Grenfell Tower was tonight illuminated bright green as tributes get underway by a grieving community to mark one year since the Grenfell Tower disaster.
Hundreds are gathering on the streets of the Lancaster Estate in Kensington, London, to commemorate the lives of the 72 people who died in the devastating blaze last June.
Tonight a Tube driver caused crowds to erupt in cheers when he stopped his train on the tracks on a bridge and emotionally waved a green flag in tribute.
Thirteen towers, including Grenfell, are glowing green in a show of solidarity across the west London skyline, while Downing Street is also to be illuminated.
Including Grenfell itself, a total of thirteen towers through London will glow green to mark the one-year anniversary since the disaster
Grenfell Tower was tonight illuminated bright green in tribute to the 72 residents of Grenfell Tower who lost their lives in the blaze one year ago tonight
Grenfell Tower is seen covered and illuminated with green light one year after the tower fire in London. A further 12 blocks will also glow green tonight as part of the commemorations
A man looks on at Grenfell Tower, which has now been covered and illuminated in green light as a tribute to the 72 residents who lost their lives a year ago tonight
A house close to Grenfell Tower is lit up in bright green light tonight as a community comes together to mark the one-year anniversary of the tragedy
Grenfell Tower is now clad in a white covering and with a huge banner draped around the upper floors, reading: ‘GRENFELL FOREVER IN OUR HEARTS’
A woman poses with her freshly printed ‘Justice For Grenfell’ t-shirt
One year on: Grenfell Tower went up in flames in the early hours of June 14, 2017
Mourners have been looking up at Grenfell Tower with tears in their eyes tonight as the coveted block has been illuminated green to commemorate one year since the disaster.
Standing in a cordoned area at the base of Kensington Leisure Centre, around fifty people – a mix of local residents and well-wishers – came to pay their respects.
A mother who wished to remained unnamed told MailOnline with tears in her eyes: ‘This shouldn’t have been able to happen. We shouldn’t be here looking at this tonight.’
She told how on the night of the tragedy she had waved goodbye to a friend at midnight before returning to her Notting Hill home just a stones throw away. She woke up the next morning to learn the devastating news.
Twelve months on she said this evening she felt ‘compelled’ to return to the site.
Nineteen-year-old student Morgan Tanawa-Bamba said he felt he had to visit too. ‘I live just up the road. It feels very surreal seeing it lit up knowing at some point it’s going to get raised to the ground.
The Kensington teenager added: ‘Tonight is bittersweet. You’re never going to forget the people who died there and tonight with it covered up you can almost imagine they are still alive inside there and are safe.’
Speaking about the council’s role in the disaster, he said: ‘It’s all about money. It couldn’t get any worse than what happened. People predicted what would happen but the council didn’t listen. It’s just an utter, utter tragedy.’
The memorials come just days after Metropolitan Police announced it would be investigating London Fire Brigade over their ‘stay put’ policy during the disaster.
The official advice given to the tower’s residents for the most part of the fire was to stay inside their flats.
A public inquiry into the tragedy has been pause this week as tributes take place.
The probe also heard heart-breaking tributes from those who lost loved ones in the devastating inferno last year.
Chairman Sir Martin Moore-Bick was visibly moved during hearings, which have now moved on to a fact-finding stage.
Speaking in the Commons yesterday, Prime Minister Theresa May said the ‘unimaginable tragedy remains at the forefront of our minds’.
She added: ‘We are doing everything that we can to see that the survivors of Grenfell get the homes and support that they need and the truth and justice that they deserve.’
Standing in the doorway of the carriage, the Transport for London worker held out a green flag with pride – a colour which has been adopted by many charities supporting relief efforts.
The driver smiled in acknowledgement to those standing below who whooped and cheered as he bowed his head before turning back to the vehicle.
The heart-warming moment was captured on television.
Sky News Dan Whitehead described it as a ‘lovely tribute’ and said it ‘speaks volumes of the atmosphere down here tonight’.
The next seven days will be a difficult week for people living in the area as memories remain fresh of the biggest tragedy in British history since the Second World War.
