Car park use banned after fire risk found at apartment blocks
RESIDENTS have been banned from using the car parks under six apartment blocks in Runcorn because they present a fire hazard despite previously being told the flats were ‘low risk’.
Cheshire Fire And Rescue Service has served a prohibition notice banning the use of the car parks at The Deck development on the south bank of the Mersey in response to new Government advice.
In a letter to residents, the fire brigade said: “It is the opinion of Cheshire Fire And Rescue Service that a car fire under or adjacent to the building has a very real possibility of spreading rapidly through the internal structure of the building and via some of the cladding materials.”
The notice means residents of the nearly 300 flats at The Deck now have nowhere to park until the buildings’ managers, Scanlans, can undertake remedial work. Residents have been banned from using the car parks under six apartment blocks in Runcorn because they present a fire hazard despite previously being told the flats were ‘low risk’.
In a letter to residents, the fire brigade said: “It is the opinion of Cheshire Fire And Rescue Service that a car fire under or adjacent to the building has a very real possibility of spreading rapidly through the internal structure of the building and via some of the cladding materials.”
The fire service has also changed its advice to residents, saying they should evacuate the building rather than stay put in the event of a fire, and Halton Council has instituted a ‘waking watch’ to help detect any fire early on.
A spokesman for Scanlans said the measures were ‘necessary to keep the building safe
● and to enable residents to remain in occupation’ and the company was working with the fire service and residents to find a long-term solution.
The Deck, opened in 2006, was previously believed to present a low risk of experiencing the kind of fires seen at London’s Grenfell Tower in 2017 and The Cube in Bolton last month.
After the Grenfell Tower disaster, Cheshire Fire And Rescue Service conducted a review of all high-rise buildings in the county, which said The Deck ‘features a fire retardant cladding system fitted directly to the timber frame structure’.
A report presented to Halton Council in November 2017 reached a similar conclusion, saying the flats were ‘considered low risk in relation to the external envelope of the building’
However, this assessment has since changed in light of a document issued by the Ministry Of Housing, Communities And Local Government known as ‘Advice Note 14’, updating its advice on cladding other than the ACM-type used at Grenfell.
Although the exact type of cladding used at The Deck is not publicly available, it is not the combustible ACM cladding.
The Scanlans spokesman added: “We are working closely with Cheshire Fire And Rescue Service and the residents’ association as well as a local property owner to put in place additional temporary parking as well as an enhanced fire alarm system to increase early warning.
All concerned are working hard in the interests of residents and property owners at The Deck to ensure that the building and its occupants remain safe whilst a longer term solution is found to address the requirements created by the revised Advice Note 14.”
In the meantime, questions about The Deck’s cladding are understood to be holding up the sale of some flats as buyers seek assurances that the cladding meets current safety standards.
Residents have been invited to a meeting on Wednesday where they will be provided with more information.
Cheshire Fire And Rescue Service was also contacted for comment.