In Brutal Presence: The Aftermath Of Grenfell Tower
North Kensington residents look back on a disaster, and what it means for their community.
The tragedy of Grenfell Tower has awakened the London community, in the most violent way, to the negative impacts of gentrification and “regeneration” projects on social inequality. The fire of June 14th that consumed almost 80% of the social housing tower block should have been a self-contained incident within that 1970s brutalist structure. Instead, the flames turned into a fireball, thanks to the newly fitted cladding placed on the building to “beautify” its appearance for those who looked at it from luxury apartments nearby.
Regeneration plans were set in motion for the Silchester Estate and Lancaster Estate of Latimer Road, to be torn down beginning of September 2018. It was the fire at Grenfell, which stopped those plans from happening — for now.
The severity of this event has left a physical and emotional mark on the community of North Kensington — and many residents have been dealing with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and flashbacks of that terrible day. These nine residents reflect on the event, as well as the many other threats that the council imposed on the community, just months before the fire of Grenfell. The following quotes were…
