HOWELLS BUILDING ‘UNSAFE’ AND IN NEED OF £25M WORK
THE Howells building in the centre of Cardiff needs £25m of work to make it safe, a bombshell survey has revealed.
The revelation raises questions about whether House of Fraser will continue its tenancy and the viability of ambitious long-term plans for the site, which was bought for £36.9m in 2016 by Jersey-based Wallace Properties.
We have seen a copy of a report which shows that converting part of the 277,000sq ft building into a hotel, which is one of the proposals for the site, would incur a £45m bill.
Among the other findings are a significant amount of asbestos throughout the building; a substantial fire risk; all of the mechanical and engineering systems are at the end of their life expectancy; and water is supplied by lead piping which is unsafe.
The Echo has been unable to contact Wallace Properties, which is registered in Jersey and does not have to publish the names of its directors.
The devastating findings, which will make the value of the property almost negligible, come after a tumultuous few years for the prominent site in the heart of Cardiff.
In 2018, the future of the site’s sole tenant House of Fraser was thrown into turmoil when the department store was listed as one of the sites to close as part of a CVA.
It was scheduled to close in January, with staff facing redundancy.
In August, Sports Direct owner Mike Ashley purchased the chain of department stores for £90m and set about renegotiating deals with landlords in a bid to keep the stores open.
In late September, property manager Naissance Capital’s Azeemeh Zaheer said they were working with Mike Ashley’s team to keep the Cardiff
House of Fraser store open and trading.
The full deal to keep the Cardiff store open is not known. However, not all of the huge store is being used by House of Fraser.
In September this year the Prince’s Trust Cymru announced it was to be a tenant in the building after entering into a long-term lease agreement with Naissance Capital Real Estate.
The future of that deal is now unknown.
A recent design development notice, conducted by the Cardiff-based consultants WSP, found there are significant regulatory non-compliances and safety issues within the building. In general, it found that all the M&E [mechanical and engineering] systems are at the end of their useful life with some already isolated and in very poor condition.
There has been significant asbestos found in areas surveyed and it is presumed this trend will continue around the site.
The report also states there is no fire strategy at the building, as well as no mechanical and electrical record drawings and no structural drawings.
The fire risk assessment, which was completed on April 22, 2019, found there was substantial risk within the building. The risk assessment noted all the deficiencies were to be rectified within three months to provide an increase in fire safety, but by the time of the design development notice in September none had been carried out.
The report states the fire alarm system needs replacing as a matter of urgency and says that as the system stands the duty holder is in breach of the Regulatory Reform Order.
Other concerns raised include a number of inadequate fire safety measures, such as fire and smoke curtains with gaps and held up by timber, smoke vents removed or covered up, emergency lighting not working, and deficient hinges and visible fire stopping issues on the fire doors.
The report also found the heating networks are beyond the end of their expected useful life, the chilled water system is at the end of its useful life, and none of the gas systems have automatic safety cut-offs which means that if there is a fire in the boiler rooms – high fire risk spaces – then there is no way to shut the gas off automatically.
The water system was found to be supplied by lead piping, which is unsafe for human use, and a significant number of warm deadlegs, which are a risk to bacteria growth including legionella.
The adequancy of the sprinkler system was also questioned, with most of the sprinkler heads more than 25 years old, and the report also notes that maintenance is no longer carried out on any part of the sprinkler system.
The high-voltage distribution transformers are approximately 60 years old, more than double their economic life of 25 to 30 years, which would be based on a well-maintained system.
The report states though that both transformers are in extremely poor condition, have at some time had oil leaks and are suffering from general corrosion.
It also notes that pigeon droppings are prevalent throughout the transformer compound, which are a health and safety risk to personnel.
Also noted was access to the transformer area is freely available, which breaches the electricity at work regulations, and maintenance records were unavailable.