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Residents told to leave private ACM block because of structural issues
Residents of a private high rise in Croydon found to have dangerous cladding after the Grenfell Tower fire have been evacuated from their homes because of “unrelated structural issues”.
Barratt Developments, which built Citiscape in 2002, agreed to foot the £2m bill to replace unsafe aluminium composite material (ACM) cladding on the block in April last year after a tribunal ruled that leaseholders were liable.
A letter sent to Citiscape residents last week by the building’s manager, FirstPort Property Services, said that an engineer had been appointed to investigate structural issues uncovered during the cladding works.
It said: “As a precautionary measure, and to facilitate the additional work, we are arranging for residents to move out of the building while this work is undertaken.
“This means all residents will be required to fully vacate the building.”
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Residents were moved to temporary accommodation last week free of charge.
FirstPort’s letter said that most people will be able to return home “within a matter of weeks”, but that ground and first-floor residents “will be impacted for a longer period of time”.
Inside Housing understands that this could mean residents are in temporary accommodation for several months.
The freehold of Citiscape, which contains 95 flats, is owned by a firm controlled by the family trust of property mogul Vincent Tchenguiz.
During the move, residents were told not to have visitors or more than 10 people in their flats, and warned that they could be asked to leave sooner “should there be winds of a level likely to cause structural damage”.
The letter added: “We understand how disruptive this is for you, and sincerely apologise.
“We would like to emphasise the reason for taking this action is to ensure the safety of residents and to identify and remedy any issues with the building as soon as possible.”
Campaign group the Leasehold Knowledge Partnership has asked Barratt and FirstPort to waive service charges while the block is empty and to cover any refurbishment costs for the ground and first-floor flats following the works.
A spokesperson for FirstPort said: “We have taken precautionary measures at Citiscape so that we can carry out further work and identify and remedy any issues with the building.
“We apologise for the inconveniences caused by this and are working closely with residents to provide as much practical support and information to them as possible.”
Barratt declined to comment.
End Our Cladding Scandal: campaign aims
- Government provides a fund to cover the cost of cladding removal and remedial works on private blocks
- A firm timescale is set out of no more than two years for the work to be carried out
- Residents are reimbursed for the interim fire safety costs incurred, and funding is to be provided for necessary internal fire safety measures identified by a competent fire risk assessor
