Exclusive: Most tower blocks not protected by sprinklers, ten years after Lakanal House fire

It was a tragedy which happened eight years before Grenfell, flames which spread quickly through a south London tower block, leaving six people dead.

Now a decade after the Lakanal House blaze, information obtained by the Shadow Housing Minister and shown exclusively to Channel 4 News has revealed 95% of tower blocks still don’t have sprinkler systems, even though the inquest into those who died in Lakanal House heard that sprinklers could have put out the fire, saving lives.

So why haven’t they been fitted in all high-rise buildings so many years later?