Residents building in Basildon hopes for change ahead of Grenfell Tower final report
The report is released at 11:00 September 4
Last updated 4th Sep 2024
A residents building in Basildon, Essex - which remains trapped in the building safety crisis - is hoping for change and 'safety' ahead of the phase 2 Grenfell Tower Report coming out this morning.
Morello Quarters is home to 426 flats housing 3000 people.
In the wake of the Grenfell Tower fire in London, the building was assessed and given the lowest rating on the external wall safety scale. It has been deemed at 'high risk to life' for over six years now.
Jennifer Viccars has been a volunteer director there for 8 years,
"In that assessment, we had two enforcement notices from Essex fire and rescue which were about very immediately implementing a waking watch, and pay people to patrol the building 24 hours a day."
"We won a legal fight to delay that patrol but had to pay a quarter of a million pounds for a communal fire alarm. It took me two years to collect the money from all the residents."
"We were taken under the scope of the building safety fund, we got all the money, had some designs with concrete render, but then government changed their position and tried to hold developers and builders responsible.
"So we got kicked out the fund and moved into the responsibility of the developer", says Viccars.
"Their proposed fix was simply to take off the flammable cladding, put some fire brakes behind it, and then put the flammable cladding back on again."
She continues, "The developer didn't want to fix it to the same standard as the government. Their proposed fix involves taking off the flammable cladding, put some fire brakes behind it and then put the flammable cladding back on again."
"That was over three years ago and we're still no further forward."
"Our developer has signed the government pledge but remediation work still hasn't started. The proposed works won't remove all the fire risk, insurance costs are disgusting and barely anyone has been able to sell their flat in 7 years unless for a cash sale at a huge discount."
We have contacted Morello Quarter's developer, Weston Homes, for comment, but have not received a response.
Grenfell Tower Final Report
The final report on the Grenfell disaster will be published this morning, six years after the inquiry began hearing evidence about what led to the deaths of 72 people in a fire in 2017.
The findings are expected to criticise successive governments, the building industry, manufacturers, and the London Fire Brigade.
Survivors of the blaze say they hope to get answers but they say they also want justice.