More misery for those on the Chalcots estate.

[HelenaDove]

camdennewjournal.com/article/chalcots-crisis-frustrated-residents-set-to-block-ridiculous-window-work

"REBEL residents are set to block access to building workers on the Chalcots estate – the scene of Camden’s fire safety evacuation crisis – claiming they have been ignored over “absolutely ridiculous” designs for new windows.

Town Hall chiefs have ordered inward-opening windows to be fitted to hundreds of homes at the blocks in Adelaide Road. They also include ankle-height window sills, which means radiators and piping inside flats will have to be moved.

The work follows two years of disruption for tenants and leaseholders, who were suddenly forced from their homes on a Friday evening in June 2017 following an evacuation order. Fire safety flaws had been exposed by an inspection held in the wake of the Grenfell disaster, and cladding wrapped around the towers has already been removed.

Mandy Ryan, one of several Chalcots residents to contact the paper this week, said: “We told them what we wanted, but they didn’t listen. There was never any discussion about radiators being moved during the consultation. We are more than peeved off, and we will just deny access if it comes to it.” She said offers of alternative accommoda­tion during the works should be “put in writing” by the Town Hall.

Ms Ryan said “big knobs” with “blue shirts and man-bags” were once again “hanging about and looking very busy” on the estate ahead of another major works programme. The windows are being replaced after inspectors found “combustible materials” in the curtain walls, a metal structure that contains the windows and the insulation panel.

Belsize Lib Dem Cllr Tom Simon, who was part of a steering group on the window designs, said the council’s decision “seems to be almost universally extremely unpopular”. He added: “It is the wrong decision made on faulty reasoning. The way it has been made is an act of extremely bad faith with the residents of the Chalcots, who will now face further major upheavals to their lives because of this change, which they have never even been asked about. The council needs to stop and rethink its approach.”

The council has said the cost of replacing windows is around £30million. Questions around the Private Finance Initiative used to refurbish the blocks remain unanswer­ed, with the council still trying to navigate through a web of contractors and subcontractors to find out who knew what when. The New Journal has called for a full, open investigation to give residents a clear explanation over what led to them being ordered from their homes.

The council said residents would not have to move out of their homes during the window works.

Housing chief Cllr Meric Apak added: “During the engagement process last year, residents made clear that their three key criteria for the new windows were for designs that would allow good ventilation, keep people inside the flats safe and keep out noise.” He added that the tilt-and-turn-inwards window is the only window option that meets these criteria, safety requirements and current building regulations."

“During the engagement process last year, residents made clear that their three key criteria for the new windows were for designs that would allow good ventilation, keep people inside the flats safe and keep out noise.” He added that the tilt-and-turn-inwards window is the only window option that meets these criteria, safety requirements and current building regulations."

So they’re getting what they asked for but don’t like the disruption of them being fitted?

no one in their right mind would ask for tilt and turn windows

Are they the only windows fitted in tall buidings now? I have them. They are horrendous.

oh, and I can imagine what the "engagement" process was like!

Always good to see a thread about a parochial issue that’s only posted about because it’s hoped to create some tiny political advantage for the activists for one party or another in North London.

?? I very much doubt Helena would post this for that reason.

Oh OK, my apologies if so.

What’s the point of the thread then? It’s a bit like posting about the infuriating roadworks just off the high road in a village outside Ely.

well, if you have any interest in how social housing tenants are treated across the UK, it might be of interest.

otherwise, you're welcome to ignore the thread.

I’ve never lived anywhere with them but I can’t see what’s wrong with them?

In a tall building, if you only open the tilt, you don't really get cold air.

bear in mind many of these places have been hellishly overinsulated anyway.

also, if you open them fully as shown in the video, they just flap about, so to speak. I'm actually going to see if I can find any kind of latch-type thing to hold them open.

I imagine if they are being fitted to ankle height, they won't be fully openable at all. And not really adjustable in terms of how much you open them. So as crap as possible, basically.

I do have a keen interest in social housing in this country and the proper treatment of those who rely on it. In fact I have thoroughly radical views about it that are most unwelcome to the self-interested rentier faction of MN.

So if I have misunderstood the background, purpose and intended audience of this thread I shall withdraw quietly and apologetically.

To add to the council hypocrasy,
as a private LL who voluntarily puts wired fire alarm systems ( so they can not be interfered with or fail) in my well maintained flats, l now will be expected to fit sprinkler systems on each floor, when l alter the flats this year.....
There are only 3 floors so a long ladder can easily reach all floors, or a fire ladder (which l already provide) can be used as an escape route from inside.....
Yet in Grenfell no sprinkler system was installed in a high tower block, despite a recent multi million pound refurb and dozens of people died because of it

This probably feels more like the last straw for them after the last two years which began with the expensive publicity stunt evacuation back in late June 2017

John Boughton author of Municipal Dreams explains how council housing became welfarised.

www.insidehousing.co.uk/insight/56139

What’s the problem? If they hate the windows so much then they should just go live elsewhere.

camdennewjournal.com/article/chalcots-residents-fear-more-work-on-crisis-hit-estate-will-take-toll-on-their-health

Chalcots residents fear more work on crisis-hit estate will take toll on their health

Invasive programme of work for tower blocks

HUNDREDS of residents have been told their walls are to be knocked down during a disruptive and invasive programme of works on the crisis-hit Chalcots estate

Mock-ups of new windows and cladding panels due to be installed in the five blocks in Adelaide Road by June 2021 were put on display at the Swiss Cottage Library on Tuesday. Construction workers are expected to go into each of the 800 flats for several days at a time while walls are knocked down, new radiators fitted and electrics rerouted.

