They have been hiding from residents; they have been hiding from backbench councillors for over a week.. >> /Contents 37 0 R /F4 19 0 R KCTMO, of course, took no further part in ATIC (having been glad to accept help to fix their political problem, the facts in her account are not fully correct. Witness: Kensington and Chelsea Following the tragic fire in June 2017, changes were made which ultimately led to the KCTMO handing back delivery of all day-to-day housing and related support services to the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea at the end of February 2018. All queries about housing services should be directed to the Council. The Council has confirmed that it will continue to fund the TMO to ensure it can continue to do so, and that answers to the Grenfell Tower Inquiry are obtained. ATIC, a lobby group for tenant control, with support of NFTMO and co-op housing groups, organised a meeting where Lord Falconer, the housing minister, was persuaded by Gordon Perry, the then CEO of KCTMO, to agree a special exception for KCTMO to remain tenant-controlled while gaining ALMO status and the associated capital investment. WebAt our core, GK Real Estate is an entrepreneurial, opportunity-driven organization. endobj > View this hearing. This enables effective governance by identifying and addressing governance risk and providing a construct for evaluating how managements responsibilities fit with full oversight responsibilities. The justification for the doctrine of effectiveness is that member states cannot protect Convention rights simply by inactivity but under certain circumstances are required to undertake positive actions to protect rights, even if this requires expenditure. The husband and wife, who did not wish to be named, said they had been in their flat when fire broke out last October. Is not the answer for the community to take complete control themselves either through a self-financing TMO (a proper one) in the mould of Leathermarket JMB in Southwark, or a community controlled housing association such as WATMOS (Walsall/Lambeth)? >> /Parent 2 0 R The Grenfell Tower fire has become an iconic symbol of the catastrophic events that can occur if there is a failure of corporate governance. Such failures were not a new phenomenon but part of a pattern of governance failure in similar organisational structures. The correct lesson is that user control of governance does not in itself secure user empowerment. 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. 3 0 obj Giving evidence at the inquiry into the disaster, Mr Daffarn said he had "spent a long, long time thinking how to describe this organisation" but he "wouldn't change a single word of it. The doors were finally opened when the meeting was under way, although those bereaved by the disaster and residents were not allowed in. /F3 18 0 R WebThe Kensington and Chelsea borough-wide TMO, formed in the 1990s, is known by tenants locally around Grenfell Tower as a fake TMO. Date: 6 June 2018. ROYAL BOROUGH OF KENSINGTON AND All rights reserved. Kensington and Chelsea decided to keep the name Kensington and Chelsea TMO, in the hope that tenants would identify with it. Tenant Management Organisations such as KCTMO are founded when residents create a corporate body, which appoints a management committee to run the body, funded by management fees paid by the Council under the agreement. /F7 9 0 R (There was) nothing addressing the individual parts of it, it was just very generic.. In terms of my technical input, I really do not have that technical background so it would not be for me to make comment on a ventilation system (as) I do not have that expertise.. (HRA 1998, s 6) It also requires domestic courts to interpret legislation so far as possible in a manner that is compliant with the ECHR, and empowers courts to award damages where Convention rights have been violated. /Xi10 34 0 R The 8 tenants in a board with 7 professionals will be easily subdued by those more capable professionals. The choices made at Grenfell suggest that residents were not the core priority of decision makers, for example, in opting for slightly cheaper but less fire-resistant cladding in the refurbishment. Grenfell 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. Your email address will not be published. /F7 9 0 R /Xi5 14 0 R /F8 11 0 R 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. Anne Power here has made a solid case that it was only a TMO in the most superficial, misleading sense. Image obtained from https://www.grenfellunited.org/. WebKENSINGTON AND CHELSEA TENANT MANAGEMENT ORGANISATION Grenfell Review Scoping Meetin~ Wednesday 24u~ February 2016 at 5pm Board Room, 