A man gazes up towards the tower which, a year ago tonight, was the scene of Britain’s worst peace-time disaster since the end of World War II
Grenfell Tower is seen shrouded by scaffolding and covers one year after the tower fire
Hoardings in support of the victims of the Grenfell fire cover Grenfell Tower near Ladbroke Grove, west London
People queue to get a screen-printed t-shirt, reading ‘Justice 4 Grenfell’, near the Grenfell Tower
Messages of condolence for the victims of the Grenfell Tower fire are pictured on a fence near to the burned-out shell of Grenfell Tower block in west London on June 13, 2018
Over the next 24 hours, community leaders have organised a number of events to remember the victims of the fire.
Every hour overnight, the Lord’s prayer will be repeated, by clerics from local churches and at 1.30am, the time at which the fire took hold, the names of the 72 victims will be read aloud.
Some 72 white roses will be laid out the along with 72 teddy bears.
The memorial efforts this week come after the news London Fire Brigade will be investigated by the police over their ‘stay put’ policy.
An inquest into the deaths of the blaze’s 72 victims is also underway but has been paused for the next seven days.
The staggering catalogue of errors that cause the Grenfell Tower blaze
Here are the 30 errors which resulted in the Grenfell Tore fire which left 72 people dead.
1 There is no statutory requirement for central alarm systems in tower blocks because it would conflict with the policy of residents ‘staying put’ in flats.
2 No sprinklers.
3 Firefighters should have directed their hoses on or above the fire, but videos show they were being targeted below.
4 A pipe system to get water up the 24-storey block could not cope and was overloaded – leaving the upper floors, where most people died, vulnerable.
5 Water pipe failure meant fire crews had to pump their own water onto the fire.
Firefighters should have directed their hoses on or above the fire, but videos show they were being targeted below
6 The failure of the fire lift system delayed firefighters.
7 Advice for residents to stay put in the event of a fire was futile within half an hour of the blaze breaking out – but still slavishly adhered to for another 80 minutes.
8 Combustible cladding panels and insulation systems were ruled ‘substantially to blame’.
9 Two types of cladding and four different insulation layers did not comply with building regulations.
10 Two cavity barriers did not have the required fire performance certificates.
11 The cladding produced toxic smoke that slowed the firefighters as it forced them to wear breathing apparatus.
12 Designers and builders had no idea how the cladding system would perform in a fire as no tests were carried out.
Two types of cladding and four different insulation layers did not comply with building regulations
13 Neither the London Fire Brigade nor Kensington and Chelsea Tenant Management Organisation, which was responsible for Grenfell, carried out risk assessments of the cladding.
14 Flammable aluminium panels fixed to the tower and on more than 300 other blocks across England were never subjected to a full British Standard fire test.
15 Stairwell was too narrow and soon became impassable thanks to smoke, darkness, firefighters and distressed and dying victims.
16 An architectural feature called a ‘crown’ at the top of the building caught fire and also helped the blaze spread horizontally.
17 Design of tower blocks is supposed to ‘compartmentalise’ fires into individual flats – but this was not effective at Grenfell.
18 Ventilation system for removing smoke from lobbies failed.
19 Fire stops between each floor were not installed correctly, meaning nothing stopped the blaze leaping up the tower.
20 A ‘culture of non-compliance’ appeared to exist in the maintenance of the tower.
21 Most of the fire doors leading to the 120 flats were relatively new but did not comply with building regulations.
Design of tower blocks is supposed to ‘compartmentalise’ fires into individual flats – but this was not effective at Grenfell
22 Some doors failed within 20 minutes even though they should have blocked fire for an hour.
23 Doors were fitted with a variety of different locks, hinges and letter plates that could significantly reduce fire resistance.
24 Forty-eight doors had glazing that failed and allowed flames and smoke to pass directly through.
25 Fourteen of the doors to Grenfell’s flats were of unknown origin.
26 Some doors designed to ‘self-close’ failed to do so, allowing the fire to spread more quickly.
27 Doors were left open by fire hoses and in one case, a body.
28 Defective windows installed in the 2012-16 refurbishment allowed the fire to spread from a single kitchen to the external cladding through gaps in frames.
29 Windows had no fire-resistant cavity barriers encasing them and these openings were surrounded by combustible material.
30 During refurbishment, the windows were fitted in an ‘improvised manner’ that may have made them less safe.