The council has told residents they will start entering flats from June 1 to assess their needs and make inspections

Several residents, who were evacuated during unprecedented scenes in 2017 after a fire safety inspection in the wake of the Grenfell disaster in 2017, say the prospect of more disruption is making them anxious and depressed.

Debbie Cooke, who lives in Taplow, said: “My biggest problem is the serious disruption – how long it’s going to be, and how it’s going to make me feel? I don’t know I can put up with this work, I really don’t. I have an issue with mess. I suffer spinal problems, depression.”

She added: “I believe they are going to be coming four to five foot into the flat, and putting up sheeting. This is absolutely disgusting, it is absolutely outrageous how they want us to live. When they came in with the fire-stopping, it made me quite ill. I like my flat. If they couldn’t do the fire-stopping right, how are they going to get such a big thing like this right?”

Residents said they had not received answers to questions about whether they will be compensated for new flooring, wallpaper and curtains. There are also questions about whether the current windows in the estate are in breach of building regulations.

The council says they must put new windows in with lowered sills because of safety concerns, warning that small children could topple out of the windows as they are. But this means radiators and wiring have to be moved and entire walls need to be replaced

The low sill design is a blend of two options consulted on earlier this year by Camden Council.

It is different to the design residents of the five blocks in Adelaide Road said they voted for in their own survey. Belsize ward Lib Dem Councillor Tom Simon has said the design is “the wrong decision made on faulty reasoning”, adding: “The way it has been made is an act of extremely bad faith with the residents of the Chalcots, who will now face further major upheavals to their lives because of this change, which they have never even been asked about.”

The council boards at the library said scaffolding would start going up in September, and works are due to come to an end in the five blocks by June 2021. Questions from residents were left on Post-it notes were on a board fixed to the wall. One said: “I’ve been here for 20 minutes and no one has spoken to me.” Another added: “My friend left three questions on the board. Why are they not here?”

Councillor Meric Apak, cabinet member for better homes, said: “We appreciate that Chalcots residents have experienced a lot of building works in the last few years and the disruption that comes with this. We will work with residents closely to minimise the impact of future works as much as possible.”

www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/greater-manchester-news/cladding-stripped-elderly-peoples-tower-16032189

Reviews of the company that is going to be doing this "work"

Same company that is in the Manchester link above.
Appalling.

uk.trustpilot.com/review/www.wates.co.uk

Oh dear Boggles, displaying your ignorance for all to see there.

Why would you have to fit sprinklers dragongirl?

Tbh every time you do major works on a block you get upset residents. No one like being disturbed. This just makes the papers due to their knee jerk evacuation post Grenfel

4 Feb 2019 FROM THE LINK.
Not one good thing to say about Wates

"Wates somehow won the contract to repair Thurrock's council houses.
They replaced our kitchen and I have never seen such dreadful workmanship, wiring was padded out with cardboard, new ceilings were nailed onto the old one, sockets aren't level, plasterwork is dire. Sink wasn't fixed properly.
They then decided we needed to move out so they could rip out and replace the whole of the upstairs as the floor was rotten. Not one upstairs door-frame measures the same, so unless we rip it all out and start again we will never be able to replace the doors, which is a shame because the doors are cheap and nasty, badly fitted, every handle has fallen off because of the cheap fittings and over-tightening.
They managed to flood the bathroom and consequently our new kitchen and the kitchen ceiling, to this day it has never been repaired properly. They put lino over the wet flooring, within a couple of months it had all shrunk back and there are gaps everywhere. They used Acro props in our front room, this has ruined the ceiling, the artex is now blown, there are cracks all over and it looks awful, they shoved a bit of polyfiller in the gaps!
They have already been back to repair the plasterwork which started falling off the walls within months, The repair now needs repairing. there are cracks all over the walls upstairs and the floor is still sinking.
The rotting beams weren't replaced, they just bolted a new piece of wood to the rot.
Despite repeated requests not to, they smoked in our home and stubbed these out on our floors and wardrobes, the agent from the council licked her finger, wiped it and said it isnt too bad!! (so clearly condoned such behaviour)
Despite having a catalogue of photographic evidence the Wates manager wasn't interested, and denied any of this had happened (having a house and front/rear gardens that resembled a large ashtray in a non smoking household and video evidence from neighbours that couldn't believe the appalling behaviour of these workmen wasn't enough) They ripped out edging panels at the top of the landing and have just left it, again despite offering photographic evidence the manager said it was never there, so they wouldn't be fixing it.
They cut through our ornate kingpost at the top of the stairs and put dowels into a square block of wood and made banisters that resembled a farmyard gate. the removal men that moved us back in caught our bed on it and sheared it straight off. (glad it wasn't me or my grandchild as we would have ended up in the local casualty department.)
In the end we enlisted the help of our local MP who eventually suggested we just get them out of our home before they destroyed anything else and slowly sort it out ourselves.
We are now expected to let these people back in our home to replace our boiler! I have serious reservations letting these cowboys install something that improperly installed could kill us
I would love to be able to put the photographs up of what they did, its far more descriptive than words ever could be."

And there are loads more like it in that link.