346 Until April 2015, Artelia was also a key project adviser on construction health and safety risk management matters. Is climate change killing Australian wine? Since January 2018, the housing has been directly managed by the council. I have a huge admiration for Anne and her lifelong passion for community control. When it became an ALMO in 2002, the government was at first insisting on its losing its tenant majority on the board. However, examining the multiple failings shows that when key decision-making organisations failed to meet their obligations under the framework, there were few consequences. John Kieran, a resident of Bray House, said his concern was not the cause of the fire in Grenfell or Rydons standards. Mr Chapman and other members of the leaseholders association repeatedly requested copies of fire safety reports from the National Grid and the fire brigade which KCTMO claimed it possessed. Artelia, a French-owned company, fulfilled several roles for KCTMO. Mr Daffarn told a public inquiry his description of the organisation was not "glib, shoot from the hip expressions". More sensible was the arrangement we had in Ladywood, of an elected Ladywood Housing Liaison Board of twelve-or-so tenants (and ONLY tenants), handling just the few hundred properties in our locality. London's high-rise tenants cite concerns in wake of Grenfell Tower fire Residents of other blocks run by Kensington and Chelsea Tenants Management The leaseholders association also repeatedly raised concerns about residents smoking in the stairwell and the fact that the exposed gas pipes were an easy target for vandalism. I got my elderly neighbour out of his flat and we walked all the way down the 189 steps. The leaders of Kensington and Chelsea council have been accused of shameful behaviour after shutting down the first cabinet meeting since the disaster after attempts to block the media from the meeting failed. The borough has a high level of evictions and resulting homelessness from private renting. I was chasing them for three and a half years. /MediaBox [0.0 0.0 595.2 857.28] It was set up to cover the whole borough and simply took on the existing council housing department and stock. In 1996, the state authorities sub-contracted the management of social housing, including the Grenfell Towers, to the Kensington and Chelsea Tenant Management Organisation (KCTMO) The TMO was set up on 1 April 1996,[1] under the UK Government's Housing (Right to Manage) Regulations 1994. I was struggling down through the smoke and was taken to hospital for smoke inhalation afterwards. Documents show contractors were asked to fit aluminium instead of more fire-resistant zinc, saving 300,000. We tried every way we could possibly find to get a voice and be heard, he said. /XObject << /XObject << /F12 15 0 R (KCTMOs responses) made me have the impression that the council would essentially be against the residents because they might think: They keep complaining so we need to prove that we are right,' Mr Chapman told the inquiry on Monday. Edward Daffarn and another resident repeatedly attacked the Kensington and Chelsea Tenant Management Organisation (KCTMO) in a blog. >> Indeed, AVOIDANCE of tenant involvement. In July 2014, KCTMO asked it to provide costings for the three different types of cheaper cladding. /Resources << The minutes, seen by the Guardian, recorded: Rydon have completed the mock-up for the cladding and it was confirmed that the planners are viewing the colours and fixing detail on 17 July The initial feedback on the cladding, following a walk around prior to the meeting, is that the vertical sections need design work., It added in a post-meeting note: The initial feedback from the planners is that they would probably prefer the champagne to brushed aluminium and they were not that keen on the face fix.. In total, over 250 fire fighters supported by 70 fire engines fought for over seven hours to control the blaze and helped 223 residents to evacuate from the worst residential blaze experienced in the UK during peacetime for a century. Where a violation of the substantive positive obligation namely, the state being obliged to institute and maintain an effective system of deterrence against the threat to life in Article 2 is established, compensation for pecuniary and non-pecuniary damage are in principle possible as part of the range of redress available. 