A survivor of the 7/7 terror attacks is to lead plans for a memorial commemorating the victims of the Grenfell Tower fire. Thelma Stober, a lawyer badly injured in the 2005 attack at Aldgate, will co-chair a commission to try to decide how to remember the 72 people killed by the fire at the west London tower block.

Alongside Michael Lockwood, a senior civil servant who helped lead the government’s recovery and community engagement in the immediate aftermath of the disaster on 14 June 2017, Stober will attempt to develop a proposal for a fitting memorial. They will lead a committee including the bereaved, former residents of the tower and residents of the surrounding Lancaster West estate, many of whom see the shrouded remains of the burnt out tower daily.

Already there are differences within the community about when to demolish the building, with some saying it is a traumatic presence on the skyline. Others believe it should remain as a symbol of the community’s ongoing struggle for truth and be demolished only when justice is done.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Thelma Stober will head up a committee including survivors from the fire to discuss a suitable memorial. Photograph: Suki Dhanda/The Observer

The question of what to replace it with is likely to be just as sensitive and potentially divisive. Some have suggested a memorial garden, while a freelance proposal by a firm of architects to encase the burnt-out shell of the building in a windowless black concrete sarcophagus was attacked by the area’s then MP, Emma Dent Coad ,as likely to create a “misery porn theme park”. The government and the tower’s former owner, the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, have said that if the community does not want the site redeveloped it will not be, but the building is likely to be taken down. The nearest tube station, Latimer Road, is likely to be renamed to commemorate the tower, according to an agreement reached in 2018 between the government, council and community.

“We are honoured to have been selected by the community representatives to co-chair the Grenfell Tower Memorial Commission and will work tirelessly to support them to deliver a memorial that reflects the wishes of the bereaved families, survivors and local community,” Stober and Lockwood said. “The role of the commission is vital in making sure that those who lost their lives in the tragedy are commemorated and are never forgotten.”

Stober sits on the government’s victims panel advising on improving the criminal justice system for victims of crime and is head of legal at the Local Government Association. Lockwood is director general of the Independent Office of Police Conduct. The views of the bereaved are being given most weight with five of the panel members drawn from that group. Three panellists lived in Grenfell Tower or Grenfell Walk and two lived on the wider estate. They were elected but while turnout was high among the bereaved with 67% of those eligible casting a vote, only 17% voted from the tower and walk and just 4% from the wider estate.

Announcing the commission, the government said the process would take at least a year, although it could take longer to create consensus. The public inquiry into the disaster is on hold awaiting a decision from the new attorney general, Suella Braverman, on whether corporate witnesses will be allowed to give oral evidence without fear of it being used to mount criminal prosecutions against them. It is not due to complete taking evidence until at least summer 2021.

The panel will seek the views of the community on proposal before publishing a report setting out its findings.

• This article was updated on 14 February 2020 to amend details about the panel membership.