Residents have described what it has been like “living in the shadow” of Grenfell Tower, five years after the blaze that claimed 72 lives.
Members of the community in North Kensington, west London, spoke of how the fire “seems like it was last night”, with the tower a constant reminder of the trauma they have suffered.
The June 2017 disaster left the 67 metre-tall building dilapidated and charred.
Authorities took four months to cover the block in a protective wrap with green hearts and the message: “Forever in our hearts.”
Five years on, no decision has been made about the future of the building. But the Grenfell Tower Memorial Commission said a garden was “by far” the most popular idea from a survey of survivors, bereaved relatives and local residents.
Eman Yosry, a resident of Markland House tower block near Grenfell Tower, said the flats are “in front of us all the time”.
In an interview ahead of the anniversary on Tuesday, Ms Yosry spoke about losing many people she knew in the fire, saying: “I feel I can’t describe how sad and how difficult and painful it was.”
Growing tearful, she added: “I don’t know what to say.”
Ms Yosry said: “You can’t get away or forget what happened. It’s there, it’s in front of us all the time.
“Everywhere you go – you see Grenfell Tower. You go to anywhere near the area, you see the tower.”
Nahid Ashby, a resident of the Frinstead House tower block on the Silchester estate near the tower, said: “We’re still living in the shadow.”
Ms Ashby described what it was like waiting for months for authorities to cover the burnt-out tower.
She said: “A lot of people were saying from the very beginning: ‘Are you going to cover it so we don’t have to look at it?’
“But by the time they covered it, it felt even worse because, I don’t know, they’re just covering it all up because that fire shouldn’t have happened.”
Mohammad Tehrani, 66, who lives in Bramley House next to the tower, said the disaster was always on his mind.
Mr Tehrani, who was at the foot of the tower on the night five years ago, said he saw body bags being carried out of the building and watched debris falling from it.
Showing a video he took of the debris surrounding Bramley House in the morning, Mr Tehrani said he cleared it up as children walked past on the way to school.
The 66-year-old said the ordeal “seems like it was last night” for the community while authorities try to “brush it under the carpet”.
He said: “I mean for us it hasn’t aged.
“It just seems it was last night so five years (on) and they try to ignore, they try to brush it under the carpet.”
Mr Tehrani said he is now able to talk about the disaster without crying but it is still “inside me”.
He also said he still gets flashbacks at night, seeing people “behind the windows begging for their lives”.
“This is something that we’ve seen that we will never forget – no matter what you do, it’s in your mind.
“For four years I used to cry every time you asked me a question, I couldn’t control myself.
“I’m trying my best but it’s inside me still. You can’t help it.”
Mr Tehrani said the way the disaster has cast a long shadow on the lives of children in the community is “so bad”.
He added: “I feel so sorry for my grandchildren, I feel so sorry when I see the young people, because I don’t think they will have a good future because of the things happening.
“They don’t speak but it’s at the back of their mind – if I’m 66 years old and I cannot forget that night, just imagine.
“I mean even my granddaughter lost some friends in her school.
“They don’t say anything but obviously it’s internally affected them – all of them.
“Some of the children, I’ve heard from our community, they don’t even go to the gas fire, they don’t like to see their mother cooking on the gas fire.
“You see it’s so bad.”
Elizabeth Campbell, leader of Kensington and Chelsea Council, said: “On the fifth anniversary of the Grenfell tragedy, and always, our first and last thoughts are with those who lost their lives, their families and their friends.
“The bereaved and survivors continue to show incredible strength, courage, and solidarity, as they search for truth and justice.
“They have set us the challenge of being the best council – something I intend to strive towards."
A representative of the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities said: “The Grenfell Tower tragedy must never be allowed to happen again and our thoughts are with the bereaved families, survivors and residents.”
