Grenfell /F12 15 0 R Edward Daffarn described Grenfell Tower's management as a "mini-mafia", Seventy-two people died in the Grenfell Tower fire on 14 June 2017. Grenfell Tower, the fire, and its aftermath, Kensington and Chelsea London Borough Council, "The Housing (Right to Manage) Regulations 1994", "Tenant management organisations the best-kept secret in housing", "Kensington and Chelsea Tenant Management Organisation The Board", "Financial statements for year end 31st March 2013", "Kensington and Chelsea Tenant Management Organisation Anti Social Behaviour Form", "London fire: Six killed as Grenfell Tower engulfed", "London high-rise fire leaves multiple people dead, dozens injured and others missing", "Fire safety concerns raised by Grenfell Tower residents in 2012", "People died thinking 'they didn't listen', says ex-Grenfell residents' group chair", "Private company responsible for Grenfell Tower maintenance asks public to donate money to help fire victims", "Grenfell management company stripped of responsibility for estate", "Grenfell Tower firm has housing contract terminated", "Grenfell firm to pass responsibility for homes to council", Criticism of the response to the Grenfell Tower fire, Kensington and Chelsea Tenant Management Organisation, Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Kensington_and_Chelsea_TMO&oldid=1150172436, 1996 establishments in the United Kingdom, Tenant management organisations in England, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, This page was last edited on 16 April 2023, at 18:16. The council retains the ownership, a significant share of the rent, and overall responsibility for the properties, including allocations policy, capital investment, major repairs, public accounting and performance. Witness: Kensington and Chelsea Families who live in nearby Adair Tower in north Kensington, also operated by Kensington and Chelsea Tenants Management Organisation (KCTMO), have instructions to stay in their homes in the event of a fire. /F1 16 0 R >> Publicity about the fake TMO puts their track record at risk. He added felt like residents of the tower were being "abused" by the KCTMO. /F11 12 0 R Edward Daffarn and another resident repeatedly attacked the Kensington and Chelsea Tenant Management Organisation (KCTMO) in a blog. >> /F2 17 0 R /F1 16 0 R Under its long-term public remit it had developed a suitably established system for managing properties, employing dedicated individuals with a clear understanding of their roles, with little scope for compromising on safety and largely free of political influence. Andrew Kinnier QC, for the Grenfell Tower Inquiry, said that a document in 2013 viewed the Kensington and Chelsea Tenant Management Organisation (TMO), as having a reactive approach to maintenance built more on compliance rather than breakdown. >> The housing department staff were transferred over into the new organisation on existing terms and conditions, and the so-called KCTMO took over all council housing management functions, making it an Arms Length Management Organisation of the Council an ALMO. 72 people lost their lives, 70 were injured, and 223 people escaped the building. KCTMO is a tenant controlled TMO and the great majority of its board are resident members.. Critics of the public-private partnership, or PPP, management hand-off claim that the quasi-privatised TMO arrangement is rife with corruption, including sweetheart deals to The one managing Grenfell Tower, however, was actually an Arms Length Management Organisation wholly owned by the council, writes Anne Power. endobj I do not want to comment on the terrible Grenfell disaster beyond saying that it is hardly fair to blame the TMO structure for a problem endemic in the social housing industry, well known from Lakanal and fully exposed over many years in Inside Housing. Kensington and Chelsea council has said it will cooperate with any investigation into the fire. Central to this is the doctrine of effectiveness, which requires courts to give the fullest weight and effect to the underlying purpose of protecting human rights. /Xi3 27 0 R /Xi11 14 0 R /F12 15 0 R WebKensington and Chelsea Tenant Management Organisation. It declined to discuss the documentation citing a duty of confidentiality in its contract with KCTMO. /F5 20 0 R >> Since January 2018, the housing has been directly managed by the council. Untangling responsibility for decisions on the project remains complex. /Type /Page The police were not transparent about the Grenfell death toll: why does it matter now? Explore in 3D: The dazzling crown that makes a king. On the night of the fire, Mr Chapmans wife Dr Naomi Li was one of the last people to escape the building alive. /CropBox [0.0 0.0 595.2 857.28] It is true to say that some lessons have been learnt about potential risks