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. /F4 19 0 R /Xi7 31 0 R [11][12], Grenfell Action Group, the block's tenant organisation, had repeatedly warned of major fire safety lapses since 2013. This enables effective governance by identifying and addressing governance risk and providing a construct for evaluating how managements responsibilities fit with full oversight responsibilities. I was woken that day by the smell of burning, he said. 6 0 obj Trellick Tower is a listed building and at least they cant put any cladding on it. /Type /Catalog /Resources << They believe the stay put policy places lives at risk. >> << They have also demanded copies of the service history for the buildings dry risers containing the hose connectors for the fire fighters, following unconfirmed reports from residents in Grenfell that some of the dry riser cabinets were jammed. /Parent 2 0 R /Version /1.4 /ProcSet [/PDF /Text /ImageB /ImageC /ImageI] 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. 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. The Grenfell Tower formed one part of the Lancaster West Estate envisioned in the 1960s and completed in the 1970s (MacLeod, 2018, p.467). Andrew Kinnier QC, for the Grenfell Tower Inquiry, said that a document in 2013 viewed the Kensington and Chelsea Tenant Management Organisation (TMO), That was the impression that I had at the time, that it was us against them, even though in my view we needed to work together to get this result.. However, the inquiry has previously found that the first fire engines called to the tower were able to park close to the main entrance and get access to water mains. stream Such justice must encompass potential lawsuits under the Human Rights Act 1998, as well as criminal charges against those entities who manufactured the ACM cladding and were instrumental in the refurbishment of the tower. I have yet to see any rebuttal here. Kensington and Chelsea is a rich area. They only put on fire doors after the fire in Adair Tower last October. Extending limitation periods in the Defective Premises Act 1972: a breach of Article 1 of Protocol No. /F4 19 0 R My point is that KCTMO was a TMO ie all tenants and leaseholders were entitled to join, the board was elected by these members, and the majority of the board comprised tenants and leaseholders. Since the [KCTMO] took over from the council, they have made it worse.. WebAt our core, GK Real Estate is an entrepreneurial, opportunity-driven organization. A plausible explanation for the careless attitude towards establishing effective oversight measures is that under the previous arrangements the Kensington and Chelsea Borough council was directly responsible for managing social housing. /XObject << [The KCTMO] responded they sent up surveyors, but nothing was ever done. An ALMO is a government-approved public structure, wholly owned and controlled by the Council, which separates the Councils landlord services from other Council functions such as schools, libraries, and swimming pools. 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. >> /Xi1 24 0 R I was struggling down through the smoke and was taken to hospital for smoke inhalation afterwards. It stated: We do not see it necessary to instruct or fund an independent adjudicator at this time.. /F12 15 0 R /Font << The board decided that it would be in the best interests of all residents that the services which the TMO provided were handed back to the council while it carries out a consultation about the future management of its housing stock. Disabled Grenfell residents 'had no escape route', Government defeated again on fire safety measures, Grenfell residents with safety fears 'bullied', Grenfell Tower: 9 things we now know about the cladding, Grenfell predicted a decade before, memo shows, Woman stabbed to death in street in Brixton, Ant and Dec among celebrities invited to King Charles Coronation as guestlist revealed, Pubs in Highgate that have called last orders over the years, 2023 House of Commons Sitting By Abdul Mateen Riaz, World record crowd provides fitting end to historic Women's Six Nations, London May Day and NHS protests pictures 2023: Guys and St Thomas, Trafalgar Square and Clerkenwell, More than 100 police hurt in French May Day protests, Fighter jets are roaring over my home in Sudan, Explosion derails train in Russian border region. /CropBox [0.0 0.0 595.2 857.28] The cause of the 2017 fire was an electrical fault behind a fridge, although the inquiry has not been able to explain it. 7 0 obj /F6 21 0 R << Edward Daffarn and another resident repeatedly attacked the Kensington and Chelsea Tenant Management Organisation (KCTMO) in a blog. /Rotate 0 doesnt it just make it harder to