Subsidiary St James will undertake work to install cavity fire stops at Worcester Park development
Berkeley Homes has been served with an enforcement notice by the London Fire Brigade to undertake remedial work on a south London timber frame development involved in a major blaze in September.
Housing Today understands that the enforcement notice, which is yet to be published, requires Berkeley to improve cavity wall fire-stops in the scheme, after investigations revealed the wrong products had been installed.
A block in the Hamptons development in Worcester Park, developed by Berkeley subsidiary St James, burned to the ground in September. The overnight blaze in the 15m-high block, called Richmond House, required 125 firefighters to get it under control and led to the evacuation of 70 people. It led to questions being raised about the fire safety of timber frame buildings, following on from a number of recent fires in timber frame buildings.
Shortly after the blaze, Housing Today’s sister publication Building magazine reported that an independent inspector, who had visited the scene of the blaze, could see “no evidence of horizontal or vertical fire-stopping” within the cavity walls on the scheme.
Fire stopping within cavity walls is seen as essential to prevent the rapid spread of a blaze within timber structures.
The block in question was owned by housing association MTVH, which owns and manages around half of the Hamptons development, with St James retaining the freehold on other blocks.
MTVH has been given until April 2021 to undertake the remedial works by the fire brigade, while St James has been given just 12 months to undertake improvements on its blocks. As the original developer, St James is expected to carry out the remedial works on all the blocks, regardless of current ownership.
The news emerged after MVTH last week briefed residents of the estate on the outcome of independent investigations of the remaining buildings to check for fire safety.
In a statement MTVH said that the safety of residents was its priority, and that it had installed a 24-hour waking watch on the development while works are undertaken. Its statement said: “Over the past few days, we have shared with all MTVH residents the results of in-depth investigations by independent experts into the construction of the buildings we own at The Hamptons to establish if there are any structural issues that could compromise fire safety.
“The investigations show that work is needed to remedy certain defects in the passive fire protection of buildings on The Hamptons. In practice this means installing or improving cavity barriers within the external wall systems, and correctly firestopping elements of the construction internally.
“It is anticipated that St James, as the original developer, will lead these remedial works. MTVH will ensure that all remedial work is overseen by appropriate independent experts to check that works are installed correctly and meet the requirements of the Building Regulations.”
A London Fire Brigade spokesperson said its post-fire inspection had “found a number of fire safety breaches.” He said: “We have issued enforcement notices detailing the areas the responsible person needs to address and we will revisit the premises to see how this is being completed.”
The spokesperson added that the previous “stay put” advice to residents in the event of a fire had been temporarily suspended and a “simultaneous evacuation” strategy – a procedure in which all or parts of a building are evacuated in the event of the fire at one time – had been implemented.
St James declined to comment on the news.
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