The Memorial Commission received strong applications from 28 multi-disciplinary design teams, featuring architects, landscape architects, community engagement specialists and other disciplines. A robust evaluation and moderation process was undertaken of those applicants to reach a shortlist that should have the right skills, capability and awareness of the Grenfell tragedy. Significant due diligence checks were also carried out to make sure that any team, organisation or individual potentially working on the memorial does not bear any potential responsibility for the tragedy.
The Memorial Commission has announced today that the five shortlisted design teams are (in alphabetical order):
- Curl La Tourelle + Head Architecture
- Freehaus
- George King Architects x Grow to Know
- New South
- Office Sian
This is a hugely significant step in the Memorial Commission’s journey to create a bold, fitting, and lasting memorial to remember the 72 victims who lost their lives in, and those whose lives were forever changed by, the devastating Grenfell Tower fire.
Over the next six months, the shortlisted teams will be asked to demonstrate their relevant, professional and specialist expertise including architecture, landscape architecture, and structural and mechanical engineering. Teams must also present their strong experience of working collaboratively with communities.
With direct input from the Grenfell community, the final team is expected to be selected and announced in summer 2025. It is anticipated that the memorial design should be sufficiently developed, in partnership with the community, to allow for a planning application in late 2026.
The Memorial Commission launched its international design team selection process in July 2024 and called on the design industry to put forward its best, most innovative and thoughtful teams. This followed the Commission’s publication, in November 2023, of its second report, detailing the Grenfell community’s wishes for a permanent memorial. The report also called on the government to honour its earlier commitments and to fulfil its moral duty to deliver all sixteen of the Commission’s recommendations.
The Memorial Commission has written out to the bereaved families, survivors and the immediate community living close to Grenfell Tower, to communicate the design team shortlist to them. There will also be opportunities for those groups to meet and share their views on the shortlisted teams in the coming months.
