Grenfell Tower will be taken down “sensitively”, the government has announced nearly eight years after a fire that killed 72 people.
The process is expected to take around two years and there will be no changes before the eighth anniversary of the disaster in June, the government said.
The plan has drawn a mixed reaction from local people, bereaved families and survivors – some of whom want the 24-storey tower to remain standing as a lasting reminder of the 2017 tragedy.
Others argue its presence is distressing to those who lost loved ones and say it should be replaced by a memorial.
Materials from the site and parts of the tower will be made available for inclusion as part of a memorial “if the community wishes”, the government said.
Some former residents were told about the decision during a meeting with Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner on Wednesday.
A spokesperson for Grenfell United, which represents some bereaved families and survivors, said no-one at the meeting supported the plan, and that ignoring their wishes was “disgraceful and unforgivable”.
Kimia Zabihyan, from Grenfell Next of Kin, which also acts for some bereaved families, described the meeting as “charged”, but said Rayner appeared to have attended with the “best of intentions”.
Downing Street said Rayner held the meeting to make sure bereaved families and survivors were the first to hear the government’s decision.
She offered bereaved family members and survivors “the opportunity to meet in person and online at different times and places”, and had “heard many views” through the process, the prime minister’s official spokesman said.
The decision to dismantle the building comes after engineers advised it should be “carefully taken down” due to safety concerns.
Fire damage to the upper levels of the tower has been exacerbated by weather, according to a 2020 report.
Some have said the tower should remain as it is until people have been prosecuted over the fire.
“I don’t think anything should be done to the building before justice is served and those who are responsible go to court and are tried,” said Damel Carayol, who was at Wednesday’s meeting with Rayner.
No charges in relation to the tragedy will be announced until late 2026, the Metropolitan Police and Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) have said.
Emma O’Connor, who lived on the 20th floor of tower and escaped the fire, said survivors “have not been properly consulted” about the plan to take down the building and called on Rayner to “show us some respect”.
Ms O’Connor has launched a petition calling for local residents, survivors and bereaved family members to be allowed to vote on the tower’s future.
Others in the area have supported the government’s decision.
The head of a local residents’ association told the BBC on Wednesday he and “the overwhelming majority” of local residents supported the decision to take down the tower.
Mushtaq Lasharie said locals had been waiting for “closure” for more than seven years. Another local resident said the building had been “haunting us every day”.
Former housing secretary Michael Gove said the tower should be taken down at some stage.
He told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme there needs to be a “sensitive conversation” with the community about the timing and the means of taking it down.
“I have every reason to believe that the department and Angela Rayner are doing that,” he said.
He added that it was “really important that the government and other agencies accelerate the pursuit of justice” as the tower comes down.
Emma Dent Coad, who was Labour MP for Kensington at the time of the fire, on Wednesday said the decision made her feel “relieved”.
“I see it everyday, and it hurts me every single day,” she said. “It triggers me sometimes, and sometimes when I look at it, I don’t see the shroud, I see what happened on that day.”
The fire on 14 June 2017 was originally caused by a faulty fridge in a fourth-floor flat, but quickly spread around the block because it was covered in highly flammable cladding.
A public inquiry concluded in September that the disaster had been the result of numerous government and construction industry failures.
The Grenfell Tower Memorial Commission has been consulting on plans for a memorial in the area of the tower.
Five design teams have been shortlisted to create the memorial, with the winner aiming to submit a planning application in late 2026.
