Residents of  Chalcots estate, a Camden estate in London, are protesting last week after the council refused to prove that it had conducted safety tests, as they fear their flats could expose them to harmful chemicals.  Why is the HSE very quite about this, If this was a private housing they would come down like a ton of bricks.

Sixty council tenants staged a protest on the Chalcots estate, the Swiss Cottage tower blocks  after being given new cladding and windows, the estate found in 2017 to be riddled with fire safety defects, triggered by Grenfell fire disaster.

Hasan Shah, from Burnham block’s tenant representative association (TRA), said he and others were consulted over an estate regeneration 15 years ago and at the time no works could go proceed on the windows without fire testing for harmful chemicals.  Now that works are planned on the window, he contacted council to check if the essential safety tests had been done. Over the past month he has repeatedly emailed the council asking for evidence of testing , without any response, but project leaders offered to meet him for a chat  perhaps to circumvent the safety issues.

In the past Camden Council were accused of trying to suppress overheating widows report which suggests children must not be alone in any room unless their new windows are on a child safety setting. But the widows will cause night-time overheating if that child safety. Camden’s safety advice says “: Children should not be left unsupervised in rooms where the window is open 30 cm or 90° turn position.  Arup who tested the widows  graded each window’s performance green, amber or red and graded 12 windows red and three amber. . A child safety setting only allows them to open 10cm unless keys are used.  During the hottest weather occupants would likely to experience uncomfortable temperatures in certain rooms more often than standards deem acceptable if they only open windows in the restricted position.

Chalcots Estate was built om 1967 and 1968, on land owned by Eton College which comprises of 711  flats in four identical 23-storey towers (Taplow, Burnham, Bray, and Dorney and one smaller 19-storey block Blashford).On 23^rd June  2017, after Grenfell disaster, Camden Council stated that 800 homes in the five tower blocks were being evacuated in order to undertake urgent fire safety works. On 24 June 2017, 83 people were refusing to leave and council leader Georgia Gould said this would become a matter for the fire services. But 31 July the decision was reversed and residents were ordered to vacate temporary accommodation and move back into the flats. An issue with  the fire doors had been discovered and rectified. No information had been given on the safety of the cladding.   Letitia Esposito, challenged the decision in the High Court  and on 31^st July 2020. The High Court case was rejected in the Royal Courts of Justice buy Judge Juliet May.