A section of Higgins Partnership's Granville New Homes
I returned to South Kilburn last week in order to update Wembley Matters on the progress of this massive development.
Granville New Homes are not called that by its residents, who just use their addresses, but the occupants have found themselves in a very fraught situation. Brent Council have so far offered no option for residents be decanted elsewhere when the £18.5m remediation works start. Even if they wanted to be decanted it is unclear whether any spare capacity is available.
There is the possiblity that a much needed Tenants and Residents Association will be formed to represent their interests and one of its main tasks should be to ask Brent Council to finance independent legal advice for them.
Ironically, Higgins Partnership who built the defective homes, were chosen by Catalyst Housing to remediate defects in Merle Court (built as a 2012 partnership between Wilmott Dixon, Catalyst and Brent Council) just around the corner. Problems were so bad that Catalyst tenants were told that they would be rehoused. LINK I am currently seeking clarification from Catalyst whether this in fact happened. It certainly doesn't look fit to live in at present.
Scaffolding around Merle Court
Not far away Higgins pop up again at the Chippenham Gardens development (where potential flooding has been highlighted by David Walton HERE)
Higgins' Chippenham Gardens build
Lastly as far as Higgins goes (well probably not!) but on the other side of the borough, Brent Council chose them for a £22m contract to build homes and a retail unit on the Hillside/Milton Avenue site in Stonebridge. This is Brent Council and Higgins celebrating the start of the project just under a year ago.
It is no wonder that Cllr Southwood, rather anxiously, sought assurances at this week's Brent Cabinet meeting on the quality of build at the Alperton Bus Garage development where the Council are purchasing the leasehold on 155 housing units.
On to another housing association, L&Q Homes, where their Bourne Place has been a disaster area, highlighted often by campaigners on social media. This 2013 build was a partnership between L&Q and Brent Council and is beset with cladding and heating problems. When the defects emerged Brent Council and L&Q clashed over who was responsible ,with the leaseholders caught in the middle. LINK
The PR plug in the Evening Standard refers to a 'once notorious estate' - it is now becoming notorious for housing scandals!
The contrast between what I found on the ground and the image above could not be more stark:
Bourne Place - temporary heating pipes snake across the ground and above the ground
Temporary heating centre
A resident of Bourne Place told me:
Our entire system failed due to both plant room issues and burst pipes underground. So L&Q had to hire the temporary heating centre placed in the garden and build temporary pipes into buildings. It has been like this since February. The first stage was to fix the plant room, our own boilers and pump. I believe this is now completed. The temporary centre will be removed and pipes will need to be adjusted to lead from our plant room into the buildings. The last stage will be to dig out the grounds and replace all underground pipes to connect all 3 buildings again to the repaired plant room via underground pipes. Then these temporary pipes will be removed. It's still long way from completion due to all sorts of delays, some to do with customs and delivery issues from Europe.
South Kilburn residents have had to resign themselves to several decades of building works but rely on the 'Considerate Builders' to actually mean what they say.
The building of the HS2 vent next to flats and a primary school was opposed by residents but went ahead with the support of Brent Council who want to build on the initial site next to Queens Park station. A resident told me about being awoken by HS2 works at 4am in the morning and noise at other unsocial hours.
More disruption is promised by HS2's rather belated investigation of the drainage system at the site - perhaps recognition of potential flood dangers. The HS2 track will run beneath the South Kilburn estate...
HS2 Works Entrance
Vent works
It is perhaps not surprising that some residents are now looking with an element of nostalgia at the blocks waiting to be demolished.
The South Kilburn Skyline
Who was the head of BHP when Granville New Homes was purchased?
ReplyDeleteWhy are Brent Council so pathitic when it comes to Regeneration? The names that spring to mind are Butt, Tatler, Farah, Southwood and McLennan. All of them are still there taking Brent down the sewers. The phrase couldn't manage a piss up in a brewery comes to mind - I suspect they'd actually make a better job in the brewary than the Regeneration of Brent.
ReplyDeleteBHP was Helen Evans, now of Catalyst/G15 Chair
ReplyDeleteTo this excellent housing as 'situations' update on South Kilburn, I can add the following;
Merle Court, South Kilburn- yes residents still live behind the for two years total scaffold (as pictured) while a standoff over who is responsible and who must pay remediation and other major costs continues. I know a former neighbour who said to me that moving into Merle Court was the worst thing she ever did adding "we are stuck, they don’t know what to do and I am very depressed." Maybe some residents can be put forward who enjoy the unexpected Centre Pompidou effect or moving about anywhere across the building using any window, but can any residents enjoy paying for the 24/7 fire watch?
Argo House, South Kilburn 93 private leasehold flats built on council land which was formerly the estates business, employment training and enterprise centre now colonial cleared and not as yet replaced? This 2016 built block suffers mold, leaks, warped floors and walls (next to the river) and its entire main structure is timber framed. Another 'situation', especially regarding getting a replacement business, employment training and enterprise centre built.
