Forum Topic

Ballymore cladding fire

LBC is reporting a cladding fire in a high-rise building in Poplar.The developer of the building appears to be Ballymore. According to the East London Advertiser:“One of the 14 companies named this week as having failed to remove cladding on private developments is Landor Residential, a listed subsidiary of Ballymore developers which built New Providence on the Thames waterfront at Blackwall.”That story was published more than 3 months ago.Right now, the building is alight.

David Marshall ● 1693d16 Comments

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-57260742

Philippa Bond ● 1667d

There's also a problem on the Galliard ARC/Apex Tower in Ealing on the Uxbridge Road.http://www.ealingtoday.co.uk/default.asp?section=info&page=conarctower001.htm

Philippa Bond ● 1672d

https://nationalleaseholdcampaign.org/leaseholderstogether/

Philippa Bond ● 1672d

So although Ballymore were the developers of this East London tower block...it was their subsidiary Landor Residencial who were the Managing Agents...facilities management is the name of that game.Who will be the Managing Agents of the Brentford developments? Oh no.. not them!

James William Lawes ● 1679d

Last Sunday's edition of the Sunday Times includes a substantial article entitled "Hidden Housing Scandal" suggesting much criticism of Ballymore and their subsidiary Landore Residential with regard to the very recent "Grenfell type" fire in that 18 storey block near Canary Wharf."Smoke filled stairwells,faulty fire doors and raging flames....was almost another Grenfell tragedy""Minutes from disaster""At 9.25am the fire jumped 3 floors in 15 seconds"Our Council should be giving Ballymore intense grilling to  alleviate any Brentfordian anxieties. Better qualified people ought to read the ST article.

James William Lawes ● 1679d

So have a look at what Australia did after Grenfell:https://www.lbc.co.uk/news/comment-australias-steps-on-cladding-crisis-shame-the-government/

Philippa Bond ● 1688d

Tim: Doesn't time fly. It was back in the early 1970s (gosh 50 years ago) that Celotex had offices on the corner of Warwick Road and South Ealing Road. .from where advertising material for their products were mailed out via an Ealing mailing Company called Unique Publicity... 50 years ago!

Jim Lawes ● 1690d

It is very unfortunate that there are so many people trapped unable to sell their homes because of this cladding scandal. Many have enormous insurance premiums now and Grenfell threw up many more problems than just the cladding - fire doors, fire breaks, windows...Interesting about Celotex and bagasse.  I think bagasse is back in vogue now for making compostable packaging.In this recent fire - very difficult for the firemen to reach - there were windows falling out onto them.

Philippa Bond ● 1690d

Celotex (and Kingspan) provided the polyisocyanurate foam insulation that was behind the external aluminium/polyethylene composite rain screen on Grenfell.Celotex now shows a base in Ipswich with a head office address at its owner St.Gobain UK headquarters near Loughborough.I'd be interested in the history of its links with Ealing and whether the present company has connections with the big Celotex plant at Stonebridge Park/ Alperton that Britain from the Air shows in 1938. "Edith's Streets" says that the factory made boards using the bagasse pulp fibre left over from processing sugar cane.

Tim Henderson ● 1690d

Wasn't it the Celotex Company based in South Ealing Road who were involved in providing cladding for Grenfell.

Jim Lawes ● 1691d

Thousands of buildings with this cladding problem and it isn't just the cladding - I have seen horrendous fire doors that don't fit or close properly let alone no intumescent strips.  Remember that smoke and fumes are likely to get to you before flames.

Philippa Bond ● 1691d

You have made a really good point Raymond, however, I rather suspect the powerful lobby of developers who also bankroll the government will not wear anything that has the potential to eat into their profits. I do really feel that regarding the poor devils in unsafe clad blocks of flats, regardless of height, should be helped by the government to make their homes safe and saleable - after all both Theresa May and Johnson promised this. They have to own the regulations were theirs and are badly in need of reform.

Vanessa Smith ● 1692d

More outrageous is that no moratorium has taken place to suspend all multi storey developments until complete and thorough methods of design, build and safety has been fully investigated and reviewed.The fiasco of Building control and contracting out direct with the client. Pedantic stances on insignificant issues and blind eyes or sheer ignorance on major issues and very little expertise.Following interpretations of rule and regulations from a text rather than a full understanding of construction and materials in a practical context.It's a poorly recognised high skill and very neglected.  Keeping the Fire Service shut out at planning and design stages and silencing grass roots Fire Officers and even the most senior ones when they dare to speak out is still happening.  On all sorts of safety issues too often.They need to be freed of their political shackles and masters. and need to be heard from a pragmatic point. The HSE are far too selective about where they intervene and not very accessible to ordinary members of the public.  They ignored the asbestos and lack of dust containment complaints during the demolition of the Alfa-Laval -Baltic Centre, built with asbestos content concrete.  Carried out in a windy month, that dust went all over Brentford.  Nothing was actioned or even properly investigated.  Containment ran to just one hose behind the houses in Layton rd.Maybe a new body combining Building Control, the HSE and Fire services, with teeth and fully independent of external involvement from developers and politics alike should be created and have a full input on aspects of design build and materials and safety first.

Raymond Havelock ● 1692d

Totally agree - it is an outrageous situation, especially as the P.M. stood in the House of Commons and gave assurances that the government would sort this mess out. You would also think an urgent and thorough review of the building regulations would be undertaken. Whatever - none of these things seems to stick to the P.M. - so suppose it's just another lie to add to the growing list.

Vanessa Smith ● 1692d

I just do not understand how Johnson promised after Grenfell that no leaseholders would be financially punished for flammable cladding that was not their fault. But the later Fire Safety Bill offers no such thing and it seems that huge numbers of leaseholders will be punished for developer, contractor and government failings, with £50 per month repayments which could go on for decades (for their lifetimes?) If a car proves to be dangerous the manufacturer is to blame. If our government allows developers to clad buildings with inflammable material then changes its mind and says "no longer allowed" then it's the residents' fault and liability? That is simply not fair, right, sensible, reasonable, just or civilized. Meanwhile huge numbers of innocent people are facing huge extra fire safety bills, with unsaleable flats, because of government incompetence and contractor greed. This all seems very them and us.

Eric Baker ● 1692d

Update: two people are now in hospital as the result of the fire at the Ballymore-built tower block in east London this morning.https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-57022678

David Marshall ● 1692d