Residents slam lifts misery at tower block
RESIDENTS of a 22-storey apartment block slammed ongoing issues with the lifts as ‘unacceptable.’
One of the two lifts in the Number One building in MediaCity has been out of order for ‘a number of months’ and Tom McCafferty, who lives on the 21st floor, claims that the other has been in a ‘constant state of disrepair’ since he moved in more than two years ago.
Tom told M.E.N. about a 92-year-old woman living on the top floor of the building who is ‘housebound’ when the lifts are not operating properly.
He said: “For the last two years the lifts have been in a constant state of disrepair or not working. For nearly six months now, only one lift has worked out of the two in the building, and the second regularly stops, breaks down or jams.
“They’ll come on for a few weeks and then they’ll be off for a massive amount of time. We’ve been told they can’t get parts and two tower blocks have gone up in the time that they’ve been trying to fix the lifts. Urban Bubble (the management company) told us it would be fixed by the middle of May. It’s now June and there’s still no lifts.”
He added: “Some of us pay £300 per month on maintenance fees and this is what we get. It’s unacceptable.”
Melissa Cosgrove lives on the 16th floor with her baby and pet dog. She told the M.E.N.: “Two or three days ago, the lifts were broken and I was stuck downstairs with a pram and a dog. I got in touch with them and they told me someone would be with me in four hours but it was 7 o’clock at night and I needed to get upstairs to put my daughter to bed.
“It’s just ongoing. It’s a nightmare. Everyone’s just so angry about it.”
Urban Bubble head of operations Steve Austin said it could be the end of this month before the lift is working.
He said: “We accept that only having one operational lift for a number of months has caused longer waiting times and disruption to our residents’ living experience and we would like to apologise for this. Unfortunately, the lifts are very complex pieces of equipment. Therefore, we appoint a specialist lift contractor to maintain and repair them.
“We have experienced a very long wait time for the essential parts needed to repair the lift. The parts are manufactured and shipped from elsewhere Europe and due to the effects of Covid and Brexit, the parts are taking much longer to manufacture.”
He added: “We are hoping to get the lift repaired by the latest end of June. We would like to assure our residents that the parts will be installed as soon as they arrive.”
Mr Austin told the M.E.N. that Urban Bubble has tried to improve how regularly the second lift is maintained and added that vulnerable residents are ‘supported.’