1 Giltspur Street London. /Xi2 14 0 R /F6 21 0 R The handback took place on 1 March 2018. [14] At a meeting in January 2016, the residents association presented the findings of a survey which found that 68% of residents had felt harassed or intimidated by the KCTMO or its contractors, and that 90% were dissatisfied with the manner in which improvement works had been carried out. Going forward I get the impression that the community will not want the council to take back control as there is a complete lack of trust but the alternative would appear to be being managed by a Housing Association and Im not sure that would gain much traction in the community either. /Parent 2 0 R Mr Chapman said in an earlier statement residents had been brushed off by KCTMO and the council. /ProcSet [/PDF /Text /ImageB /ImageC /ImageI] /Font << >> The lessons of Grenfell resonate across the entire social housing world. chief executive of KCTMO, Robert Black, stood down on Friday, leaders of Kensington and Chelsea council have been accused of shameful behaviour, An absolute fiasco: angry scenes as council ends Grenfell Tower meeting, leader Nick Paget-Brown also quit on Friday, the Guardian obtained a high court order preventing the council from banning journalists. stream /Type /Catalog The Kensington & Chelsea Tenant Management Organisation (KCTMO) now exists as a residuary body for a single purpose - which is to support and be accountable to the Public inquiry and all other legal proceedings arising from the Grenfell tragedy. This allows decision makers to focus on the relevant and appropriate issues and prioritize their time and resources. The KCTMO tenant involvement failure as I see it was a matter of the numbers. 6 0 obj /Font << 8 0 obj The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. /Xi6 30 0 R >> 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. /F2 17 0 R To replace the windows, they would have had to put up scaffolding, and they didnt want to spend the money., In nearby Hazelwood Tower, also run by KCTMO, Jean Dumas, an architect, works in a ground floor office of Trellik Design Studio. 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. It cut capital spend hence the cheaper, less fire-resistant cladding on Grenfell Tower and the cheaper building contractor, the lack of fire sprinklers, and the meagre on-site supervision. In 2012, Studio E Architects proposed zinc cladding with a mineral-rich fire-retardant polyethylene core, a decision approved by residents, according to planning papers. 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. It stated: We do not see it necessary to instruct or fund an independent adjudicator at this time.. List of Grenfell's /MediaBox [0.0 0.0 595.2 857.28] Without this threat its doubtful KCTMO would ever have been established. Camden council said it was conducting additional fire safety checks to reassure residents in its tower blocks. The TMO was the organisation appointed by the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea to run its entire council housing stock. 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. /F2 17 0 R /Rotate 0 A list of amendments to the 9.2m contract between Kensington and Chelsea Tenant Management Organisation (KCTMO) and Rydon, the builder for the /F3 18 0 R >> They negotiate a management agreement with their council landlord to take on limited, local responsibilities, paid for out of an allowance from their rents. As well as the recent fire in Adair Tower, he said, there had been another one two months ago in nearby Trellick Tower, which is run by the same landlord. This could form an ongoing violation of Article 2 of the ECHR, even in a domestic court of law. Frustrated with remote council landlords who seem not to care, tenants often form a local group that fights for local control over local tasks to make their estate work day-to-day repairs, caretaking, empty property, nuisance, rubbish, environmental and social problems. /Im31 26 0 R /Xi12 39 0 R Tenant Management Organisations are small, tenant-led organisations that take on a number of landlord functions from local councils. He added felt like residents of the tower were being "abused" by the KCTMO. Although Grenfell Tower is owned by the Borough Council of Kensington and Chelsea, the management of the tower block is subcontracted out to the TMO. How to cite this blogpost (Harvard style), Muzamil Khan N and Haynes P (2021) The Role of Corporate Governance Failure in the Grnfell Tower Fire Available at:https://www.law.ox.ac.uk/housing-after-grenfell/blog/2021/08/role-corporate-governance-failure-grenfell-tower-fire (Accessed [date]). OToole also said the stay put policy directing residents to stay in their flats if there is a fire in another part of the building conflicted with the advice on posters on the walls on each floor directing residents to go to the nearest exit. The focus of our article is to examine corporate governance failure itself as a contributing factor in the fire, relying