We use your sign-up to provide content in ways you’ve consented to and to improve our understanding of you. This may include adverts from us and 3rd parties based on our understanding. You can unsubscribe at any time. More info

Huge sheeting covers every inch of the six-storey Islington Gates apartment complex in Birmingham. The plastic sheeting has been put up while dangerous cladding is replaced with a non-flammable material. However, due to delays in having the work done, residents in the 141 flats have been unable to see out of their windows for six months.

Many residents are first-time buyers who bought the properties with mortgages before a fire safety review outlawed certain cladding following the Grenfell fire tragedy.

The review found Islington Gates’ aluminium and cedarwood cladding was different to that at Grenfell, but was still too flammable and needed replacing.

Now the leaseholders, who paid between £160,000 and £200,000 for the apartments, are facing five-figure bills to put up the new cladding.

Since scaffolding was put up in April, residents have been living in permanent darkness with no outdoor view and they have complained about leaking ceilings and mould.

Resident Jennifer Reid, 40, who bought her flat in 2019, said: “It’s been a really tricky, horrible two years having committed to buy the flat and then learning I was on the hook for a pretty huge bill.

“The government are going to be funding a significant portion of the work, but my initial bill was £50,000, that’s on a £160,000 flat.

“Now about £30,000 will be covered but I’m still on the hook for a serious amount of money. I’m already mortgaged up to my eyeballs.”

DON’T MISS
Covid LIVE: Chris Whitty issues urgent advice to Britons[UK]
Japan ghost ships rise to surface off island after volcanic activity[WORLD]
Rylan Clark health: Star ‘not in a good place’ – symptoms[HEALTH]

Ms Reid said she could be expected to pay over £10,000 and on top of that her service charge has doubled from £1,400 to £2,800 a year.

The marketing manager has been working from home during the Covid pandemic and describes her situation as “pretty miserable”, living in darkness and freezing because workmen have taken bricks out.

Her neighbour, legal professional Danny Kelly, 30, has lived on the sixth floor since 2018 with his fiancé Danielle Poole, 27.

Mr Kelly said leaseholders were told the repair bill was £9million and his share ran to £75,000, forcing him to put wedding plans on hold.

He said: “We had some timber and panel-style cladding which was too flammable. They also discovered fire safety defects, like there being no fire breaks.

“We had wooden balconies which needed to be removed. My balcony used to overhang the canal, so it was a nice view. I was shielding last year so I couldn’t go outside and that was the only fresh air I had.”

The Government’s Building Safety Fund reduced his bill to £10,000 or £11,000, but has still left him out of pocket.

He added: “The leaseholders are the only party not at fault at all. The developers, planners, builders, contractors, surveyors have all made mistakes. Now the cladding is off it is the disruption from the work and the wet and cold that are the issues

“I’ve lost my view because of the plastic. There’s no sunlight, I can’t tell what the weather is. When the wind blows the scaffolding pipes it makes a drumming noise and that’s throughout the night.

“In the day the workmen are two metres from my desk – the drilling, knocking out the brick out is very loud. There’s no privacy because there are people walking past every day.

“When there was heavy rain a few months ago water got into my flat through a hole in the concrete. It got into my light sockets and fused all my lights.

“Then around the windowsill the water gets in and I can’t even open them to get rid of the mould which will be an even bigger problem over winter.”

Shabana Mahmood, the Labour MP for Birmingham Ladywood, has been an advocate for leaseholders. She said: “While it’s welcome that the cladding works have finally started, there are already significant delays.

“The damage to flats is completely unacceptable. These issues are driving many leaseholders to the brink of financial ruin and only compounding the significant toll on the mental health of my constituents.”

Philip Davis, Chair of Islington Gates’ Leaseholder Management Board, said: “The Leaseholder Board is well aware of the unpleasant conditions imposed by the removal of the cladding.

“Working with our Building Consultants and the works contractor Woodman Bros. Ltd., we are doing all we can to get the fire safety works finished.

“The Government grant paying for some of the fire safety costs makes no provision for funding alternative accommodation. Any such cost would fall on all leaseholders and is not sustainable given the already substantial costs we all face for the building industry’s negligence.

“Unfortunately, the plastic sheeting covering the site and other impacts of the works are unavoidable as we push forward with the £8million plus fire safety works.”

Source: Read Full Article