Grenfell fire

Compartmentation is a way to keep a fire contained in one place, preventing fire and smoke from spreading quickly and taking over the building. By creating these fire-resistant compartments, fire can be suppressed for around 30 minutes (time can vary depending on the building structure).

There are different elements to creating a fire safe compartment and there are many things that can reduce the effectiveness.

Dr. Barbara Lane's recent report raised numerous questions about the overall management of the smoke control installation at Grenfell.

Smoke Control Systems, as with other active fire safety installations, are rarely designed for whole building fires like Grenfell where fire spreads uncontrollably throughout the complete structure.

One year on from the tragic Grenfell fire, and many survivors are still waiting for a new home – but new analysis from Shelter reveals the situation is similarly stark right across the country. 

Over one million households in need of a social home are stuck on long waiting lists, often for years on end. Yet the number of social homes becoming available is extremely low. leading to a huge gap.

Shelter’s analysis shows there are 1.15m households on waiting lists, but only 290,000 social homes were made available last year – a difference of more than 800,000 homes.