Close to Notting Hill, the tower block is around a five minute walk from the Latimer Road Underground station and near the Westfield shopping center in the west London suburbs.
The policy was thrust into the spotlight after at least six people were killed as the huge fire tore through Grenfell Tower, in Notting Hill, overnight.
"This is going to be a long and complex recovery operation".
Around 200 firefighters and 40 fire trucks have been deployed to tackle the blaze, as rescue workers try to evacuate the building in Lancaster West Estate in North Kensington, London Fire Brigade said. "We came outside and were confronted with the building that was completely engulfed in flames".
Witnesses describe people screaming from windows for help as the halls filled with thick smoke, and some jumping to their death or dropping their children - safely into arms below, in at least one case, but not in others.
Firefighters react at the scene of the Grenfell Tower fire.
Police say there may still be people in the building who are unaccounted for.
Volunteers were working furiously to prepare sandwiches for victims and members of the emergency services at The Rugby Portobello Trust, where people said they had seen an "unbelievable" response.
"This is an unprecedented incident".
London Fire Commissioner Dany Cotton said there had been a "number of fatalities" but could not confirm how many due to the size and complexity of the building.
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The Fire Service said it had rescued large numbers of people.
A local bystander told the Press Association how she had witnessed a baby dropped from the ninth or 10th floor and caught by a man on the ground.
Paul Munakr lives on the 7th floor and told BBC News: "I managed to get out the building, not by a fire alarm, or something like that, it was by people down below screaming to people, don't jump, don't jump off the building".
The BBC reported that a political deal between the government of Prime Minister Theresa May and a small Northern Irish party could be delayed because of the aftermath of the fire.
"But I could smell the smoke... then I [saw] the fire blazing, and coming up really fast, because of the cladding - the cladding was really flammable, and it just caught up like a matchstick", he added. "They have also been providing food and clothes".
Michael Paramasivan, who lives on the seventh floor with his girlfriend and young daughter, said he ignored official advice to stay in your home. They will not be allowed back into their flats. "A neighbour's smoke alarm went off and another neighbour phoned and told me to get out", he said. "I just hope they have got everyone out", he said.
He said he saw people waving flashlights from the top levels of the building and saw rescuers "doing an incredible job" trying to get people out. "I consider this mass murder", he said of the blaze. "The smoke alarms weren't going off but the way it spread so quickly from the fourth floor, all the way up to the 23rd floor was scary", she said.
At the present moment, the Metropolitan Police have confirmed that six people have died following the tragic fire that engulfed Grenfell Tower. It said the cause of the blaze would be "fully investigated". It said 34 people remained in hospital and 18 were in critical care.
The Kensington and Chelsea Council, which oversees the area where the fire occurred and is Grenfell's landlord, said in a statement its immediate focus was helping victims and their families.
A local residents association had previously warned it was anxious about the risk of a serious fire in the block.
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