Channel 4 has commissioned a virtual reality documentary on “the lives, homes and community” of Grenfell Tower before the fire.

The short film, Grenfell: Our Home, will be broadcast online instead of on TV, and feature survivors’ memories of living in the London tower block.

Channel 4 said the documentary would be “a sensitive and respectful record of what happened”.

It will focus on the homes and lives of the survivors before the disaster, which killed 71 people and left hundreds homeless, last June.

Photo from June last year of Grenfell Tower in west London (David Mirzoeff/PA)
Grenfell Tower in west London (David Mirzoeff/PA)

David Wise, the film’s executive producer, said: “Virtual reality is often described as ‘the empathy tool’ for its ability to immerse and engage viewers so intensely in other people’s stories and other worlds.

“The combination of 360 video and beautiful animation will enable the telling of this important story in a way that no other medium can match.”

This film will combine 360-degree interviews with computer-generated animation and incorporate the contributors’ own photos and video footage of life before the fire.

Grenfell: Our Home will premiere at Sheffield Doc/Fest’s Alternative Realities exhibition from June 7.