find out who is responsible? Of course we are worried. Monday 19 April 2021, 4:47pm. /F5 20 0 R /Kids [3 0 R 4 0 R 5 0 R 6 0 R 7 0 R] Anne Power is Professor of Social Policy and Head of LSE Housing and Communities. When the Grenfell fire disaster happened, very few people had heard of Tenant Management Organisations (TMOs). Considered one of the worst man-made disasters in post-World War II Britain, the Grenfell Tower fire of June 14th, 2017 is a breach of the right to life, an assault on human dignity and a manifestation of stark inequality in the UK. Original reporting and incisive analysis, direct from the Guardian every morning, 2023 Guardian News & Media Limited or its affiliated companies. He opened his front door last October to find the stairwell full of thick smoke. /Im31 26 0 R A good article but it misses out that the Lancaster West Estate had their own TMO (an EMB) from 1993 until the larger organisation (KCTMO) closed them down in 2013. Other admissions included that the number of RBKC officers devoted to monitoring Kensington and Chelsea Tenant Management Organisation (KCTMO), which managed Grenfell on behalf of the council, was insufficient and that the council was wrong to oppose the introduction of a fire door inspection programme. /F12 15 0 R The aluminium cladding is suspected of having helped spread the fire that claimed at least 80 lives. 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. The aluminium panels received a worse rating in terms of the amount of smoke they would emit. What is the actual purpose of this TMOs? We recognise our responsibility to ensure that the investigative process is not hampered or undermined in any way.. He was a bitter critic of the organisation in the years before the refurbishment of the building and during the work. 72 people lost their lives, 70 were injured, and 223 people escaped the building. Grenfell was, at least in part, a consequence of the lack of local control; tenants of Grenfell Tower had warned months before of the risk of fire or other disasters because of the neglect of safety by the ALMO (KCTMO). /F8 11 0 R /F11 12 0 R /ProcSet [/PDF /Text /ImageB /ImageC /ImageI] How is someone on the top floor to know there is a fire on the bottom if there is no fire alarm?. [The KCTMO] doesnt spend enough on safety. Residents of other tower blocks in London have expressed concerns over cladding, smoke alarms and safety advice. Both products were certified according to the European fire resistance standard. However, examining the multiple failings shows that when key decision-making organisations failed to meet their obligations under the framework, there were few consequences. Ultimately, in the case of Grenfell Tower, the overriding objective of the (corporate bodys) governance framework should have been to keep residents safe. /F12 15 0 R The housing department staff were transferred over into the new organisation on existing terms and conditions, and the so-called KCTMO took over all council housing management functions, making it an Arms Length Management Organisation of the Council an ALMO. Central to this is the doctrine of effectiveness, which requires courts to give the fullest weight and effect to the underlying purpose of protecting human rights. Mr Collins was one of a number of people who joined a residents group called Grenfell Community Unite, but staff at KCTMO refused to meet them. The lifts are constantly breaking down, said Jose. Explore in 3D: The dazzling crown that makes a king. They must have complied with the law, he said. 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 lessons of Grenfell resonate across the entire social housing world. I have a huge admiration for Anne and her lifelong passion for community control. % Mr Daffarn told a public inquiry his description of the organisation was not "glib, shoot from the hip expressions". /F1 16 0 R The Human Rights Act 1998 requires public authorities to act in a manner that is compatible with the Convention rights set out in section 1. Families who live in nearby Adair Tower in north Kensington, also operated by Kensington and Chelsea Tenants Management Organisation (KCTMO), have instructions to stay in their homes in the event of a fire. /F4 19 0 R Through austerity cuts, since 2015 financial support for tenant training has gone, and there has been little interest in TMOs. Yet overall, TMOs have outperformed their local council landlords on rent arrears, re-letting flats, speed of repair, cost and tenant satisfaction. Kensington & Chelsea Tenant Management Edward Daffarn and another resident repeatedly attacked the Kensington and Chelsea Tenant Management Organisation (KCTMO) in a blog. I stopped paying my rent in protest because my windows were falling off. But Paget-Brown then adjourned the meeting, saying it could not continue with journalists present as this could prejudice the official inquiry, which will be led by Sir Martin Moore-Bick, a retired court of appeal judge. /Annots [] They put in new doors after the fire last October, but you can see daylight around the edge. It did not look fireproof, they said. /F2 17 0 R The power lies elsewhere. 