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Barking Riverside residents: ‘We’ve been raising concerns about cladding since Grenfell’
Residents living in the Barking Riverside development which saw one of its blocks hit by a fire that destroyed 20 homes at the weekend had raised concerns about the building’s cladding for two years, the area’s residents’ association has said.
Venilia Amorim, who is the treasurer of the Barking Reach Residents’ Association (BRRA), said since Grenfell residents living on the Barking Riverside development had been raising concerns about the timber structures and wooden cladding on the buildings within the development.
On Sunday a large fire at Samuel Garside House saw 20 apartments destroyed and a further 10 damaged. Two people were also treated for smoke inhalation.
On Monday Inside Housing revealed that the material used was ThermoWood, a wood-based material with a Class D fire rating.
Ms Amorim said: “They use timber frame but they also have wooden cladding on the exterior as well as the blocks of flats, since Grenfell two years ago we have been raising these concerns with the main developer.”
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She added that these had been raised at several meetings with the owner of the whole Barking Riverside development, Barking Riverside Ltd (BRL). BRL is a private company that is 51% controlled by L&Q and 49% controlled by Greater London Authority Land and Property, City Hall’s landlord arm.
Ms Amorim said: “They have assured us that all the buildings comply with building regulations, but some of the residents haven’t been happy with this and have demanded full assessments of properties to be made. We haven’t got nowhere over the last two years.”
Yesterday, Bellway, the developer of the Samuel Garside block, said it was “high likely” that it would replace the wood cladding to allay residents’ concerns.
As freeholder of the Barking Riverside site, BRL does not own and is not responsible for the fire safety of the buildings within the development.
BRL told Inside Housing that it took the safety of its communities very seriously but did not have any legal responsibility or control over buildings. It said: "We had previously been in contact with Bellway and Adriatic Land (via their agents) to urge them as the developer and owner of the building to resolve these issues. We also advised residents about how to contact the responsible parties directly."
It added it would contact the developer and owner of the Samuel Garside House block, and other developments, about fire safety in the future.
Samuel Garside is owned by Adriatic Land, a subsidiary of the £1.6bn Long Harbour Ground Rent Fund. Under the terms of the lease, Adriatic Land is responsible for all maintenance, repair and fire safety management but carries these out through a managing agent.
Adriatic Land’s company HomeGround, currently employs RMG to manage the day-to-day running of the block.
Adriatic Land and HomeGround has come under heavy criticism from the residents over difficulties contacting them to raise issues about the building.
Pete Mason, chair of BRRA, said residents never had any correspondence with Adriatic and has only recently had direct contact with HomeGround due to the replacement of the block’s manager.
Mr Mason said: “Even to this day we don’t have a phone number for HomeGround, let alone Adriatic.”
In a statement to Inside Housing, HomeGround and RMG, the building’s current manager, said: “While HomeGround deals with majority of its communication by email, the appointed managing agent, RMG, deals with all residents’ queries and is contactable 24/7 and has been in regular communication since the fire on Sunday.”
It added: “We believe that we have acted properly and responsibly and continue to work hard for the safety and benefit of the residents.”
Update: at 13.15 on 13.6.19 This article was updated to include an additional part of a statement by BRL stressing that the company had been in contact with Bellway and Adriatic to address issues raised by residents of the building.
The organisations involved in Samuel Garside House
Inside Housing has identified the key organisations involved in developing and managing Samuel Garside House:
Developer: Bellway
Architect: Sheppard Robson
Building owner (headlease): Adriatic Land
Freeholder of land: Greater London Authority/L&Q
Management: HomeGround, which appointed RMG (part of Places for People)
Building control: NHBC
Owner of affordable homes (32 of 80): Southern Housing Group