of inappropriate cladding and evacuation advice but there is no evidence that the lessons of the governance failure that led to the choice of poor redevelopment, inappropriate safety standards and the procurement of unsafe cladding have been learnt. Grenfell cladding approved by residents was swapped for /Font << /Parent 2 0 R Is climate change killing Australian wine? /F2 17 0 R [15] In the aftermath of the disaster, KCTMO has been further criticised for appealing to the public for donations to support the victims, despite giving no indication that it is donating to them itself. [17] In September 2017 Kensington and Chelsea councillors voted unanimously to end the contract with KCTMO, stating that the firm "no longer has the trust of residents in the borough". /Im22 22 0 R The handback took place on 1 March 2018. When the Grenfell fire disaster happened, very few people had heard of Tenant Management Organisations (TMOs). Residents at high rise flats managed by the organisation that ran Grenfell Tower have spoken of their concerns over their safety after Wednesdays catastrophic fire. A blog entry posted on 20 November 2016[13] described KCTMO as "an evil, unprincipled, mini-mafia" and predicted that only a "catastrophic event" leading to "serious loss of life" such as "a serious fire in a tower block" would result in change. << Kensington and Chelsea TMO (KCTMO) was the largest tenant management organisation (TMO) in England, managing nearly 10,000 properties on behalf of Kensington and Chelsea London Borough Council the entire council housing stock in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. I have been asking for two years for those to be changed, and nothing has happened, he said. Grenfell United formed after the tragedy, a group formed of survivors and the bereaved, campaigning for justice and representation. There are also no sprinklers in the building, something residents also complained about in Grenfell. WebProvide full-time tenant management; Schedule and oversee property repair and maintenance; Manage collection of all rent and enforce penalties for late payments; With prudent The Business of Real Estate | GK Real Estate Another issue raised by Mr Daffarn centred on a power surge at the tower in May 2013. Article 2 therefore includes a positive substantive obligation on states to take appropriate steps to safeguard the lives of those within their jurisdiction. [2] Kensington and Chelsea TMO was the largest TMO in the UK[3] and unique in having been the only TMO that managed the entire housing stock for the local council.[4]. A good article but it misses out that the Lancaster West Estate had their own TMO (an EMB) from 1993 until the larger organisation (KCTMO) closed them down in 2013. /Parent 2 0 R List of Grenfell's /Rotate 0 WebKensington and Chelsea TMO ( KCTMO) was the largest tenant management organisation (TMO) in England, managing nearly 10,000 properties on behalf of Kensington and Chelsea TMO has previously received a three-star status from the Audit Commission for its services. We possess the insight and flexibility to adjust to a changing real estate market. It stated that there are only a handful of arrangements in the policy and many are missing such as pressure vessels, working at height and contractor management. In July 2014, KCTMO asked it to provide costings for the three different types of cheaper cladding. In addition, it provides a structured way to collaborate with stakeholders on specific issues with minimal risk of confusion and loss of productivity. /F9 13 0 R Without this threat its doubtful KCTMO would ever have been established. Kensington and Chelsea is a rich area. In the early hours of the morning of 14th June 2017 a fire broke out in one of the fourth-floor flats at a recently renovated tower block at Grenfell Tower, London, a social housing complex of almost 1,000 homes. Both Kensington and Chelsea Council and the Kensington and Chelsea Tenant Management Organisation (TMO) have been told they may have committed manslughter. /F10 10 0 R Grenfell Tower Inquiry Phase 2 And (2) that a board of 8 tenants is wholly inadequate for managing or even just supervising such a large number of 10,000 properties. The correct lesson is that user control of governance does not in itself secure user empowerment.. However the facts in her account are not fully correct. /F7 9 0 R /F1 16 0 R Home - L6 Property Management /Contents 8 0 R doesnt it just make it harder to find out who is responsible? Kensington and Chelsea TMO - Wikipedia The Labour councillor Robert Atkinson told BBC Radio 4s Today programme the brief session had descended into utter chaos, adding: I am ashamed of the way in which the council proceeded. The concerns do not appear to have been resolved at the time, according to today's evidence so far. You are