Grenfell: Uncovered

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K.M.V S Jul 15 Gripping, eye opening and flabbergasted at the injustice. Phenomenal documentary. 100% See more George S Jun 30 Incredibly moving film, capturing the emotion of the hell the victims were trapped in, while also conveying the frustration of the multiple opportunities missed to prevent the disaster. Bold to pack everything into 1 punchy film, rather than milk it into an entire series, like so many other true crime documentaries do. See more C B. @Synchroduv Jun 27 The person who produced this must have ADHD, it’s all over the place. See more Michael G Jun 23 An absolutely heartbreaking documentary to watch. It is absolutely disturbing to sit and watch a documentary that exposes in detail, the greed, manipulation, and the outright systemic failure on so many levels that led to the Grenfell Tower disaster. The worst part is that there were any number of tower and high rise fires across Europe in the previous ten years that pointed openly that a tower fire when coupled with these highly flammable materials was highly probable. A cautionary tale for those enamoured with obvious deregulation that is happening across the federal level of American politics by the Republican party and President Trump. See more Charlene S @whitjake Jun 22 The product obviously should have been prohibited by the government. No other entity has that power. Arconic is in the business of selling product wherever it's legal, which it was in the UK. Arconic, obviously knew what the dangers of its cladding were. It has some responsibility here also. See more Michael M Jun 22 Let’s start with the obvious: there was no centralized fire alarm system in a 24-story residential tower completed in the 1970s. This film doesn’t even mention that. Ever. And even if UK authorities somehow overlooked this omission at the time of construction (and in the 1970s it was standard), any renovation—especially one undertaken 40 years later on government-subsidized housing—would, under U.S. code, absolutely require mandatory upgrades to fire suppression and detection systems. It’s not optional. In the U.S., a retrofit of this scale involving combustible exterior materials would never proceed without a full code compliance review, including the modernization of alarm systems, evacuation protocols, and fire containment features. But in the UK, incredibly, regulators didn’t require a single life safety upgrade during Grenfell’s multimillion-pound refurbishment. This “documentary” points to David Cameron’s government for slashing regulations, but not one specific fire safety regulation was actually removed that would have explicitly prevented this disaster. The problem wasn’t deregulation by decree—it was a deeply rooted, bipartisan culture of regulatory indifference and performative compliance that allowed buildings to be made deadlier under the guise of vain “modernization”. But it gets worse. In a grotesque example of aesthetic vanity overriding engineering judgment, the building was retrofitted with cladding that wasn’t even rated for use above two stories. In the U.S., that would be an immediate violation of NFPA 285 (from 1998), which prohibits non-fire-rated materials on the facades of high-rise structures. That standard exists for one reason: to prevent exactly what happened at Grenfell—flames leaping floor to floor like a blowtorch inside a chimney. Grenfell burned like a lantern because the UK let it be wrapped in kindling. And when the inferno began, the tragedy was compounded by a fire brigade that, per the “documentary”, had received no training on cladding fires. None. Crews on the scene were utterly unequipped to deal with an external façade fire, having operated under the now-infamous “stay put” policy, advising residents to shelter in place long after it was clear that the building’s compartments had failed and the fire had spread vertically and laterally. The result being dozens of people trapped in their homes, some of whom followed instructions to their deaths. The sheer idiocy of this response—failing to adapt evacuation strategy in real time—should haunt the entire firefighting command chain. And yet the focus of blame shifted quickly—not to the contractors, regulators, or housing officials who actually chose and installed the materials—but to the cladding manufacturer, Arconic. Yes, internal emails from Arconic executives appear damning, that they knew it was flammable, yet never states they promoted it for high rises. Here’s the legal and moral test: did Arconic lie about the fire rating of the product or its proper use in tall buildings? If not, they have no liability. Every building product has a fire rating. And in the United States, it was common knowledge—industry-wide—that this specific type of cladding was not to be used on structures over two stories. Am I seriously supposed to believe UK building officials and contractors didn’t know that too? Contractors don’t call Arconic and say, “Is this safe for my tower block?” They call and say, “I need X square meters of Reynobond.” The supplier fulfills the order. It’s the responsibility of architects, engineers, and regulators—not product vendors—to confirm code compliance. If Arconic didn’t falsify documentation, hide fire ratings, or mislead about installation specs, then this witch hunt is a distraction. And let’s not pretend the contractors weren’t aware of the difference. Arconic offered an FR-rated (fire-resistant) version of the cladding, and it is almost certain they attempted to upsell it—as any responsible supplier would. But the client wanted the cheaper product. And someone, somewhere, made the conscious decision to use the cheaper, more combustible panels without upgrading fire suppression on a high-rise residential tower full of low-income families. The documentary conveniently avoids this entire issue, never once addressing whether Arconic concealed fire ratings or whether UK officials ignored information they absolutely should have known. 90% of the films’ “blame footage” falls on a manufacturer who actually may be innocent. Not saying they are but this isn’t a “documentary” as much as it is “click bait”. Less than one star. See more Read all reviews

Grenfell: Uncovered

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