TO A LAND UNKNOWN
Director: Mahdi Fleifel
Starring: Mahmoud Bakri, Aram Sabbah, Mohammad Alsurafa
Rating: 4.5/5
FULL%20FIGHT%20CARD
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The President's Cake
Director: Hasan Hadi
Starring: Baneen Ahmad Nayyef, Waheed Thabet Khreibat, Sajad Mohamad Qasem
Rating: 4/5
Paatal Lok season two
Directors: Avinash Arun, Prosit Roy
Stars: Jaideep Ahlawat, Ishwak Singh, Lc Sekhose, Merenla Imsong
Rating: 4.5/5
DIVINE%20INTERVENTOIN
%3Cp%3EStarring%3A%20Elia%20Suleiman%2C%20Manal%20Khader%2C%20Amer%20Daher%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3EDirector%3A%20Elia%20Suleiman%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3ERating%3A%204.5%2F5%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
Specs%3A%202024%20McLaren%20Artura%20Spider
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The specs: 2018 Nissan 370Z Nismo
The specs: 2018 Nissan 370Z Nismo
Price, base / as tested: Dh182,178
Engine: 3.7-litre V6
Power: 350hp @ 7,400rpm
Torque: 374Nm @ 5,200rpm
Transmission: Seven-speed automatic
Fuel consumption, combined: 10.5L / 100km
COMPANY%20PROFILE
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MATCH INFO
Syria v Australia
2018 World Cup qualifying: Asia fourth round play-off first leg
Venue: Hang Jebat Stadium, Malayisa
Kick-off: Thursday, 4.30pm (UAE)
Watch: beIN Sports HD
* Second leg in Australia on October 10
Getting there
Flydubai flies direct from Dubai to Tbilisi from Dh1,025 return including taxes
PROFILE OF HALAN
Started: November 2017
Founders: Mounir Nakhla, Ahmed Mohsen and Mohamed Aboulnaga
Based: Cairo, Egypt
Sector: transport and logistics
Size: 150 employees
Investment: approximately $8 million
Investors include: Singapore’s Battery Road Digital Holdings, Egypt’s Algebra Ventures, Uber co-founder and former CTO Oscar Salazar
TERMINAL HIGH ALTITUDE AREA DEFENCE (THAAD)
What is THAAD?
It is considered to be the US's most superior missile defence system.
Production:
It was created in 2008.
Speed:
THAAD missiles can travel at over Mach 8, so fast that it is hypersonic.
Abilities:
THAAD is designed to take out ballistic missiles as they are on their downward trajectory towards their target, otherwise known as the "terminal phase".
Purpose:
To protect high-value strategic sites, such as airfields or population centres.
Range:
THAAD can target projectiles inside and outside the Earth's atmosphere, at an altitude of 150 kilometres above the Earth's surface.
Creators:
Lockheed Martin was originally granted the contract to develop the system in 1992. Defence company Raytheon sub-contracts to develop other major parts of the system, such as ground-based radar.
UAE and THAAD:
In 2011, the UAE became the first country outside of the US to buy two THAAD missile defence systems. It then stationed them in 2016, becoming the first Gulf country to do so.
Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
What is graphene?
Graphene is a single layer of carbon atoms arranged like honeycomb.
It was discovered in 2004, when Russian-born Manchester scientists Andrei Geim and Kostya Novoselov were "playing about" with sticky tape and graphite - the material used as "lead" in pencils.
Placing the tape on the graphite and peeling it, they managed to rip off thin flakes of carbon. In the beginning they got flakes consisting of many layers of graphene. But as they repeated the process many times, the flakes got thinner.
By separating the graphite fragments repeatedly, they managed to create flakes that were just one atom thick. Their experiment had led to graphene being isolated for the very first time.
At the time, many believed it was impossible for such thin crystalline materials to be stable. But examined under a microscope, the material remained stable, and when tested was found to have incredible properties.
It is many times times stronger than steel, yet incredibly lightweight and flexible. It is electrically and thermally conductive but also transparent. The world's first 2D material, it is one million times thinner than the diameter of a single human hair.
But the 'sticky tape' method would not work on an industrial scale. Since then, scientists have been working on manufacturing graphene, to make use of its incredible properties.
In 2010, Geim and Novoselov were awarded the Nobel Prize for Physics. Their discovery meant physicists could study a new class of two-dimensional materials with unique properties.