quite right Robin a key problem (maybe the key problem) was a lack of tenant involvement. The secret mine that hid the Nazis' stolen treasure. /F11 12 0 R /F5 20 0 R /Type /Page So according to James Lusk here, 8 out of 13 equals the great majority, and having that slight majority board constitutes it being tenant controlled. >> /F3 18 0 R endobj /Xi9 36 0 R Each of the organisations that was involved in the management and refurbishment of Grenfell Tower was subject to a specific professional regulatory framework. The lifts are constantly breaking down, said Jose. In an email, the local councillor, Judith Blakeman, said "continuing to give these people so much access to put their views is unhelpful as it gives them greater legitimacy". Mr Collins was one of a number of people who joined a residents group called Grenfell Community Unite, but staff at KCTMO refused to meet them. Since the mid-1970s, over 200 of these TMOs have formed. Grenfell residents not listened to Of course we are worried. /F9 13 0 R Available at:https://www.law.ox.ac.uk/housing-after-grenfell/blog/2019/11/grenfell-tower-fire-breach-right-life (Accessed [date]). The Faculty of Law, University of Oxford, Lecturer at Royal Holloway, University of London, The Role of Corporate Governance Failure in the Grenfell Tower Fire. /Font << The lack of health and safety regulation is therefore a clear a failure on the part of the state to protect the right to life under Article 2 of the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms (ECHR) 1950. The Kensington and Chelsea borough-wide TMO, formed in the 1990s, is known by tenants locally around Grenfell Tower as a fake TMO. /XObject << /F6 21 0 R Kensington & Chelsea Tenant Management The document says there were issues which needed attention regarding planned maintenance. The windows blew, flames were jumping out the window and there was some damage to the concrete, but the cladding and the insulation held, he said. The council, whose leader Nick Paget-Brown also quit on Friday, wanted the meeting held behind closed doors but a group of media organisations including the Guardian obtained a high court order preventing the council from banning journalists at about 6pm on Thursday, half an hour before the meeting was scheduled to start. Minutes of a progress meeting on 15 July 2014 attended by representatives of KCTMO, its project agent, Artelia, and Rydon, the contractor, suggest that the concerns they raised did not relate to safety but design issues, including the colour. Grenfell was, at least in part, a consequence of the lack of local control; tenants of Grenfell Tower had warned months before of the risk of fire or other disasters because of the neglect of safety by the ALMO (KCTMO). She explains why the difference matters in light of the disaster at Grenfell. > View this hearing. >> An ALMO is a government-approved public structure, wholly owned and controlled by the Council, which separates the Councils landlord services from other Council functions such as schools, libraries, and swimming pools. /Length 3951 In many ways the organisation that now exists is the product of central government policy without which the entire housing stock would have remained under direct council control. WebAt our core, GK Real Estate is an entrepreneurial, opportunity-driven organization. /F3 18 0 R /Rotate 0 This would have been done in conjunction with the contract management team and any other advice that was needed, she added. "We believe the TMO must value our lives so little that something so serious can just be covered up and never acknowledged as happening.". Staff managing social housing for the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea adopted an us vs them mentality towards residents of the Grenfell Tower in the months before the fire that killed 72 people, an inquiry has heard. My point is that KCTMO was a TMO ie all tenants and leaseholders were entitled to join, the board was elected by these members, and the majority of the board comprised tenants and leaseholders. /F6 21 0 R >> Residents of other tower blocks in London have expressed concerns over cladding, smoke alarms and safety advice. A new Interim Director of Housing should take over, to work with the boroughs Interim CEO to develop a decent housing service. How are we going to get down if there is a fire? He added that he was worried because the window-sills were plastic and in a fire could produce toxic fumes. The actual management agreement between the borough and effectively the Director of Housing, who became the CEO of the TMO, is still unclear. However, he said he could not be wholly confident of safety until he the council reassured them that the situationw was different to that in Grenfell. They told us to put wet clothes on the floor. Id say (fire safety and poor