ALMO spends £100,000 securing windows on 75 blocks of flats
Stevenage window danger prompts urgent work
Stevenage Homes is carrying out improvement work after discovering young children were in danger of falling to their deaths from tower block windows.
The arm’s-length management organisation is carrying out the work after windows in a 12-storey block, called the Towers, in Stevenage were discovered to be a ‘category one’ hazard - the highest risk - under the housing health and safety rating system. Category one hazards are identified as posing a risk of serious harm.
The discovery in a risk assessment prompted the 8,000-home landlord to carry out improvement work to all windows from the second floor up in its 75 blocks of three storeys and above.
The ALMO is spending £103,272 on the work to limit the amount the windows open by attaching new jackloc restrictors.
A spokesperson for the ALMO said: ‘Restriction of window openings protects children from the dangers of falling from upper floor windows.
‘It also prevents adults from climbing through windows, as can happen with mentally ill or confused residents.
Brent O’Halloran, director of housing property services at the ALMO, said: ‘Window restrictors were fitted to our tower blocks around 20 years ago and were fully compliant at the time. We are now enhancing restrictors to ensure that they meet current regulations. Any restrictors in tenants’ flats that are found to be faulty will now be replaced - this work is already underway.’
The programme to secure the new window restrictors has started and is expected to finish in March next year.
Leaseholders received a letter saying they would have to pay £24 for the supply and fitting of each restrictor.
Leaseholder Tim Neale said: ‘It’s annoying because I don’t have any children. There’s nothing we can do about it.’
Mr Neale said there were 10 leaseholders in the block.
The housing health and safety rating system came into force in 2006 and allows local authorities to assess health and safety hazards in their own properties.
Richard Tacagni, head of function (housing) at the Local Authorities Co-ordinators of Regulatory Services, said: ‘If they have discovered a hazard in the property and they are doing something about it, it seems like a sensible thing to do.
‘They need to eliminate a HHSRS category one risk to comply with the decent homes standard.’
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Readers' comments (1)
Anonymous | 27/08/2010 9:53 am
Such swift action for a defect picked up and reported a year ago - I wonder how many near misses there have been whilst Stevenage Homes contemplated their own future and paid fortunes to consultants in the process.
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