Grenfell Tower will be returned to Kensington and Chelsea Council in the springtime, police hope.

The building has been subject to intense forensic examination since the June 14 blaze, which police said on Thursday (November 16) claimed the lives of 71 people .

It is expecting to finish its detailed examination of the building in the new year, and will then hand Grenfell Tower back to the local authority, which owns the building.

In September police revealed it is considering individual as well as corporate manslaughter charges .

The tower is earmarked for demolition towards the end of next year.

Metropolitan Police Commander Stuart Cundy said: “The decision about what happens to the tower will then be a matter for them (the owner) and others, that will not be a decision for the police.”

Police teams have been removing parts of the external facade and cladding from the block as they prepare to test the materials to discover how the fire took hold and spread, tearing through the high-rise on June 14.

Investigators will look to do a reconstruction, physically and using computer remodelling, of the flat where the fire started, Mr Cundy said.

Grenfell Tower is partially covered by a white plastic sheet as work began in October to cover the ruins

Police are working to bag up and remove more than 15 tonnes of debris from each floor of the building.

Mr Cundy said some of the debris, which will be held at a secure location as it is legally owned by the coroner, could include “minuscule human remains which just can’t be physically identified”.

Work began last month to cover the charred ruin, with scaffolding erected alongside the residential block so white sheeting can be put in place, floor-by-floor, to shield it from public view.

Residents had called for the building to be covered earlier but were told it would impede with the police investigation.

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