{"id":760999,"date":"2024-10-21T07:49:32","date_gmt":"2024-10-21T06:49:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.architectsjournal.co.uk\/?p=760999"},"modified":"2024-10-21T11:11:05","modified_gmt":"2024-10-21T10:11:05","slug":"government-minister-departs-role-over-grenfell-firm-links","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.architectsjournal.co.uk\/news\/government-minister-departs-role-over-grenfell-firm-links","title":{"rendered":"Government minister departs role over Grenfell firm links"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ali, a minister in the Department for Housing, Communities and Local Government, acknowledged that \u2018perception matters\u2019 in a statement announcing her departure from the brief. Her exit followed complaints about her attendance at an event co-chaired by the boss of Saint-Gobain, former parent company of Celotex, which supplied cladding for Grenfell Tower.<\/p>\n

Alis said: \u2018Trusted relationships between ministers and the Grenfell community are essential for this department \u2026 I understand that perception matters and I have therefore concluded that the building safety portfolio would be best transferred to another minister.\u2019<\/p>\n

The Sunday Times<\/em> was the first to report that Ali, the Labour MP for Bethnal Green and Stepney, was stepping down from her responsibilities for post-Grenfell building safety in the wake of criticisms from victims and the families of survivors of the 72 people killed in 2017.<\/p>\n

Grenfell United, a group representing survivors victims of the fire, had called for Ali to step down from her housing department brief over her attendance at an event, the Franco-British Colloque, which was chaired by Saint-Gobain chief executive and chair Pierre-Andr\u00e9 de Chalendar<\/span>.<\/p>\n

According to the Sunday Times<\/em>, the policy event for business leaders and politicians was co-chaired by de Chalendar between 2012 and 2024. <\/span><\/p>\n

Ali said that she had called on the business-funded Franco-British Colloque to cut ties with Saint-Gobain. The firm has now ended its relationship with the event.<\/span><\/p>\n

Saint-Gobain no longer owns a majority stake in Celotex following its sale to insulation company Soprema this year, though it retains a 25 per cent share in the firm.<\/span><\/p>\n

Celotex was one of the manufacturers of insulation material installed on Grenfell Tower during the fatal refurbishment<\/a> led by Studio-E in 2016.<\/p>\n

In her statement, Ali added: \u2018Our goals of making buildings safe and preventing another tragedy continue to be very important issues for me, and the deputy prime minister and the rest of the ministerial team have my full support in delivering on this work.\u2019<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Ali, a minister in the Department for Housing, Communities and Local Government, acknowledged that \u2018perception matters\u2019 in a statement announcing her departure from the brief. Her exit followed complaints about her attendance at an event co-chaired by the boss of Saint-Gobain, former parent company of Celotex, which supplied cladding for Grenfell Tower. Alis said: \u2018Trusted …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":131789,"featured_media":761004,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_oasis_is_in_workflow":0,"_oasis_original":0,"ep_exclude_from_search":false},"categories":[681],"tags":[6265,72820,3141,101014],"yoast_head":"\nGovernment minister departs role over Grenfell firm links<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Building safety minister Rushanra Ali has stepped down from overseeing the government\u2019s Grenfell response over complaints about her connections to insulation manufacturer Celotex\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.architectsjournal.co.uk\/news\/government-minister-departs-role-over-grenfell-firm-links\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" 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