Grenfell Tower to be lit up as "visible reminder" of the tragedy
It'll happen as the building is slowly taken down
Grenfell Tower will be lit up at night as a “visible reminder” of the tragedy while it is slowly taken down.
The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) said beams of lighting will be projected upwards from each corner of the tower during night time hours.
The lights will undergo testing on Saturday, December 13, and begin shining the night after. The lights will be switched on no earlier than 5pm and turned off at 11pm every evening. MHCLG said 72 beams will turn green on important dates such as June 14, when the fire occurred, and on December 14 – the six month anniversary – to commemorate the 72 lives lost in the fire.
Not everyone is positive about the idea. Grenfell Next of Kin, an advocacy group for the immediate families of the deceased, feel this is more virtue signalling from MHCLG. The group said: “Eight-and-a-half years on, the MHCLG Grenfell team and Memorial Commission hide behind Instagram virtue-signalling, empty gestures, and PR stunts, while ignoring our voices, demands, and agency. We live every day with the manslaughter of our parents, partners, children, and siblings — our kin. We don’t need a light show or performative gestures funded through the public purse and dished out to crony contracts.”
They added: “The department makes decisions in secret and wastes public money. It’s all ‘bread and circuses’ while our needs and voices are systemically ignored.”
A residents association on the Grenfell estate claims residents were not consulted about the installation. An MHCLG spokesperson: “We understand how important it is that those who tragically lost their lives are remembered and how deeply personal this is to those affected.
“Many bereaved families and survivors have told us it is important that there is a visible reminder of the Tower’s presence on the skyline and to help with this, we have installed lighting that will shine upwards at each corner of the Tower.”
According to the department, residents and the wider Grenfell community were engaged about the lighting. This included sending a letter to all residents, posting leaflets to the 3,000 households nearest the Tower, going door to door to answer questions, placing posters in community spaces, holding regular drop-in sessions, posting on social media via the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea and on a dedicated gov.uk page.
The brightness of the lights can be adjusted, and there will be an opportunity immediately after the first switch-on for residents to provide feedback, as well as in the following weeks. Anyone concerned about the can contact the department by email at [email protected].
Kensington and Chelsea Council has no involvement in the management of the building.
The Government announced earlier this year the remains of Grenfell Tower would be brought down in a likely two-year process. Preparations had been taking place over the summer and work has been ongoing to remove a former plant room, which previously housed heating and a water tank, on top of the tower. After this part, work to remove the tower’s 24th floor – the top storey – began.
The floor-by-floor work is being carried out by Deconstruct UK (DUK), which has been involved in the maintenance of the site since 2017. The Government has pledged that the demolition will be carried out “with great care and sensitivity” and said the plan for careful deconstruction “is designed to minimise noise and disruption” in the area.
What is left of the tower has stood in place in the eight years since the disaster, with a covering on the building featuring a large green heart accompanied by the words “forever in our hearts”. The Government has said a banner will remain on the building, being moved down as work progresses.
Confirmation earlier this year that the tower was to be deconstructed was met with criticism from some of the bereaved and survivors of the deadly blaze who expressed their upset and shock, saying they felt they had not had their views considered before the decision was taken.
Then Deputy Prime Minister and Housing Secretary Angela Rayner later said in an interview that she knew her meeting with those most closely affected was going to be “really difficult” and that there was “not a consensus” among everyone over what should happen to the tower.
It comes as a design team has been chosen to create a memorial to the victims of the Grenfell Tower fire. London and Oxfordshire-based Freehaus describes itself as a firm which works “with empathy”.
It was chosen from a shortlist of five and will work with bereaved and survivor families as well as the local community to produce a final design which is expected to be announced in mid-2027. The Grenfell Tower Memorial Commission has been consulting on plans for a permanent memorial in the area of the tower, with previously reported recommendations including a “sacred space”, designed to be a “peaceful place for remembering and reflecting”.