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MTVH served notices on multiple Worcester Park blocks following post-fire inspections
The London Fire Brigade (LFB) has issued enforcement notices on 16 buildings owned by Metropolitan Thames Valley Housing (MTVH) on the same estate where a huge blaze broke out earlier this year.
Intrusive surveys carried out in the wake of the September fire at Richmond House – owned by 57,000-home MTVH – found a series of defects in the passive fire protection of several buildings on the estate.
Remedial work will include installing or improving cavity barriers within the external wall systems and correcting fire-stopping elements of the construction internally.
MTVH has until 30 April 2021 to complete the work, which is expected to be carried out by the site’s original developer, St James.
It is understood St James, which also owns a number of buildings on the estate, was issued enforcement notices on some of its buildings and will be carrying out various remedial works.
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Richmond House, which was made up of 23 shared ownership homes, was completely destroyed when a fire broke out at the block in September.
MTVH later confirmed plans to rebuild the block, which was originally constructed using a timber frame.
Since the fire, a 24-hour waking watch has been put in place across the estate, the stay put fire response advice has been changed to ‘simultaneous evacuation’, and a communal fire alarm system is in the process of being installed.
A representative from MTVH said: “Following the fire at Richmond House at The Hamptons on September 9th, our focus as a charitable housing association has been to do everything we can to support those residents directly affected, to ensure the safety of our other residents on the estate and to understand as best we can what happened on that night.
“Over the past few days, we have shared with all MTVH residents the results of in-depth investigations by independent experts into the construction of the buildings we own at The Hamptons to establish if there are any structural issues that could compromise fire safety.
“MTVH will ensure that all remedial work is overseen by appropriate independent experts to check that works are installed correctly and meet the requirements of the building regulations.”
A spokesperson for the LFB said: “LFB carried out a post fire inspection and found a number of fire safety breaches.
“We have issued enforcement notices detailing the areas the responsible person needs to address and we will revisit the premises to see how this is being completed.
“Stay put advice has been temporarily suspended and a simultaneous evacuation strategy – a procedure in which all or parts of a building are evacuated in the event of the fire at one time – has been implemented.
“We’re satisfied with this arrangement and will continue to work with the building owners to ensure the safety of residents.”
