A common misconception is that Grenfell Tower was occupied solely by social housing tenants. In reality, the tower was home to a remarkably diverse community.
Grenfell Tower: Building and Community
Built in the 1970s, Grenfell Tower formed part of the Lancaster West housing estate in North Kensington, west London. The tower exemplified a wider urban development trend of the 1960s and 1970s, when local authorities constructed tower blocks across London to replace slum housing with affordable social housing.
By 2017, Grenfell Tower housed a remarkably diverse community. Up to 600 people lived in the building’s 129 flats, representing a rich tapestry of nationalities, ethnicities, and generations. Residents hailed from countries including the UK, Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Egypt, Eritrea, Iran, Lebanon, Morocco, and Syria, among others. The community spanned all age groups and life stages. Young families with children lived alongside elderly residents, some of whom had called Grenfell home for decades.
Professionally, the residents were equally varied, including artists, dressmakers, hairdressers, chefs, and architects. While some had established roots over many years, others had arrived more recently for work or educational opportunities. This blend of long-term residents and newcomers created a dynamic, multicultural community within the tower’s walls.
Read: The 21st Floor
The BBC has created a powerful interactive resource that tells the stories of residents who lived on the upper floors of Grenfell Tower. Read: The 21st Floor →
Reflect
The BBC resource focuses on individual stories rather than statistics. What did you learn about residents’ lives that surprised you or challenged your assumptions about who lived in the tower?
Watch: Grenfell: In the Words of Survivors
The following clip is from Grenfell: In the Words of Survivors, a verbatim play produced by the National Theatre. The piece draws entirely on the testimony of those who lived through the fire.
Reflect
Verbatim theatre uses people’s exact words as its script. How does hearing survivors’ testimony performed in this way differ from reading a news report or watching a documentary? What might this approach offer, or risk, as a teaching resource?
