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L&Q ordered contractor on Barking balcony collapse to repair defects on 56 balconies two years before latest incident
L&Q had asked the contractor at the centre of an incident on a London housing estate where a balcony partially collapsed to investigate and repair 56 balconies two years ago.
The large London landlord originally served a notice in November 2021 on Bouygues UK, an arm of the French construction giant, which resulted in investigations and works being carried out to 56 balconies of a certain design type.
The G15 member’s involvement in the estate came out after Barking and Dagenham Council was asked why it did not act on concern raised by a resident about balcony defects 16 months earlier in May 2022.
The council explained that the contract for the original construction meant that defect notices must be served by L&Q.
This is because L&Q partnered with the London council in 2013 to regenerate the eastern part of the Gascoigne Estate. It was then built by Bouygues and completed in 2018.
The estate consists of nine blocks, which are managed by the council’s housing company B&D Reside. The local authority is the freeholder.
L&Q shared owners live in four buildings.
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During the regeneration, the association acted as a development manager for the scheme. As part of this contract it has a responsibility to serving a notice on Bouygues to carry out works related to construction defects.
The landlord served a second notice on Bouygues in September 2023, after receiving reports of new issues affecting balconies of a different design type in August 2023.
As a result, Barking and Dagenham Council, B&D Reside and L&Q have been in discussions to agree a remediation programme that is due to start in January.
Ian Shapiro, customer and quality director at L&Q, said: “We take resident safety extremely seriously. L&Q doesn’t own or manage buildings at Weavers Quarter and doesn’t have maintenance responsibilities.
“However, there are L&Q shared owners in four buildings on the estate, and we are committed to working with BD Reside and Bouygues to address these issues for all residents given our role as development manager for the scheme.
“In 2021, we received a report about an issue with a balcony at an L&Q resident’s home. This led to estate-wide investigations and Bouygues repairing 56 balconies across the estate. In August 2023, we were concerned to hear that more issues had emerged.
"We worked with BD Reside to carry out more inspections, and have been in discussions with Bouygues about starting a wider programme of works. We are very concerned by the recent incident. We will keep our residents updated on progress and have asked that they do not use their balconies further notice.”
As a result of the partial balcony collapse earlier this week, the council said 70 balconies are now being inspected.
Bouygues said in a previous statement: “We are working hard with Reside to take immediate action, put the necessary safety measures in place and undertake appropriate remediation works.”
The concerns with structural safety this week comes as Inside Housing published minutes from the meeting of an expert group assembled to advise the government warned of major risks, including unstrengthened Ronan Point-style buildings, and said “the market is… prioritising profit over safety”.
With stories about structural safety mounting up, a deeper dive into the issue suggests the government might be overlooking risks.
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