works) are outcomes whether you have a safe building, its all about the leadership and the culture, he said. In the case of Grenfell Tower, a faulty fridge/freezer was the ignition source. /Xi6 30 0 R But Paget-Brown then adjourned the meeting, saying it could not continue with journalists present as this could prejudice the official inquiry, which will be led by Sir Martin Moore-Bick, a retired court of appeal judge. Andrew Kinnier QC, for the Grenfell Tower Inquiry, said that a document in 2013 viewed the Kensington and Chelsea Tenant Management Organisation (TMO), /F7 9 0 R /XObject << OToole, who also lives in Burnham House, said he was reassuring tenants that the building is safe because there was a fire in a 10th-storey flat in a neighbouring block two years ago which was contained. There were a handful of tenants on the board as there are in other ALMOs. [The KCTMO] doesnt spend enough on safety. Camden council said it was conducting additional fire safety checks to reassure residents in its tower blocks. WebThe management of Grenfell Tower, including how residents' complaints were handled Central and local government responses to the disaster The response of London Fire Brigade Building regulations and enforcement Remaining expert evidence Remaining evidence from bereaved, survivors and residents Module 1 [ edit] The public inquiry into the June 2017 disaster is now looking at issues surrounding social housing management, including risk assessment and handling of tenants complaints. /F4 19 0 R /F6 21 0 R In sharp contrast to this model, TMOs are locally based, grassroots community groups that want to improve local conditions in their social housing estate or small area. The number of companies and organisations that Scotland Yard detectives investigating the disaster know so far to have played a role in the refurbishment is more than 60. The KCTMO tenant involvement failure as I see it was a matter of the numbers. But neither can we duck away from the problems of governance and accountability in TMOs, well understood by NFTMO. >> It is shocking if, as has been reported, this board then refused to listen to the concerns raised by Grenfell residents, or give them an independent fire safety inspection as they requested. Additionally, the knowledge accumulated through the previous arrangements was not retained within the new corporate body: priorities changed, partly through the perception that tenant involvement conferred sufficient legitimacy on decision making, partly as the priorities of the management team changed and partly because of the increased scale of responsibility delegated to a small and inexperienced organisation. In the email to LFB he said: "We believe that the TMO and the council have never acknowledged the possible consequences of this catastrophic power surge and its associated fire risk. Most of the residents were working class and of BAME background. /Filter /FlateDecode What is the actual purpose of this TMOs? The fact that all the tenants can become members amounts to little as all they can do is elect some of the Board. /MediaBox [0.0 0.0 595.2 857.28] It has now lost its role on the /F8 11 0 R >> 3 0 obj Of the description in 2013 of the TMO as having a reactive approach to maintenance, Ms Jevans said she thought the organisation understood about planned preventative maintenance and that it was working to pick up this gap. A fire at the Grenfell Tower block in west London in June 2017 claimed 72 lives. The DeKalb Area Rental Association is a nonprofit, educational organization representing rental housing units in DeKalb, Illinois, and its immediate London's high-rise tenants cite concerns in wake of Grenfell Tower fire Residents of other blocks run by Kensington and Chelsea Tenants Management /CropBox [0.0 0.0 595.2 857.28] >> The aluminium panels received a worse rating in terms of the amount of smoke they would emit. He was told the work would have no impact on emergency access, but he was not reassured because vehicles continued to take up the emergency bays - he felt, with management approval. Mr Chapman said he feared the fire safety consultant appointed by KCTMO would be tasked with proving residents wrong rather than conducting a proper assessment. << >> /F12 15 0 R That was the impression that I had at the time, that it was us against them, even though in my view we needed to work together to get this result.. /F9 13 0 R Such justice must encompass potential lawsuits under the Human Rights Act 1998, as well as criminal charges against those entities who manufactured the ACM cladding and were instrumental in the refurbishment of the tower. This enables effective governance by identifying and addressing governance risk and providing a construct for evaluating how managements responsibilities fit with full oversight responsibilities.