David Talbot, an Octavia Housing resident who lived with his wife Jacqueline in a block connected to the one that caught fire, added that flammable cladding on the flats looked “like a matchbox waiting to go up”.
Barry Gardiner has stated his belief that Octavia had “chosen to engage in a protracted dispute” with Vistry, the developer of the block, rather than remove the cladding itself, despite being aware for years that “Grenfell-style” combustible cladding was on the building.
The Labour MP also accused the London landlord of “sitting on their hands” after he repeatedly raised concerns about the building’s safety defects months before a fire engulfed the block in flames.
Read the full article in Inside Housing here.