Was London's Grenfell Tower Fire Preventable?
The fire that engulfed west London’s Grenfell Tower last week, killing at least 79 people and leaving several dozen others injured, is not the first time the city has witnessed the collapse of one of the many tower blocks that make up its public housing.
In 2011, it was estimated that three-quarters of Britain’s social-housing blocks are potentially unsafe in a fire—a condition linked to decades of neglect, poor maintenance, and a lack of proper fire-safety regulations.
I spoke with Lynsey Hanley, the author of Estates: An Intimate History and a regular contributor to The Guardian, to discuss the rise of social housing in London that led to the construction of buildings like Grenfell Tower, and what the blaze could mean for the safety of such housing structures going forward. As someone who has lived in social housing and written extensively on its impact on British society, Hanley offers context about the role such housing was envisaged to play, and how it will need to change to fulfill that promise.
Our conversation has