Unity Place, South Kilburn Major Town is fully Brent owned with a massive 90 space car park pool dug underneath it! Zero mitigation to beyond site homes regarding this new environmental damage and flood risk escalation created but of course Brent can still climate action this. Regarding adjacent City of Westminster new sites located up Carlton Hill, Brent officers will need to secure strong protection of sewage flood vulnerable new Unity Place river side homes down streams from these up-hill major developments in Westminster pending. I hope Brent can succeed in this and keep all residents costs as low as possible.
'The scheme reintegrates the site and its communities into the wider South Kilburn neighbourhood' is an often repeated Growth Area post 2010 developer publicity mantra for very large flood plain site South Kilburn Major Town. In contrast the residents-led partnership masterplan of 2004 wanted South Kilburn to reintegrate into prosperous, well managed, resilient and protected surrounding neighbourhoods, this rather than repeating and repeating in a siloed zone the many 'situations' miseries and heavy costs which Martin highlights so well in his post.
Why build a housing block well once, when you can build bad and get paid twice, masterfully "churning" between zones 'situations' of course?
Housing mis-management is deep culture Brent, where gross incompetence hides, thrives, mutates and dominates South Kilburn lives for near 43 years now. No lessons learned from the six Ronan Point (1968) disaster type 16 storeys large panel towers (3 still here and still housing) all having been knowingly built post Ronan Point as unmortgageable unsafe built homes from day one, then these towers mainly mis-managed to this very day.
1970s unsafe build tower building lessons learned by Brent, it has not been so? More an amplified redux so far.
Merle Court residents were told they would be rehoused,18 months later told they can stay in the building, refurbishment will be completed around them,told works will begin in 2022,whole building is infested with rats,bloody embarrassing living there,new builds around South Kilburn are a joke,no one fighting on our behalf,Brent council have a lot of detractors but I'd take them as landlords rather than bloody useless Housing associations
ReplyDeleteTo Martins housing 'situations' update regarding South Kilburn, I can add the following;
ReplyDeleteMerle Court, South Kilburn- yes residents still live behind the for two years total scaffold (as is pictured) while a standoff over who is responsible and who must pay remediation and other major costs continues. I know a former neighbour who said to me that moving into Merle Court from council housing was the worst thing she ever did adding "we are stuck, they don’t know what to do and I am very depressed." Maybe some residents can be put forward who enjoy the unexpected Centre Pompidou effect or moving about anywhere across the building using any window, but can any residents enjoy paying for the 24/7 fire watch?
Argo House, South Kilburn 93 private leasehold flats built on council land which was this estates business, employment training and enterprise centre now colonial land cleared and not as yet by Brent replaced? This new in 2016 built private sale block suffers mold, leaks, warped floors and walls (next to the river) and its entire main structure is timber framed. Another 'situation', especially regarding getting a replacement business, employment training and enterprise centre built anytime soon.
Unity Place, South Kilburn Major Town is fully Brent owned with a massive 90 space car park pool dug directly underneath it! Zero mitigation to protect beyond site homes regarding this new environmental damage and flood risk escalation created, but of course Brent can still climate action this using CIL. Regarding adjacent City of Westminster pending sites located opposite up Carlton Hill, Brent officers will need to secure strong protection for sewage flood vulnerable new Unity Place river side homes down from these major new developments in Westminster. While Westminster should have an interest also in not sewage flooding its own Kilburn Park Road residents not fortunate enough to be inside the protection of the massive engineered Central London flood defences beyond the south end of Kilburn Park Road.
Probably not decanting because they have nowhere to put them in the interim. Yet Catalyst said the work was so intrusive that they would need to move residents out. So now they are expected to put up with that intrusive work. The way people are being treated is outrageous.
ReplyDeleteI particularly like the comment "South Kilburn residents have had to resign themselves to several decades of building works but rely on the 'Considerate Builders' to actually mean what they say." No chance. The Considerate Constructors scheme is run by the big construction firms - "marking their own homework". We experienced how useful it is when we presented them with a long list of concerns about the operation next to our blocks during regeneration. The person from the scheme who visited had clearly not looked at that list and had no interest in taking our complaints seriously. As regards treating their workforce with respect, the labourers walked off that job because they weren't being paid. Of course, Brent Council doesn't do any better in terms of ensuring the builders don't work outside of allowed hours, park vehicles everywhere etc. Brent refuses to take action against firms which flout those rules. It just gives them more contracts.
ReplyDeleteHiggins taking the entire public square at Chippenham Gardens Local Centre (public owned) fenced-in hostage (no ASK) for all of this year is a good example of Considerate Builders and Considerate Master Developers walking arm in arm into a very excluding and colonial Brent sunset.
ReplyDeleteIt made lockdowns and 'stay local' that extra bit more awful for thousands locally. Thanks.