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London council issues improvement notice to PDR block with Grenfell-style cladding
Lambeth Council has issued an improvement notice to the owners of a residential block in Streatham, south London, demanding the removal of dangerous aluminium composite material (ACM) cladding, the same as what was used on Grenfell Tower.
Norwich House on Streatham High Road was converted from offices into housing via permitted development rights (PDR) in 2014, but the council has since discovered a litany of fire safety defects.
Local government officials have now ordered urgent safety improvements including the removal of ACM from the six-storey block, which contains 103 flats and has commercial units on the ground floor.
A council inspection from August uncovered “serious and significant” fire safety deficiencies such as the presence of ACM, problems with fire safety systems, services cupboards being used to store combustible materials and insufficiently protected seventh-storey boiler room and a malfunctioning smoke extraction system.
Owners now have one year to remove the ACM and just four months to complete the rest of the work.
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The owners of Norwich House, Formation Properties, reported an income of £2.421m in profit from the redevelopment of the building in January 2016.
Lambeth Council noted that Formation Properties said it has appointed a firm of fire engineers, repaired the smoke extraction system and are working on the CCTV and fire alarms. It plans to remove the cladding with financial help from the government’s ACM cladding fund.
Jennifer Brathwaite, deputy leader of the Lambeth Council, said: “Lambeth Council has a responsibility to ensure all tower blocks in our borough – council-owned and privately-owned – meet the highest safety standards.
“Where we find there is work needed to ensure the safety of residents, we will take whatever action is necessary. We’ve told the owners of this building what work is required and we’re committed to working closely with them to ensure these improvements are carried out quickly, safely and with minimal disruption to residents.”
Formation Properties has been approached for comment.
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