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In the past month, two timber-framed low-rise blocks have burned to the ground. It is only a miracle that there wasn’t significant loss of life – but it points to a system that is currently relying more on luck than judgement, writes Martin Hilditch
Less than a month ago, in this magazine’s leader we suggested that “it feels as if a disaster cannot be far away” when it comes to timber-framed blocks of flats.
That leader was written following a fire at the timber-framed Beechmere residential home, which burned to the ground in August. Only luck and the quick thinking of firefighters prevented loss of life in this case – with around 150 people evacuated as their homes were destroyed.
Fast forward to this week and again we have come close to a catastrophic loss of life, as the timber framed Richmond House burned down in super quick time. Again, only chance appears to have prevented many deaths from occurring. Resident Russell Tuahene told ITV News that he woke up in the middle of the night and saw a light coming from the direction of his living room.
Couples and families returned to see what is left of their homes after a devastating fire in Worcester Park today. Their neighbours now say they face worries about their own homes. @RagsMartel spoke to them: pic.twitter.com/mQZKdWVbEr
— ITV London (@itvlondon) September 10, 2019
Thinking he had left a light on he went to investigate and discovered the building was on fire. He and his wife ran from the property, banging on doors to wake their neighbours who were still oblivious to the danger. By some miracle, given the utter destruction of the properties and the speed that the fire took hold, nobody lost their lives in the fire (although, of course, many people have lost their homes – including people from a neighbouring block of a similar design who were moved out and are reportedly terrified at the idea of returning).
While much of the national focus on fire safety following Grenfell has focused on high-rise blocks, the fires over the last few months in Richmond House, Beechmere, and a similar fire that damaged 20 apartments in Barking’s Samuel Garside development in June, should leave no illusions that there is a wider problem that needs to be addressed.
For starters, we should be in no doubt now (if anyone still was) that there are problems with low rise blocks of flats that need urgent scrutiny. For example, there is no prohibition on using combustible cladding on buildings below 18m. Government proposals to require sprinklers in residential buildings above 18 metres in height in England would similarly have had no impact on buildings such as Richmond House or Beechmere.
Then there are questions about construction standards and timber-framed buildings themselves. Former Canterbury MP Julian Brazier was raising concerns back in 2015, when a fire destroyed part of the Old Tannery complex in his constituency. He wrote to James Wharton, the minister responsible for building regulations at the time, calling for the use of sprinklers in timber-framed buildings, an urgent review of guidance and warning that “the guidance to the building regulations have not kept pace with modern methods of construction”.
“It is only a matter of time until more lives are lost”
These are questions that the government needs to address. But they are issues for landlords too, in terms of the materials used on buildings, evacuations strategies, sprinklers and what assurances they have about the safety of their buildings in the event of a fire. In recent weeks Metropolitan Thames Valley and Your Housing Group have seen blocks they manage burn quickly to the ground. Hopefully no-one is fooling themselves that this doesn’t point to a wider issue. As Ruth Dombey, the leader of Sutton Council, said after this week’s fire: “If a building satisfies all the building regulations and can go up in flames so quickly, there is something wrong with the regulations.”
Three weeks ago we said it felt like disaster cannot be far away. As things stand it is only a matter of time until more lives are lost.
Martin Hilditch, editor, Inside Housing