Cladding scandal takes dark turn for residents
Plastic sheeting has covered flat windows for six months
RESIDENTS in a multi-million pound apartment complex are “living in permanent darkness” after the entire building was wrapped in plastic.
Huge sheeting covers every inch of the six-storey high Islington Gates tower while dangerous cladding is replaced with a non-flammable material.
But due to delays to the work, residents in the 141 flats in Birmingham’s Jewellery Quarter have been unable to see out of their windows for six months.
Leaseholders who paid between £160,000 and £200,000 for the apartments are also facing five-figure bills to put up the new cladding.
Many residents are first-time buyers who bought the properties with mortgages before a fire safety review outlawed certain cladding following the Grenfell fire tragedy.
The review found Islington Gates’ aluminium and cedarwood cladding was different to that at Grenfell but was still too flammable.
Scaffolding was put up and workmen started removing the cladding in April this year but plastic sheeting still shrouds the 250m-long building.
As well as being denied a view and living in permanent gloom, residents have also complained about leaking ceilings and mould.
Jennifer Reid, 40, bought her onebedroom sixth-storey flat in February 2019 and found out later that year there was a “significant fire safety issue”.
The marketing manager said: “It’s been a really tricky, horrible two years having committed to buy the flat and then learning I was on the hook for a pretty huge bill.
“The government are now going to be funding a significant portion of the work, but my initial bill was £50,000, that’s on a £160,000 flat.
“Now it is about £30,000 that will be covered but I’m still on the hook for a serious amount of money.
“I’m already mortgaged up to my eyeballs. It could be over £10,000 and on top of that my service charge
had doubled as well from £1,400 to £2,800-a-year.
“We used to have views across the city but now the plastic completely blocks the light. It’s pretty miserable.”
Her neighbour, legal professional Danny Kelly, 30, has been a leaseholder on the sixth floor since 2018
and lives with his 27-year-old fiancée Danielle Poole.
The five-figure bill they face has forced them to put their marriage plans on hold.
He said: “We were told we didn’t have the same cladding as Grenfell, so we thought ‘great’ but government advice changed and it fell within the scope of what needed to be removed.
“We had wooden balconies which needed to be removed.
“My balcony used to overhang the canal, so it was a nice view.
“I was shielding last year so I couldn’t go outside and that was the only fresh air I had.”
Mr Kelly said leaseholders were told the building’s repair bill was £9 million and his share ran to £75,000.
The Government’s Building Safety Fund, announced in the 2020 spring budget, reduced the bill but still left him out of pocket.
He added: “It’s gone down to £10,000 or £11,000 but it’s still five
figures. The leaseholders are the only party not a fault at all. The developers, planners, builders, contractors, surveyors have all made mistakes. Now the cladding’s off it’s the disruption from the work and the wet and cold that are the issues. And I’ve lost my view because of the plastic.”
Shabana Mahmood, the Labour MP for Birmingham Ladywood, has been an advocate for leaseholders.
She said: “These issues are driving many leaseholders to the brink of financial ruin and only compounding the significant toll on the mental health of my constituents.”
Philip Davis, Chair of Islington Gates’ Leaseholder Management Board, said: “Working with our Building Consultants and the works contractor Woodman Bros Ltd, we are doing all we can to get the fire safety works finished.
“Unfortunately the plastic sheeting covering the site and other impacts of the works are unavoidable as we push forward with the £8 million-plus fire safety works.”