'Grenfell two is in the post – unless you act and act quickly,' says survivor who warned of blaze that killed 72

It is a ‘disgrace’ 300 high-rises have combustible cladding, says former tower block resident

A survivor of the Grenfell Tower fire who in 2016 predicted disaster would strike has issued a stark warning about the combustible cladding covering hundreds of highrises across the country.

“Grenfell two is in the post, unless you act and act quickly,” Edward Daffarn, from community support group Grenfell United, told a government committee.

He said it was a “disgrace” more than 300 tower blocks had been found to be clad in aluminium composite material (ACM), which experts have blamed for the spread of the fire in north Kensington.

Some 159 of those blocks are social housing buildings, of which only 10 – or 6 per cent – have had the potentially dangerous cladding replaced.

Mr Daffarn, who escaped from the 16th floor, had spent several years attempting to get authorities to listen to the safety concerns of Grenfell Tower residents before the blaze.

He wrote on a residents’ association blog in 2016: “Only a catastrophic event will expose the ineptitude and incompetence of our landlord, the KCTMO, and bring an end to the dangerous living conditions and neglect of health and safety legislation that they inflict upon their tenants and leaseholders.”

Addressing the Commons Housing, Communities and Local Government Committee, Mr Daffarn claimed the chief executive of the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea (RBKC) had said the council had been behaving like “a property developer masquerading as a local authority”.

Barry Quirk, who took on the position one week after the deadly blaze in June 2017, made the remark in a private meeting with Grenfell United, Mr Daffarn told MPs.

“Think about that,” he said. “They were property developers masquerading as a local authority. They failed to keep us safe because they had higher priorities – getting their hands on the land, this massive goldmine.”

Mr Daffarn earlier told MPs that one year after the disaster the council was treating social housing tenants with “indifference” and was repeatedly proving itself incompetent .

RBKC had shown a number of survivors houses which had not passed fire safety tests, he claimed.

“Residents were going and viewing properties, liking the properties they were seeing, starting to choose furniture, starting to imagine moving on with their lives – only to be told by the council that it didn’t have a fire safety certificate and wasn’t fit to live in,” he said.

“Even if they hadn’t got the fire safety certificates they should have informed us.”

Mr Daffarn said he was concerned about who would oversee the survivors’ housing in the future. The tenant management organisation in charge of the tower has now been dissolved, but he said residents were concerned a number of its officers had simply been absorbed into the employment of the council.

The council had initially suggested a company called Pinnacle could be appointed to manage the properties, he said, but the company worked closely with contractor Rydon. Survivors have blamed Rydon, which was commissioned to complete the refurbishment of Grenfell Tower, for the disaster.

The inquiry into the inferno heard evidence on Monday from Dr Barbara Lane, who said the external wall of the tower was “entirely non-combustible” before it was refurbished in 2012.

A review into housing safety by Dame Judith Hackitt commissioned in the aftermath of the blaze in north Kensington attracted criticism after it failed to recommend a blanket ban on combustible cladding.

Regardless, the government launched a consultation on a ban after Theresa May said she was “minded” to outlaw use of the material on buildings.

Natasha Elcock, another member of Grenfell United, told the committee a consultation on ACM cladding would take too long and the material should be banned immediately.

“No one should go to sleep at night knowing they’ve got combustible cladding wrapped around their building,” she said.

“Things are not happening quick enough – it’s been a year.”

She said the lives of Grenfell survivors had been “turned upside down” and they should not have to lead a campaign to change the law.

“But we will,” she added.

Jacqui Haynes, of the Lancaster West Residents’ Association said: “We’re all sitting here knowing what the potential is of those materials ... therefore, we are all culpable.”

Asked about accusations RBKC had been indifferent to the suffering of Grenfell Tower survivors by the housing committee on Wednesday, council leader Elizabeth Campbell said: “I don’t recognise that.”

The local authority was “totally committed to working with everyone”, she added.

Mr Quick, the council’s chief executive, acknowledged “errors” were made at the beginning of the rehousing process.