1 Giltspur Street London. >> How to cite this blog post (Harvard style), Nadj, Daniela. [2] Kensington and Chelsea TMO was the largest TMO in the UK[3] and unique in having been the only TMO that managed the entire housing stock for the local council.[4]. He showed new notices stuck up in the hallways after last Octobers fire stating: There is a stay put policy for residents unless the fire is in it affecting your flat.. Grenfell Tower Inquiry Phase 2 Additionally, the knowledge accumulated through the previous arrangements was not retained within the new corporate body: priorities changed, partly through the perception that tenant involvement conferred sufficient legitimacy on decision making, partly as the priorities of the management team changed and partly because of the increased scale of responsibility delegated to a small and inexperienced organisation. Fire notice in Adair Tower, featuring the stay put policy. They fear their lives could also be at risk if the cladding is found to be an issue in the Grenfell inferno, which has killed at least 17 people. KCTMO was set-up as a means of escaping the threat of the (Conservative) governments Compulsory Competitive Tendering (CCT) regime in 1996. List of Grenfell's We tried every way we could possibly find to get a voice and be heard, he said. In the early hours of the morning of 14th June 2017 a fire broke out in one of the fourth-floor flats at a recently renovated tower block at Grenfell Tower, London, a social housing complex of almost 1,000 homes. Fire-resistant zinc cladding approved by residents of Grenfell Tower was replaced in the refurbishment contract with cheaper aluminium panels to save 293,368, according to documents seen by the Guardian. The Oxford Conference: Holding the Government to Account, Faculty of law blogs / UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD. We use cookies on this site to understand how you use our content, and to give you the best browsing experience. /CropBox [0.0 0.0 595.2 857.28] WebWelcome to DARA. Critics of the public-private partnership, or PPP, management hand-off claim that the quasi-privatised TMO arrangement is rife with corruption, including sweetheart deals to /Xi3 27 0 R Kensington and Chelsea decided to keep the name Kensington and Chelsea TMO, in the hope that tenants would identify with it. Concerned residents in the Chalcot Estate in Swiss Cottage asked Camden council on Thursday for a copy of the specifications for the rainfall cladding installed by housing contractor Rydon 11 years ago. Mr Daffarn disputed being disruptive but accepted he had a difficult relationship with the councillor. A fire at the Grenfell Tower block in west London in June 2017 claimed 72 lives. Shirley Phillips, 72, who lives on the second floor in a neighbouring block, said: I am worried, but is worrying going to help? She had read on Facebook that one of the tenants wants everyone to rally around and call for the cladding to be removed. << The handback took place on 1 March 2018. It became an ALMO in 2002 in response to the (Labour) governments funding of Decent Homes and the fact that they wouldnt give the funding to local authorities (or TMOs). The husband and wife, who did not wish to be named, said they had been in their flat when fire broke out last October. WebThe management of Grenfell Tower, including how residents' complaints were handled Central and local government responses to the disaster The response of London Fire Brigade Building regulations and enforcement Remaining expert evidence Remaining evidence from bereaved, survivors and residents Module 1 [ edit] /MediaBox [0.0 0.0 595.2 857.28] They range from around 100 to 1500 rented properties in a single estate or area. Residents of other blocks run by Kensington and Chelsea Tenants Management Organisation raise concerns about the safety of their buildings. Mr Daffarn told a /F3 18 0 R /F7 9 0 R I was chasing them for three and a half years. /Font << /ProcSet [/PDF /Text /ImageB /ImageC /ImageI] The one managing Grenfell Tower, however, was actually an Arms Length Management Organisation wholly owned by the council, writes Anne Power. /Length 3951 The DeKalb Area Rental Association is a nonprofit, educational organization representing rental housing units in DeKalb, Illinois, and its immediate Since January 2018, the housing has been directly managed by the council. /Font << 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. 