on evidence unearthed in the course of the investigation. << /ProcSet [/PDF /Text /ImageB /ImageC /ImageI] They believe the stay put policy places lives at risk. What is the actual purpose of this TMOs? /F6 21 0 R In 2008 Juliet Rawlings, chair of the TMO's Board from 2003, was awarded an MBE in the Queen's Birthday Honours for her work with the organisation. The chief executive of KCTMO, Robert Black, stood down on Friday to concentrate on assisting with the investigation and inquiry. >> A key complaint raised by Edward Daffarn in the blog related to concerns that contractors were parking in emergency bays at the base of the tower, preventing fire service vehicles from getting access in the event of a blaze. They have no good reason for doing so but so what they can get away with not bothering to answer for their actions, even the judicial review court doesnt give a d that they breach their TIAES obligations without honest excuse. Monday 19 April 2021, 4:47pm. Did this woman die because her genitals were cut? /XObject << /F8 11 0 R He emailed London Fire Brigade (LFB) in March 2014 warning that "if there was a major fire in Grenfell Tower and fire brigade access ever became an issue we would use the evidence recorded on our blog and in extensive email correspondence to ensure that those in charge at the TMO (Tenant Management Organisation) would face extremely serious consequences". /CropBox [0.0 0.0 595.2 857.28] /F10 10 0 R /F5 20 0 R 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. Asked if she would have made any contribution in ensuring these deficiencies were fixed, she said: I am sure there was discussion in the monthly health and safety meetings. Kensington and Chelsea, following budget cuts, was quick to close day care centres, local libraries, and direct services, including the repair budget of KCTMO. /Type /Page Grenfell landlords appeared to have a reactive approach to /F12 15 0 R Article 2 therefore includes a positive substantive obligation on states to take appropriate steps to safeguard the lives of those within their jurisdiction. /F7 9 0 R Like I am a member of an NHS Trust but that gives me (or even a hundred of me) no significant power. (modern). When a catastrophic event occurs, it is generally too simplistic to attribute blame to a prime cause or specific event. KCTMO is a tenant controlled TMO and the great majority of its board are resident members.. /Xi9 36 0 R /Rotate 0 The secret mine that hid the Nazis' stolen treasure. There were a handful of tenants on the board as there are in other ALMOs. It was first published on the Oxford Business Law Blog. Contact. Of course we are worried. Mr Daffarn told a /Annots [] The number of at risk buildings has risen steadily since the government ordered a full review of high-rises around the country, and there is still a 100% failure rate in fire safety tests. endobj Most populous nation: Should India rejoice or panic? It has now lost its role on the estate and may soon be disbanded. /Contents 33 0 R It is nevertheless understood that fires are statistically calculable occurrences and the extent of the fire that followed the initial source and the difficulty in accessing the building and saving lives can be attributed to failures to properly manage the safety of the building. The cause of the 2017 fire was an electrical fault behind a fridge, although the inquiry has not been able to explain it. A key problem in the causation of Grenfell was LACK OF TENANT INVOLVEMENT AND OVERSIGHT. The power lies elsewhere. Following the Grenfell Tower fire in 2017, the council terminated its contract with KCTMO. /CropBox [0.0 0.0 595.2 857.28] Yet neither deemed it necessary to provide adequate health and safety regulations, such as sprinklers, and working fire alarms, which could have saved lives on the night, as stated in the recent Grenfell Tower Inquiry Phase 1 Report. /MediaBox [0.0 0.0 595.2 857.28] WebWelcome to DARA. The lifts are constantly breaking down, said Jose. /ProcSet [/PDF /Text /ImageB /ImageC /ImageI] 7 0 obj An effective governance programme includes effective risk management providing clarity in defining roles, delineating duties, preventing duplicated efforts, identifying potential blind-spots, and assisting these efforts by providing structure to policies and tools. Typically, a chain of events leading to the catastrophe is triggered by a breakdown within a structure that fails to address problems as they occur and mitigate risks as they arise. 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. Often Buy-To-Let landlords owning former council flats now let to homeless families, paid for by the borough through housing benefit, at vast public expense.