26/06/2017 London News

safe from fire. But to a former housing minister. Join me now

There are claims tonight that Rydon, the company responsible

for carrying out refurbishments to Grenfell Tower, ignored

fire safety warnings during the refurbishment of another

Hundreds of residents were evacuated from their homes

on the Chalcots Estate on Friday, after London Fire Brigade said

they couldn't guarantee the safety of those living there.

But this programme has heard from a contractor who claims

he warned Rydon about his fears over one of the blocks -

But he says those concerns fell on deaf ears.

Tonight hundreds of residents are still out of their homes,

They were evacuated with little warning on Friday night from four

tower blocks here on the Chalcots Estate.

Now BBC London can reveal how we were the first to highlight

safety concerns to the council and Rydon which led

There are one of two gas risers on this floor landing,

this was one of the risers and my concerns are that

if there is a fire in this communal area and the fire breaches this pipe

which is basically a PVC gas pipe behind this small bit of what feels

like a bit of timber cladding, this resident would not

Meet Sebastien Stevenson of Diligent Developments.

I met him a week ago when we filmed here inside Taplow House.

If there's a fire in that floor it will breach that fire door

We filmed as he listed all his concerns inside the tower block,

A fire door should actually look like this, compositely set up

with a solid core panel door with an inch emission strip,

maybe there's a door closer on the internal side of this door.

And in the fire this strip heats up and seals it.

And in the fire this strip heats up and seals the door and prevents

smoke inhalation into the actual space whereas this glass is just

simple safety glass and would crack under the slightest application

He first saw this building when his company came

in to refurbish the 17th floor after a fire inside

So clearly you can see here the images of the fire

He says he raised these concerns with Rydon, the company

It's five years later, there is no excuse for these safety

violations to still be intrinsic into these buildings.

We raised his concerns on Tuesday of last week with the council.

On Friday, three days later, a dramatic development.

Taplow House and three other towers nearby were evacuated precisely

because of fears over the cladding and the interior fire safeguards.

What is more, Taplow House has had a fire inspection, which it passed,

as recently as the spring of last year so what went wrong

In a statement the company, Rydon, have said they have no record

whatsoever of any concerns or warnings being raised

by Diligent Developments and that the particular areas

of concern, whether that is the fire alarms or gas risers,

the responsibility for them lies instead with Camden Council.

The statement goes on to say that Rydon prides itself on the quality

of all works that they carry out, they have been working with local

authorities for more than 40 years, and that safety is integral

As for Camden Council, they said tonight they have

been on the front foot, as they put it, to ensure

their tower blocks meet the required safety standards,

and they will be asking serious questions about the management

Well, we know that Camden is a very specific case,

But let's get the wider picture in London.

Jim Wheble is here with more details.

Across the capital eight London boroughs sent cladding away for

testing and it came back with failures. Hackney is the latest to

be added to that list. A block on the Woodbury downed estate, part of

Genesis Housing Association. The others include Camden, Hounslow,

Islington, Brent, Barnett, Lambeth and Wandsworth. And should resident

in these Boers be worried they could be evacuated? -- in these boroughs.

It seems like the concerns on the Chalcots estate have not been

replicated elsewhere. Almost all that failed the cladding test have

subsequently had the London Fire Brigade reassess their safety

procedures and apart from a few alterations, notably 24-hour

patrols, they have said that while the cladding is removed resident art

says -- are safe. I spoke to Genesis Housing Association earlier, one of

their blocs failed the test today, and they said that only a small

amount of cladding covers their building and that they have

reassessed their fire safety assessment and reassured residents

that they are safe while the cladding is removed. Many thanks for

now. 14 police officers have been injured

and five people arrested during a protest over the death

of a young father in east London. Edson Frederico Da Costa died a week

after being stopped in a car His family said they'd arranged

a peaceful march last night, but others threw bricks and lit

fires, as our Home Affairs This was the stand-off outside

Forest Gate police station. Demonstrators said the Met had

questions to answer. A local man had died

after being stopped by officers. How did you start fighting for his

life? That's what we need to know

from the police, simple. 25-year-old Edson Frederico Da Costa

died last Wednesday. The police watchdog said it believed

the Met used CS gas and force. Campaigners claimed he received

significant injuries and anger spilled into disorder

at this latest protest. You imagine in a war zone

or something, you don't imagine The trouble last night happened

on Ahmed's doorstep. Bins burning in the street

where many families were celebrating I haven't see nothing

like this in 50 years. Luckily they did not smash

the cars and didn't throw So what is the background

to the story? On Thursday, June 15th, Met Police

officers stopped a car in Newham. Mr Da Costa becomes unwell,

according to the police He is taken to hospital

in a critical condition. The following Wednesday,

he dies in hospital. The next day, as campaigners claim

he has been brutally beaten, the IPCC says a postmortem

examination found he had no broken neck, no spinal injuries,

or bleeding to the brain. Despite the flames and the obvious

fury, the protest at this police station last night was contained

and did not spread particularly far. The level of anger over the death

of a young black man after contact with the Metropolitan Police has

worrying echoes of another The shooting of Mark Duggan by armed

police started the 2011 riots. This summer, feelings

are also running high. The authorities will want

to try and ease tensions A minute's has been held to remember

those affected by the terrorist One man died and 11

others were injured. A 47-year-old has been charged

with terrorism-related The floral tribute in Finsbury Park,

a reminder of events just a week ago, the fourth terrorist attack

in just three months. The nation invited to pause

and remember those impacted And then, gathered outside

Islington town Hall, civic leaders, the local Mayor,

and members of staff, many working and living locally,

all gathered to show solidarity with the Muslim community in this

multiethnic part of north London. A gesture greatly appreciated by

the chair of Finsbury Park mosque. We know that we are here

in Islington a diverse community, Those people who try

to divide us, they failed. We have proved it

in the last few days. This is why I am really glad that

Islington and the country have come together to make sure

that these people are failing. With the end of Ramadan

at the weekend, there is normally a sense of joyous celebration

amongst Muslims, but following the attack last Monday,

joy has been replaced I'll say goodnight and

leave you with Wendy Quite so, this week ahead will be

cooler from tomorrow onwards and there will be quite cloudy

conditions with spells of rain. This is the grand picture, it is a mess

of low pressure systems, isobars and France and the rain coming with it

which gives you an idea of how unsettled it will be -- and fronts.

At the moment we have some cloud come in with some isolated tiny

showers and there might be a few more through the night. It is fairly

warm with temperatures of 15 degrees and we start with a fair amount of

cloud and I can't guarantee you won't see some rain first thing but

it will become more prevalent as the day goes on. If we get any dry and

bright spot in between it looks likely temperatures might get a bit

higher than the 21 degrees you concede that in the afternoon and

evening and overnight to Wednesday there will be more heavy rain and

that will have a knock-on effect to the temperature, from 35 degrees

last week to 19 degrees this Wednesday will stop we do have

unsettled conditions through the week with further spells of rain.

The weekend will week with further spells of rain.

The weekend will be called with breezy conditions and