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. The Faculty of Law, University of Oxford, Lecturer in Law, Oxford Brookes University, The Grenfell Tower Fire as a Breach of the Right to Life. Kensington and Chelsea TMO - Wikipedia (There was) nothing addressing the individual parts of it, it was just very generic.. And (2) that a board of 8 tenants is wholly inadequate for managing or even just supervising such a large number of 10,000 properties. A tolerance was set for fire performance on the project and both products were within that range, the Guardian understands, but the aluminium panels were considered more combustible. The actual management agreement between the borough and effectively the Director of Housing, who became the CEO of the TMO, is still unclear. Rydon did not comment on the Camden flats. >> At Adair Tower in Kensington and Chelsea, Fabio Freemantle, 33, lives on the 13th and highest floor. Giving evidence to the inquiry on Monday, Sacha Jevans, of the Kensington and Chelsea Tenant Management Organisation, said she believed that work would have been done to address the situation by a colleague called Anthony Parkes. 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.. /Parent 2 0 R In sharp contrast to this model, TMOs are locally based, grassroots community groups that want to improve local conditions in their social housing estate or small area. When conceptualised this way, a corporate governance framework can be perceived as a systematic approach to prevent failings by identifying inherent risks and addressing collective actions to mitigate these risks and foresee negative outcomes or potential threats. The council retains the ownership, a significant share of the rent, and overall responsibility for the properties, including allocations policy, capital investment, major repairs, public accounting and performance. And most significantly the Council signed off on a refurbishment contract with the contractor Rydon, which wrapped the tower in highly flammable ACM cladding in a drive to save cost. The ECHR must be interpreted in the light of its object and purpose. 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. This changed in 1995 when Kensington and Chelsea Tenant Management Organisation (KCTMO) was established to manage 10,000 local council properties. /F2 17 0 R It was not a TMO, because the tenants could not take on the complex task of running the whole of the boroughs near 10,000 unit housing stock. 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. Kensington and Chelsea TMO was the largest TMO in the UK [3] and unique in having been the only TMO that managed the entire housing stock for the local council. [4] Following the Grenfell Tower fire in 2017, the council terminated its contract with KCTMO. Since January 2018, the housing has been directly managed by the council. Rock Feilding-Mellen is chairman of Kensington and Chelseas housing committee. I still suffer from PTSD. (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. 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. >> DeKalb Area Rental Association DARA DARA (DeKalb Area (modern). It emerged on Friday that 149 tower blocks in 45 local authority areas have failed tests on the flammability of their cladding. Following the Grenfell Tower fire in 2017, the council terminated its contract with KCTMO. Looking at the blog of the Grenfell Action Group they made enquiries about reviving it in 2015 but it doesnt appear to have gone very far. /F10 10 0 R He has called an emergency meeting next week for residents who have other concerns about fire that need to be addressed. [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. And 8 tenants is far too few to deal sensibly with 10,000 properties. /Contents 37 0 R Artelia, a French-owned company, fulfilled several roles for KCTMO. 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. It has now lost its role on the estate and may soon be disbanded. [18] In late December 2017 KCTMO announced that it would be handing control of all of its housing stock back to the council by 31 January 2018 as an "interim measure".