Slough Express

Building roof blows onto High Street

High Street shut after metal roof blows off building onto road

- By David Lee davidl@baylismedi­a.co.uk @DavidLee_BM

Witnesses said it was a ‘miracle’ that nobody was seriously injured when a roof for a block of flats was blown onto Slough High Street on Tuesday evening.

Witnesses said it was a ‘miracle’ that nobody was seriously injured when a roof collapsed in Slough High Street on Tuesday evening.

A huge metal structure was blown off the top of a block of flats at the eastern end of the street at about 5.45pm.

Members of the public joined emergency services in the search effort to check nobody was trapped underneath the fallen debris but miraculous­ly no serious injuries were reported.

Ahmed Khan, who owns takeaway shop Mr Cod, which is just metres from where the incident took place, said: “It’s a miracle to be honest that there were no casualties.”

The roof was sent crashing to the ground during an evening of blustery conditions in the town centre as the UK faced the tail end of Storm Brendan.

Paradigm Housing said the structure had blown off a property it rents in the town centre. The stretch of the High Street, which is home to shops, restaurant­s and bars, was cordoned off while the clean-up operation got underway.

The building affected has been covered in scaffoldin­g with the council hoping to reopen the road today (Friday).

A huge metal roof from a block of flats was blown onto the High Street in windy weather on Tuesday night – but miraculous­ly no one was trapped or seriously injured.

Lisa Connelly, who lives in a High Street flat near to where the roof came down, told the Express people were running up and down to see what had happened after the incident, which took place at about 5.45pm.

She said: “It sounded like metal scraping and I thought that it was a lorry but when I looked outside I saw the roof on the floor.

“People were running up and down the High

Street and I could see people looking to see if anyone was trapped underneath.”

Ahmed Khan, owner of Mr Cod, added: “My brother Shazad was picking some groceries up from one of the shops and when he phoned me there was a lot of noise and commotion.

“He said the roof had come down and people were running all over the place and it was just like one of those movie scenes.

“He said he looked up and it was all dark, his mind went blank and then he reacted and ran away.”

The borough council will be leading the investigat­ion into the collapsed roof following discussion­s with the Health and Safety Executive.

Paradigm Housing said the roof had blown off a property which it rents in the town centre.

A spokespers­on for the housing associatio­n said: “We are working with the local authority and emergency services to deal with an incident affecting a property we lease in Slough where the roof has blown off.

“Our priority is supporting residents in the 24 flats we lease in this building and we have staff on site to assess their individual needs.

“We will continue to support them in the coming days.

“Paradigm is not the freeholder of this building and the roof is not part of the property that is leased to us but we are working closely with the local authority to determine next steps.”

The eastern end of the High Street was closed after the incident but is set to reopen later today (Friday).

The council confirmed yesterday (Thursday) that the last piece of debris was removed on Wednesday night.

Workers were on site yesterday (Thursday) to put up scaffoldin­g around the affected building so roofers and surveyors can assess the next steps required.

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Ref:132362-3
 ??  ?? Surveying the debris from the fallen roof. Photo by Slough Borough Council
Surveying the debris from the fallen roof. Photo by Slough Borough Council
 ??  ?? Firefighte­rs on the scene. Ref:132362-23
Firefighte­rs on the scene. Ref:132362-23

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