The independent Grenfell Tower Memorial Commission and Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) have announced the five shortlisted teams that are competing for the chance to design the future memorial on the site of Grenfell Tower.
The shortlisted teams will now go through to an extensive second round of evaluation, including meetings with bereaved families, survivors and the immediate community that live close to Grenfell Tower.
The winning design team is to be selected in summer 2025.
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.
Image: Zute Lightfoot, ACAVA Shoots
The Memorial Commission has announced 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 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.
The Grenfell Tower Memorial Commission’s ten community representatives said: “Having a shortlist of teams brings us another step closer to turning the Grenfell community’s memorial vision into a physical reality.
“Through this process, we intend to identify and appoint a specialist and worthy design team. One that has proven experience of working on sensitive and community-focused projects, and who can leave no doubt in our minds about the integrity with which they will approach the vital task of designing a beautiful and fitting future memorial.
“Our 72 loved ones, and our community, deserve nothing less.”
Thelma Stober and Lord Paul Boateng, co-chairs of the Grenfell Tower Memorial Commission, said: “We have given our word, from the outset, that the voices of the entire Grenfell community must take priority in the memorial decision-making process, both now and in the future.
“We hope that bereaved families, survivors and those living close to Grenfell Tower, will feel able to participate in the selection of a design team and, later on, contribute to the co-design of the memorial, in whichever way feels appropriate and meaningful for them. This will ensure that the final design embodies a profound tribute to the 72 lives lost and provides a lasting place for loved ones to pay their respects, mourn, and feel connected to their memories.”
Jane Duncan OBE PPRIBA, RIBA Competitions Architect Adviser, Past-President and Chair of RIBA’s Fire Safety Expert Advisory Group since 2017, said: “It has been a huge honour to work with the Grenfell Tower Memorial Commission and RIBA on the international search for an outstanding multi-disciplinary design team for this memorial.
“The number and quality of the initial entries and the compassion, thoughtfulness and clarity of the entrants’ desire to undertake this important community-led commission have quite blown away the Grenfell Tower Memorial Commission and the other evaluators.
“As we commence the second phase of the design team selection process, I am excited to meet the teams, and I have every confidence that one will soon be demonstrating their exemplar design, management and skills to both local and international communities.”
You can find more information at: grenfelltowermemorial.co.uk/design
