Seminar series: Grenfell Tower Inquiry
09 October 2020–23 October 2020, 11:00 am–2:00 pm

This series of seminars, hosted by The Bartlett, seeks to accompany the Grenfell Inquiry by discussing the key aspects that led to the disaster in an academic setting.
Event Information
Open to
- All
Organiser
-
The Bartlett School of Construction and Project Management
About the seminars
This series of seminars, hosted by the Bartlett School of Construction and Project Management in association with the School of History, Philosophy and Social Sciences, Bangor University, seeks to accompany the inquiry by discussing the key financial, economic, management and social phenomena in urban housing that led to the disaster in an academic setting.
The seminars will examine the key aspects of the climate and context in which the disaster occurred to try to extrapolate the wider implications and lessons for how urban housing is funded, managed, and supports the social and working lives of urban inhabitants.
The format
Each seminar will consist of 3 chaired panels of papers, author presented to an audience, with comments and general discussion.
The seminars will be held virtually on Friday 9, Friday 16 and Friday 23, October 2020.
How to register
To register and attend please click the relevant registration link in the programme below where you will be taken to an Eventbrite page to sign up.
Programme
Please explore the programme below to find out which seminar(s) you would like to register to attend.
- Panel 1 | Friday 9 October
Class, race, economic status and housing
Chair: Professor Peter Shapely
Watch a recording of the eventTime Session 11.00 Open and Welcome from Peter Shapely 11.10 Prof Miles Glendinning, Edinburgh, A Curate’s Egg – Post-war Mass Housing in London 11.40 Dr Eva Branscome Bartlett, UCL, Before Grenfell: North Kensington’s slums and suburbs 12.00 Dr. James Greenhalgh, Lincoln, Constructing the Unsuitable Tenant: the development of attitudes towards inhabitants of social housing since the 1920s 12.20 Dr Alun Ephraim, Bangor University, From Path Dependency to Tragedy? Grenfell Tower and the historical background to the marginalisation of social tenants in the United Kingdom, 1956-2017 12.40 BREAK for Lunch 13.10 Sharda Rozena (PG) Leicester, Gentrification and the significance of racial and class inequalities in Kensington on the Grenfell Tower Tragedy 13.30 Dr Sam Wetherell, York, A History of high-density council housing and race in Britain 13.50 Discussion and questions chaired by Prof Shapely 14.30 Closing remarks: Adrian Williamson Q.C - Panel 2 | Friday 16 October
Building regulation and deregulation
Panel chairs: Dr. Judy Stephenson, The Bartlett School of Construction and Project Management, and Sam Stein Q.C.
Register to attendTime Session 11.00 Open and welcome from Dr Stephenson 11.10 Holly Smith, University of Cambridge, The Ronan Point disaster: 50 years of negligence in high-rise council housing policy 11.30 Shane Ewen (Reader), Leeds Beckett University, Before Grenfell: A slow disaster four decades in the making
11.50 Professor Stefan Muthesius - UEA 12.10 BREAK FOR LUNCH 12.40 Comment from Peter Apps – Inside Housing 13.00 Carl Makin, Deconstructing the ‘risk-based’ regulation of social housing 13.20 Dr Judy Stephenson, Bartlett UCL, Managing building contracting in the long run 13.30 Dr Nader Naderpajouh, Dr Rita Zhang, and Prof Jan Hayes, RMIT, Regulation and Deregulation: Case of the Building Industry in Australia 14.00 Comment from Matt Wrack of the FBU 14.20 Comment from Brian Richardson 14.40 Discussion and Questions 14.55 Closing remarks: Sam Stein Q.C. - Panel 3 | Friday 23 October
The fundamental problem of co-ordination and procuring building services and contracts
Panel chairs: Dr Vanessa Davies; Michael Bowsher, QC
Register to attendTime Session 11:00 Open and welcome from Dr Davies 11.10 Introduction: Mr Bowsher 11.20: Prof. Albert Sanchez-Graells, University of Bristol Law School, Atomised contractualised governance, disincentives and complex public procurement 11.50 Dr. Richard Craven, University of Sheffield, The Grenfell Tower disaster as a case study of decision-making in local government procurement 12.20 BREAK FOR LUNCH 12.50 Dr. Jas Kalra, UCL, Prof. Michael Lewis, University of Bath, Dr. Mehrnoush Sarafan, University of Bath and University of Cambridge, and Dr. Rehema Msulwa, University of Bath, Characterising (and closing?) the accountability-capability gap in complex public procurement 13.20 Discussant: Mr. Duncan Brock, FCIPS, Chartered Institute of Purchasing and Supply 13.30 Discussant: Roberto Caranta, Professor of Administrative Law at the University of Turin 13.40 Discussion chaired by Mr Bowsher 14:00 Closing remarks: Dr Davies
Organisers
Adrian Williamson QC
Sam Stein QC
Dr. Judy Stephenson
Dr. Vanessa Davies
Professor Peter Shapely
Photo credit: Grenfell Tower 2018 by ChiralJon is licensed under CC BY 2.0