Work continues to remove unsafe cladding from the home of Exeter's first computer
The outside of Concord House is now being transformed to remove the fire risk, with the apartments being refurbished for rent
It's hoped families could return to an Exeter housing block this Autumn, as work gets underway to remove potentially dangerous cladding.
Concord House, in South Street, was home to Britain's first computer for commercial use when it opened in 1962 before being turned into 28 flats and ground flood retail units in 1999.
The final housing association resident left the property around eight weeks ago, in early 2024, following a 20-month process once concerns over the fire-risk cladding came to light.
Max Sayers from Exeter-based Nooko, which is refurbishing the 28 apartments and bringing the building up to date, said: "There's wood which basically goes from the bottom to the top without any break in between - so if a fire gets hold at the bottom it will instantly burn all the way to the top."
He added: "The insultation they've used on the external cladding is polystyrene which as you know is flammable. The reason the building can't be rented (until after the safety changes have been made) is due to the fact that it has a flammable wall covered in a flammable material which all needs to be removed."
Devon & Somerset's fire service have confirmed they were called to the building eight times in the past three years - attending on three occasions. The fire service say the true number of alarms may have been higher in that period but calls were screened via an alarm company.
An application to update the building was approved in 2022 and SNG, formerly Sovereign Housing, which was only ever a leaseholder and not an owner of the building, has confirmed that all tenants were moved out over fire-risk concerns.
The current downstairs retail units - which are not part of the latest redevelopment work on the flats - are empty.
Mr Sayers highlighted evidence of potential heavy smoking in some of the apartments now being refurbished - which he worried may have unwittingly increased the potential fire risk in the building. He added: "I definitely think the increase in building regs is a positive - nobody wants to live in a home which is dangerous to themselves or dangerous to anyone else."
It's hoped by updating the building, and creating six affordable apartments, the redevelopment will help 'breathe new life into South Street'.
In future, some of the profits from the refurbished rental properties will be given to the EDP trust which supports youngsters in Ghana.
A poster advertising the trust can be seen in front of the ongoing redevelopment of Exeter's Paternoster House by Nooko.
The computer at Concord House, built for the Commercial Union Assurance Company, was the first to be installed in Britain for commercial use. A photograph can be seen here from the John Laing Company Archive.