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Chalcots residents voice safety concerns over refurbishment plans
Residents of the Chalcots Estate in Camden say they have “serious health and safety concerns” over aspects of the council’s post-Grenfell refurbishment project.
Camden Council is spending £100m on works at the north London estate’s five tower blocks, which were evacuated shortly after the Grenfell Tower fire in summer 2017.
Dangerous cladding has already been stripped from the towers, and the council is set to sign a contract with Wates to install a new external wall system, including a replacement curtain wall and windows.
Last week Camden Council revealed it had submitted a legal claim totalling £130m against contractors involved in the initial installation of the aluminium composite material cladding at the estate.
The choice of the new windows is the main point of contention from residents, with Matt Jenkins of the Burnham Residents Association – which represents people living in one of the Chalcots towers – telling a full council meeting on Monday: “The current plans are deeply unpopular with residents, who feel ignored, and in our view the current window proposals are neither justified nor safe.”
Camden Council wants to install mostly tilt-and-turn windows, which it argues “reflects what residents told us was important to them” during consultation and is a commonly used design in new high-rise buildings “precisely because it is so safe”.
But the Burnham Residents Association said it has fears about the risk of deaths from wide-open windows and fires started by cigarettes falling into flats below, as well as water ingress in bad weather and potential overheating.
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It claimed that a survey of 371 of the estate’s 716 households carried out by the group found 85.2% indicated they wanted a newer version of the outward opening windows currently installed at the towers.
The council’s own survey, carried out by independent research firm Acuity, found that 64% of residents were either very satisfied, satisfied or ambivalent to its new window design, while 51% were either unhappy or unsure about the blocks’ current windows.
Mr Jenkins accused the authority of making “major changes to the design without any warning” and said residents’ “serious health and safety concerns remain unaddressed”.
Responding, Meric Apak, cabinet member for better homes at Camden Council, said: “The questions that we have asked weren’t on the type of the window but what you needed out of these windows, and that’s what informed our decision-making.”
A leaflet handed to residents in May last year and seen by Inside Housing proposed four different window options and recommended two: the same style as existing windows at the Chalcots Estate, and inward-opening tilt-and-turn windows.
It was accompanied by a survey asking residents to indicate which criteria for windows were most important to them.
A leaflet later handed out in April this year, also seen by Inside Housing, informed residents that bedroom and living room windows would be tilt-and-turn, while kitchen and bathroom windows would only open inwards from the top – similar to a design included in the four options presented by the council but not considered one of its two preferences.
It said: “We believe that this is the only window option that meets all of our safety requirements and provides enough ventilation to all flats.”
It also included new detail on the window designs, including that tilt-and-turn windowsills will be lowered significantly to accommodate the windows without increased risk of accidents – meaning radiators under the windows will also need to be moved.
A spokesperson for Camden Council said: “We have carried out extensive consultation across the Chalcots, engaging with residents across 716 flats throughout every stage of these improvements, to ensure residents’ opinions are at the heart of what we do.
“The tilt-and-turn design best reflects what residents told us was most important to them – it both keeps people inside safe and properly ventilates their flats.
“The tilt-and-turn design is the most commonly used window type in recent residential high-rise projects in the UK and Europe, precisely because it is so safe.
“These windows have a lower risk of being damaged by wind and a much lower risk of falling from the building if damaged.”
