Bristol City Council finds potential safety issues with four residential blocks
They're changing their evacuation policy at four residential tower blocks in St Judes
Just days after a report revealed all 72 deaths in the Grenfell Tower tragedy were entirely avoidable, Bristol City Council has admitted several of its residential blocks may not meet current day fire safety standards.
Three months ago the council announced an £18 million refurbishment project for the blocks in St Judes named Charleton House, Haviland House, John Cozens House, Langton House and Tyndall House.
During a council briefing at the time we were told survey work would be required first and now that some of that has been done, a spokesperson says potential issues have been discovered, which may mean four of those blocks, Charleton House, Haviland House, John Cozens House and Langton House, may not meet modern day safety standards.
As a precaution while further survey work is completed, residents in each block are being told that if a fire breaks out they should now evacuate immediately, rather than staying put in their apartments.
Infamously residents in Grenfell Tower were told to stay put during that blaze, a decision which we now know contributed to so many losing their lives.
Speaking to Greatest Hits Radio councillor Barry Parsons, chair of Bristol City Council's Housing Delivery Committee said: "We've got some interim reporting back from that (the surveys) which has highlighted to us that there's a possibility that we may need to make some changes to bring the blocks up to modern fire safety standards.
"What its told us basically is that, although there are fire precautions in place in the buildings which are keeping people safe, there may be a need to do some more work to bring the buildings up to modern safety standards."
Seven years now since the Grenfell tragedy, residential blocks all across the UK continue to be hampered by similar safety issues, either confirmed or, as in this case, suspected.
Survivors of the Grenfell blaze are calling for a total overhaul of a housing system which has made such situations possible and Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer has issued a state apology.
A criminal investigation into what happened at Grenfell Tower remains ongoing.
Cllr Parsons said: "This is something that some families living in these blocks are going to be concerned about.
"What I would say is that we are absolutely committed to everybody's safety. Our residents' safety is our top priority and everything we do, starts from there."
The issue though, he says, is not unique to Bristol.
"Things have taken a long time to change," he said.
"It's a national issue and it's something that we're grappling with along with council landlords across the country.
"But what we're dealing with really is a legacy of decades of under-investment in our social housing and that's something that we're determined to reverse."
Two years ago in 2022 a fire broke out at Eccleston House in Barton Hill, which it later transpired had been helped to spread by flammable cladding of a different type to the kind used on Grenfell Tower.
It then emerged that same cladding, known as EPS cladding, was on 37 council owned residential tower blocks across the city.
WATCH: Our video report on the 2022 fire at Eccleston House
Work to remove it all remains ongoing, with one Eccleston House resident telling Greatest Hits Radio at the time, that they felt their flat was "a prison cell in the sky".
Meanwhile last year residents living in Bristol's Barton House were suddenly told to evacuate when, in similar circumstances to the situation in St Judes, survey work suggested there may have been serious issues with the structure of the building.
The council eventually confirmed those fears were unfounded but not until residents had been forced out of their homes for more than three months.
You can find out more about the St Judes refurbishment work here.
The latest report on the Grenfell Tower disaster can be found here.