Olympia Launches and Marking Nine Years After the Grenfell Fire

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Report back from Andy Slaughter, MP for Hammersmith and Chiswick

With London Mayor, Sir Sadiq Khan, Howard Dawber, Deputy London Mayor for Business and Michael Volkert, Olympia’s CEO at the new Olympia

June 15, 2026

The Olympia Development opens its doors to the public soon. The ten year project gives new life to the exhibition centres and a new cultural hub for London – a new theatre, music venue, restaurants, as well as a school and offices. I attended a preview event last week along with the Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan.

Thanks must go to residents and councillors for engaging with the project and putting up with almost 10 years of development. I am determined that Olympia will be a good neighbour and control noise, traffic and behaviour of visitors. The next task now that the venue is opening, is to next use the leverage of such a popular destination to improve public transport, in particular, restoring the weekday District Line service from Earl’s Court.

Last week I joined the Employment Minister, Diana Johnson, on a visit to the Shaw Trust in Shepherd's Bush which is the most successful example of the Government’s Connect to Work initiative to help people into employment. The Minister heard from Stephen Cowan, Leader of H&F about Hammersmith and Fulham’s Pathway Bond and from employers and employees helped by the scheme. The West London Alliance of seven boroughs including H&F and Hounslow has also helped thousands of people into work.

Sir Sadiq Khan speaking at the opening of the new Olympia

On Sunday it was the 9 th anniversary of the Grenfell fire.  In advance of this, the Met Police announced they would hand their evidence to the CPS by September with a view to prosecutions being launched before the 10 th anniversary.

I attended a discussion in Parliament this month on Grenfell: Uncovered, the BAFTA-nominated documentary examining the events surrounding the Grenfell Tower fire and its aftermath. The event brought together parliamentarians, campaigners and those involved in making the film to discuss the lessons that still need to be learned almost a decade on from the tragedy.

Grenfell remains one of the most significant public disasters in recent British history, and it is important that the voices of survivors and bereaved families continue to be heard. The documentary is available to watch on Netflix, and I would encourage anyone interested in understanding the wider context of the disaster and the long campaign for accountability to do so.

It has been a busy few days in the constituency with Sophie Ellis-Bextor opening Green Days, a two-day extravaganza to start the Bedford Park Festival. On Saturday it was Refugee Day with activities on Brook Green in the afternoon to kick off refugee week, the world's largest arts and cultural festival celebrating the contributions, creativity and resilience of refugees and asylum seekers. 

Recently I spoke to students from the Godolphin and Latymer Politics and International Relations Society who were very pleased to hear that one of their alumni, Molly Mantle, has just been elected as a Hammersmith councillor in the May election.

I was pleased to welcome representatives from THIS to Parliament as part of a lobby day promoting plant-based diets. Based locally in Hammersmith, THIS has grown rapidly in recent years and its products are now stocked in major supermarkets across the UK.

I was delighted to join the Big Paddle Cleanup on the Thames recently and meet members of Chiswick Pier Canoe Club, who paddled down to Hammersmith to help clear the foreshore of rubbish, debris and plastic pollution.

The Thames is one of west London's greatest assets and keeping it clean and safe requires the efforts of volunteers as well as public bodies. My thanks to everyone who took part in the cleanup and gave up their time to improve our local environment.

Andy Slaughter at the Big Paddle Cleanup

The West London Chorus has a special concert taking place in the Cadogan Hall on 12 th July to celebrate the choir’s 50 th anniversary, having started out as the Chiswick Choir.  There’s more information about the choir and the concert on their website.

Last week the Justice Committee published a major report on the Courts & Tribunals Bill, including its controversial proposals to limit jury trials. In advance of publication, I wrote an article on the Bill for The Chiswick Calendar. 

On Monday I spent the morning in HMP Wormwood Scrubs talking to prisoners serving sentences of Imprisonment for Public Protection (IPP). 

I also spoke in a debate on the Terminally Ill Adults Bill, which was talked out in the House of Lords by a handful of Peers opposed to the Bill. 

I was one of 140 Labour MPs who wrote to the Foreign Secretary last week calling for an end to trade with illegal Israeli settlements in the West Bank. In total 240 MPs are now supporting this.

Last week the Foreign Secretary announced further sanctions against violent settlers and strengthened the Government’s position on discouraging trade with illegal settlements. However, there is a very strong demand from MPs to go further than this and ban any trade in goods and services with illegal settlements in occupied territories.  

 

Best wishes,

Andy

andy@andyslaughter.com

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