"It's the news we've been dreading": Cardinal Lofts residents face full evacuation

The top three floors were evacuated in November

Cardinal Lofts
Author: Sian RochePublished 22nd Feb 2023

Residents of an apartment block in Ipswich say they've been asked to leave because of fire safety concerns.

Campaign group Ipswich Cladiators tweeted yesterday afternoon saying it was the news residents of Cardinal Lofts had all been dreading:

This comes following a partial evacuation of the top three floors in November and ongoing disputes over the safety of cladding on the building.

Some residents evacuated in November have since been told they could be facing a year out of 'fire risk' flats.

Concerns were first raised about Cardinal Lofts, close to the Waterfront, in 2020 - when a fire safety report found cladding fixed to the outside of the building could lead to flames spreading.

The Grenfell Tower fire in London in 2017 lead to the deaths of 72 people after combustible cladding allowed the blaze the rapidly spread across the building.

First for all the latest news from across the UK every hour on Hits Radio on DAB, at hitsradio.co.uk and on the Rayo app.