuccu-Ahmedin, Amna Mahmud Idris, Abdeslam Sebbar (silhouette) , Joseph Daniels (silhouette), Logan Gomes, (seventh row left to right) Omar Belkadi, Farah Hamdan, Malak Belkadi (silhouette), Leena Belkadi (silhouette), Abdulaziz El-Wahabi, Faouzia El-Wahabi, Fatemeh Afrasiabi, Kamru Miah, Rabeya Begum, (eighth row left to right) Mohammed Hamid, Mohammed Hanif, Husna Begum, Bassem Choukair, Nadia Choucair, Mierna Choucair, Fatima Choucair, Zainab Choucair and Sirria Choucair
Separately, the Grenfell Tower Memorial Commission has been consulting on plans for a permanent memorial in the area of the tower.
In a 2023 report, the commission set out a series of recommendations for a ‘sacred space’, designed to be a ‘peaceful place for remembering and reflecting’.
It said the space should include a garden, a monument and a dedicated space for the private expression of grief and mourning for the families who lost loved ones.
A shortlist of five potential design teams was announced last month, and a winning design team is set to be selected this summer.
The commission said it expects the memorial design to be sufficiently developed to enable a planning application to be submitted in late 2026.
A Government spokesperson said: ‘The priority for the Deputy Prime Minister is to meet with and write to the bereaved, survivors and the immediate community to let them know her decision on the future of the Grenfell Tower.
‘This is a deeply personal matter for all those affected, and the Deputy Prime Minister is committed to keeping their voice at the heart of this.’
