Hundreds of survivors of a massive fire that engulfed a 24-storey residential tower block in west London earlier this month are to be rehoused in a luxury development nearby, the British government said on Wednesday.

The British government has acquired 68 flats in the Kensington Row development near Grenfell Tower in north Kensington, where the massive blaze ripped through nearly 120 flats on June 14, resulting in at least 79 dead or missing and leaving hundreds homeless.

The building was home to some 600 people.

By July-end

The replacement apartments are classed as “newly built social housing” in a complex where the price of private homes starts at £1.5 million. The flats are likely to be completed by the end of July.