Pictures of cracks photographed by Marlene Levoy

A BUILDERS are due to start emergency repair work on three newly built council blocks in Maitland Park.

Marlene Levoy, who lives in a new-build block on the Maitland Park estate, has led a one-woman campaign to get Camden to take action over issues with the flats.She said this week she had reported chunks of masonry falling from walls and balconies above her ground-floor home.

An emergency repairs team visited the estate over the  weekend, followed by a structural engineer on Monday.

While they say the issues discovered during an inspection are not serious and will be dealt with, tenants say it shows a lack of concern over standards.

The heightened fears come amid an ongoing investigation into the death of a 58-year-old man on a council estate in Swiss Cottage last week.

A key aspect being looked at is whether a glazed panel collapsed from a second floor balcony before the tenant fell.

Ms Levoy said: “I took the structural engineer around the estate and showed him the balconies. They said they were worried by what they had seen.”

Camden, however, has now assessed each balcony, and say they have no worries over safety – but will be commencing emergency repair work on areas where chunks of masonry and concrete have fallen away.

A Town Hall spokesman said: “At Maitland Park, the balconies are constructed from reinforced cast concrete and recent inspections show no cause for concern. Where minor issues or cosmetic defects – such as weathering or small gaps in mortar – have been identified, repairs have been arranged.”

Bits of masonry collected from Ms Levoy’s balcony

But for Ms Levoy, who has been collecting masonry fallen from the building, that’s not enough.

She said: “I live in fear about what will break next. I am fed up – the council have treated whistleblowers like me as a nuisance and they should have taken this issue seriously when it was raised at first.”

The estate, made up of three blocks, opened in September 2023.

It includes 50 council homes and a further 100 sold privately in a long refurbishment of the estate.  Camden celebrated the grand opening by inviting Sir Keir Starmer to be one of the first to look around.

Ms Levoy moved in over two years ago and within five days she said she had to leave.

She said “My toilet collapsed and they had to move us out for nine months while they re-did the bathroom – and it is still rubbish  When I moved back last year, I noticed as I walked around the estate there were cracks on the balconies.

“Some balconies are leaning forward. None of them are straight.”

She said she had been labelled a ‘complainer’ by housing staff as she had repeatedly raised concerns.

She said: “Their response to me collecting pieces of the building that have fallen off was: it’s not important.  I live on the ground floor and I have four balconies directly above me. I am literally picking up concrete as it falls off. What if they land on someone’s head?”

She added bolts holding railings were mismatched and rusting, while concrete sections were turning orange as embedded metal supports corroded.

She said: “I have told the council about these issues and they have come back saying it’s just not a problem.”

Emails seen by the New Journal to the Town Hall over a year ago highlight the litany of issues – and officers’ responses that dismiss her claims.

But a repairs team are now due to visit Maitland Park and make good a number of cracks and areas where the Town Hall say wear and tear has occurred.