A tale of four towers

As soon as Arup gave the council their findings the gas supply was switched off, and sparked a speedy search for an alternative heating system that would be safe for the blocks.

The prospect of coming up with a whole new heating system solution in less than a month was a daunting task for the council’s engineering staff.

Tony …., was all too aware of the need for urgency. “The gas came out on 11 August and at that time of year you’re starting to think about how it’s not going to be too long before its winter. So we were thinking ‘right, we’re going to need to get heating and hot water very quickly and we’re going to need to get some kind of heating and hot water solution for the interim because people are without both’.”

The council lighted on a traditional district heating system – a central boiler providing heat and water to a number of properties. Through some “intense planning” the council came up with a solution which delivered temporary boilers at the base of each block, with gas taken by pipework into the block and up an existing duct and into every property which had heat interface units installed.

Thomas and Francis are a retired couple who are leaseholders who moved into the estate just over a year ago having moved over from Dublin. For them the main concern over the last three months has been whether or not they would lose their kitchen that they have lovingly done up – complete with gleaming red wall tiles and a five ring hob – but they were impressed with how hard the council’s engineering staff worked to find a solution for them that would mean their kitchen didn’t have to be torn out to fit the new heating system.

“All of our concerns and worries at the beginning were about are we going to have to lose our kitchen, but what amazed us was how available council people at all levels were. People were not only accessible they were willing to come into our flat,” says Thomas.

Tony is proud of the speed at which the work was completed, particularly as the council aren’t aware of any other social landlord that has had to carry out such a large overhaul of a heating system within such a short period of time.

“From 25^th September to 16^th October we core drilled 224 properties, installed pipe, installed heat interface units, dug and concreted holes to crane in eight temporary boilers and eight oil storage units and worked with UKPN to try and beef up the electrical capacity of the blocks.”

It’s not clear yet how much this work will cost but Stephanie Cryan, deputy leader and cabinet member for housing, says the main concern was keeping residents warm. “You cannot expect people to be in this weather without heating and hot water for a long time. There was no alternative for me, so it would have to be before the clocks went back. It’s a psychological barrier of can we get it done before then.”

All the residents Inside Housing speaks to are impressed with how quickly the council installed a new heating and hot water system. Similarly, residents only have warm words about the council staff who have taken up residence in their local Tenant Residents Association hall, who are on site 24 hours a day, seven days a week to help residents with queries.

But there are still questions over how the blocks were left with a potentially dangerous gas supply for so many years. It’s not clear why the blocks weren’t strengthened after the Ronan Point disaster, as directed by government, because the council doesn’t have any records for the estate dating back to when it was built.

Back then, the Ledbury Estate was owned by the Greater London Council, since dissolved. Ms Cryan says: “I suspect the people who made those decisions are either long retired or no longer with us. The GLC records are very patchy and sketchy.”

Danielle Majid, who helped set up the Ledbury Action Group which has raised concerns about the safety of the blocks, says unless the council looks into how the handover from the GLC to Southwark Council was handled then “no lessons will be learned from this”. She adds: “We could have learnt lessons from the Packington Estate which is another LPS estate - there’s obviously a problem with large panel systems so we should lead the way.”

The cracks and leaks across the buildings have been an ongoing issue over the years, with some residents spotting cracks wide enough to fit a fist through dating back many years.

Daniella Gomez lives in Bromyard House with her one year old daughter Antonella. “For me it’s been quite a rollercoaster, stressful time. I’m quite an anxious person and you can visibly see those cracks. They’re everywhere in every room, I was feeling anxious – what would I do if a fire happened, thinking about my baby, seeing reports about Grenfell Tower. It doesn’t feel like home to me anymore, and I’ve lived here for 20 years.”

Resident Glenn Holmes reported a crack in the wall of his flat a year after he moved in 16 years ago. He says other residents have reported cracks from when they moved in in the early 1970s.

The council’s overview and scrutiny committee will now commission an independent report looking at when the cracks and leaks were reported and what action was taken by the council.

Ms Cryan is clear that the cracks “have always been there, so that risk of breaching compartmentation has always been there. I guess what the audit will look at is has anybody ever looked at it and has it been reported and if so how it’s been dealt with. That doesn’t detract from the fact that there is an issue with the cracks that has always been there regardless of whether residents have flagged it up or not.”

Residents have been told they can move out of the estate if they wish and the council will give them a £6,100 payment to cover the move. There are 29 households who have moved out of the blocks already and 21 others have accepted new accommodation offers. Every Ledbury resident is now on the council’s choice-based lettings system so they can bid for a new home if they want to move.

It’s not yet clear what the future is for the estate. A report from Arup published recently concluded the blocks are in “good condition” structurally but substantial work needs to be carried out to strengthen them to a “best practice” standard. The council has said it will bring in an independent consultant to draw up options for the estate with the help of a panel of residents.

Ms Cryan has said various options will be put to residents but “whatever those options are, we know that residents will have to move out, either temporarily or permanently”.

The council had previously given residents a “100% guarantee” that they will have the right to return to their homes once work is completed so it is unclear how this fits with the potential prospect of having to move out permanently.

Ms Cryan says there is a wider lesson for social landlords across the country who own large panel system blocks. After Southwark Council switched off the gas supply to the blocks Sajid Javid, communities secretary, wrote to all social landlords asking them to carry out checks if they owned any large panel system blocks, but Ms Cryan thinks the government needs to get more proactive.

“I do worry about blocks like this across the country. I grew up in a LPS tower block, and I look back on it and think ‘oh my god what about where I grew up? What if I was at risk?’ There is a lesson that the government needs to look at, working with other authorities. It’s got to be more than writing a letter.”