Quintain Ltd have written to the residents and leaseholders of Forum House to annouce that the second tranche of funds for remedial works to the facade of the the Wembley Park building has been refused.
They wrote:
Our priority has always been to ensure that you as residents remain safe in your homes and that leaseholders of Forum House you receive the appropriate financial support from the Government’s Building Safety Fund (BSF) where required.
Since applying to the dedicated Building Safety Fund on your behalf and submitting the required evidence in December 2020, we were informed in May 2021 that Forum House is eligible to receive financial support from the BSF. We received the first portion of this funding in September 2021 which allowed us to align a team of designers and contractors with a trusted supply chain to plan and prepare the works. We submitted our final application to the Department of Levelling Up, Housing, and Communities (DLUHC) in October 2021 for the remainder of the funding we sought on your behalf in order to begin construction.
Unfortunately, we have received notice from the DLUHC that our application for this crucial second portion of funding has ultimately been declined, prohibiting us from continuing with the project at this stage. Although full funding for the project was not formally guaranteed by the DLUHC, we were not expecting this decision. Since receiving the first portion of funds to finance the initiation of the project, we received no indication that our application for further support from the BSF would be unsuccessful.
Throughout this process we have worked closely with a dedicated case officer at the Greater London Authority (GLA) and BSF since May 2021, both of which have advised our team and worked with us to ensure our application followed the requirements set by the DLUHC.
We will now be appealing this decision with the support of industry consultants and will advise you on any further updates.
Quintain have also put on hold work on the timber decking in the building pending assessment of new guidance.
They conclude:
We would like to re-enforce that Forum House was constructed to meet building regulations at the time it was completed in 2008. An independent fire officer, who undertook an intrusive survey on the building in late 2020, deemed Forum House safe and not in need of further fire safety measures that other buildings have had to implement throughout this remediation process, such as additional fire alarms or a waking watch.Our priority remains to ensure that you as residents remain safe in your homes and are receiving the Government support that we believe Forum House is eligible for, should façade remediation be required.
