Roger Scruton, chair of the UK government's Building Better Building Beautiful Commission, says that bad design was behind the Grenfell Tower fire that killed 72 people.
Taking part in a debate about Beauty at Central Saint Martins on 24 January, the philosopher suggested that the recladding of Grenfell Tower, which contributed to the spread of the fire, would not have been needed if the building was better looking to begin with.
"If it hadn't been so ugly to begin with, the whole problem would never have happened," said Scruton, as reported in the Evening Standard.
Cladding "ugly" concrete caused fire says Scruton
Grenfell Tower had originally been designed to contain fires in individual flats, but had cladding and insulation added in a £9.2 million refurbishment, which is suspected of helping the flames spread to all four sides of the building. The Grenfell Tower fire wouldn't have happened if the building wasn't ugly to begin with, said Scruton
Since the disaster, council planners revealed the cladding was added to make the social housing block more appealing to the area's other residents.
A report prepared by fire-safety experts as part of an inquiry into the tragedy said that the fire would not have spread if the tower had remained unaltered.
"I'm here to make it look like something is being done"
Scruton was appointed chair of the government's Building Better Building Beautiful Commission at the end of 2018. The commission's role is to...