[19]. Kensington and Chelsea TMO has previously received a three-star status from the Audit Commission for its services. Mr Daffarn wrote to project managers and the KCTMO that the planned closure of a car park for work on the tower would make the problem worse. The first step is to put in place a neighbourhood manager on Lancaster West, someone who can pull together the core housing services, now so desperately needed, with residents directly involved, to restore the confidence of a deeply shaken community. In many ways the organisation that now exists is the product of central government policy without which the entire housing stock would have remained under direct council control. /F5 20 0 R /F8 11 0 R However, KCTMO continues to exist as a legal entity so that it can be represented at the Grenfell Tower Inquiry. There were a handful of tenants on the board as there are in other ALMOs. /Contents 8 0 R The resident-led board has an ongoing role in scrutinising the delivery of services under the MMA, as well as ensuring ongoing assistance to the public inquiry and criminal investigation. A Grenfell resident who predicted a "catastrophic event" would happen at the tower has defended his description of its management as a "mini-mafia". 3 0 obj Grenfell residents not listened to /Pages 2 0 R 2 0 obj Lee Chapman said he had repeatedly been refused an independent fire assessment of the building by the Kensington and Chelsea Tenant Management Organisation (KCTMO) in spring 2017. Staff managing social housing for the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea adopted an us vs The fire started in a faulty fridge freezer on the 4th floor of the 24-storey, 120-flat residential block in West London, rapidly spreading throughout most of the building and engulfing the outside cladding within 45 minutes. I do not want to comment on the terrible Grenfell disaster beyond saying that it is hardly fair to blame the TMO structure for a problem endemic in the social housing industry, well known from Lakanal and fully exposed over many years in Inside Housing. /F11 12 0 R London's high-rise tenants cite concerns in wake of Grenfell Kensington and Chelsea, following budget cuts, was quick to close day care centres, local libraries, and direct services, including the repair budget of KCTMO. Grenfell cladding approved by residents was swapped for WebKensington and Chelsea TMO ( KCTMO) was the largest tenant management organisation (TMO) in England, managing nearly 10,000 properties on behalf of /F7 9 0 R On the 14th of every month, the community around Grenfell gathers to remember those whose lives were lost on the night of the fire. /Contents 29 0 R /MediaBox [0.0 0.0 595.2 857.28] On 14 June 2017 a large fire engulfed Grenfell Tower, a 24-floor, 120-flat block managed by KCTMO. /Annots [] Mr Daffarn fought a campaign against the KCTMO which had been set up as an "arm's length" organisation to manage council property on behalf of the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. << Read about our approach to external linking. Of the description in 2013 of the TMO as having a reactive approach to maintenance, Ms Jevans said she thought the organisation understood about planned preventative maintenance and that it was working to pick up this gap. /F1 16 0 R L6 Property Management is a full service, investor-focused property management solution that ensures homeowners the peace of mind that their valuable >> Police said they were considering manslaughter charges in relation to the fire as they revealed that the cladding tiles at the building had failed safety tests. /Rotate 0 /F2 17 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. The chief executive of KCTMO, Robert Black, stood down on Friday to concentrate on assisting with the investigation and inquiry. >> Ms Jevans said she did not recall the suggestion that there appeared to be a lack of detail in relation to the planned preventative programme at the time. In the email to LFB he said: "We believe that the TMO and the council have never acknowledged the possible consequences of this catastrophic power surge and its associated fire risk. /F2 17 0 R 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. 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. The TMO was the organisation appointed by the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea to run its entire council housing stock. A list of amendments to the 9.2m contract between Kensington and Chelsea Tenant Management Organisation (KCTMO) and Rydon, the builder for the refurbishment of the 24-storey tower, reveals that the saving was made after tender by fitting cassette fix aluminium cladding in lieu of zinc cladding. They should have spent some of that money., Jose del Faria, 53, lives on the 11th floor of Adair Tower. These breakdowns relate to a wide variety of governance failure sources, not least due to the tenant management organisations focus on a series of cost reductions rather than more precautionary measures, a lack of engagement or apparent concern with other stakeholder groups, and decision making by the local council likely to be motivated by negative racial and social class stereotypes about tenants.