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Camden invites evacuated residents back to tower blocks
Camden Council has encouraged all residents of five towers that were fully evacuated over fire safety concerns to move back onto the estate, although cladding remains in place.
Contractors employed by the council have repaired fire doors to ensure that they are self-closing, worked on fire stopping between flats to ensure fire does not spread from floor to floor, and ensured ventilation is working properly.
The council, however, has delayed work on external cladding systems until results are released from the government’s latest round of testing.
The buildings were initially evacuated after Camden Council declared the cladding on the towers was “not to the standard requested”, and subsequent investigation by the London Fire Brigade (LFB) identified problems with the fire doors.
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Its whole cladding system is not the same as the one used on Grenfell as it has a different insulation behind the cladding. Test results for that system are expected next week.
A spokesperson from the LFB said: “Our highly trained inspecting officers have been working very closely with Camden Council since it was discovered that essential works were required in these four buildings on the Chalcots Estate.
“We agreed a list of works which would improve the general fire precautions in the building and mitigate the risks from fire. Officers from the LFB have visited the premises since the work began and are satisfied that sufficient progress has been made to allow a phased re-occupation of the buildings.”
Last week, The Guardian reported that some residents were refusing to move back onto the estate, citing fears that the cladding issue had not been dealt with. They were also concerned that modifications to fire doors were not sufficient and that new ones were needed.
Camden Council has said that it will install new front doors on all flats to provide 60 minutes of fire containment, but was unable to provide a timetable for this work.
