Residents of a luxury apartment block in London’s Docklands have had to leave their homes after discovering that their building was a potential death trap, because of the absence of adequate fire protection.
The situation first came to light in an article the London Evening Standard by investigative reporter Andrew Gilligan. He reported on a catalogue of inadequate or non-existent built-in fire protection alongside other deficiencies, such as inadequately supported balconies and leaking roofs.
The Pacific Wharf development in Rotherhithe is now having substantial remedial work carried out under the auspices of the National House Building Council (NHBC). But it was the NHBC acting as an approved inspector which was responsible for giving building regulations approvals during the course of construction.
FSE contacted the original builders of the development, Fitzpatrick Construction Ltd, but they were unwilling to respond to allegations about specific fire protection measures. The company did, however, make the following statement:
“The work to the buildings at Pacific Wharf [is] the subject of a formal claim by the NHBC. Discussions as to the various issues raised are in the early stages between the parties. It would therefore seem inappropriate to make any comment on allegations raised outside of those proceedings and without proper consideration. We do have serious concerns about the issues raised and the accuracy and source of the allegations [in the Evening Standard article] but are simply unable to deal with them at the present time.”
For their part, NHBC were also unwilling to discuss the fire safety shortcomings in detail but said:
“NHBC’s inspection regime targets key areas in the construction process, where significant defects are likely to arise and the inspections can be most effective. NHBC inspectors carry out these inspections to satisfy themselves, as far as is reasonably practicable, that homes conform to the Building Regulations and NHBC technical standards.
“However, the inspections are not ‘snagging visits’ nor are we responsible for site supervision, and as we are not continually present throughout the construction process not all aspects of the work will be seen. The Building Control performance standards, issued by Communities and Local Government, do accept that it is not practicable to examine every item of work to which the Building Regulations relate.”
The statement continues: “The obligation to achieve compliance with the Building Regulations and NHBC technical standards rests with the builder, who must ensure that they have adequate quality control measures and supervision in place to achieve this. Pacific Wharf was checked according to NHBC’s inspection scheme in place at the time of its construction (2000-2003) and these inspections enabled us to provide the full 10-year Buildmark warranty and insurance cover for the homes.”
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