CROSSRAIL has accepted liability and agreed to repair cracking damage to homes on a council estate caused by its underground tunnelling works.

The £16billion railway programme has been working under the Fisher Street site for two years during which time tenants in Brampton and Culver blocks, in Red Lion Square, Holborn, have noticed cracks appearing throughout their homes.

Crossrail said in a statement they would “either repair, or reimburse the costs of repairs” for what it described as “aesthetic damage”.

The New Journal has seen a report by a council surveyor sent to tenants in the blocks last month which said: “The tunnelling by Crossrail has caused ground movement, which has caused displacement cracking to blocks of flats.”

It made recommendations that Crossrail ensured that a programme of “remedial works” take place and advised tenants to wait for six months until the tunnelling work at Holborn stops before any repairs are carried out.

Crossrail has told the tenants they will finish work in Holborn in April but they are already contacting firms for quotes and intend to pursue the government-appointed company for full compensation.

Tempers are boiling over after months of unacceptable night-time noise that is “like a helicopter in your bedroom” said Lorraine Lynskey, who chairs Brampton and Culver’s tenants and residents association. 

She said: “Last summer when we complained Crossrail offered to move everyone into a hotel. People have been losing sleep. Sometimes it’s all through the night and when you ring the help desk they say it’s to do with health and safety. Whose health and safety is that, then? Not ours, that’s for sure. We are entitled to some respite.”

She added: “Not only are they disturbing our right to peace and quiet but they have ruined our homes with cracks not only on the inside of our homes but on the outside of the building.”

The Brampton block backs onto the building in High Holborn where a huge parapet fell in strong winds in February 2014, killing taxi driver Julie Sillitoe. During the inquest into her death, St Pancras coroner Mary Hassell repeatedly asked whether Crossrail tunnelling could have caused structural damage to such a big building.

There are 44 flats in Culver and Brampton, and the experience of tenants there during the Crossrail tunnelling works will be a blow to thousands of residents across Camden.

HS2 are proposing tunnelling work from Kilburn through Swiss Cottage to Primrose Hill and into the Regent’s Park Estate. Crossrail 2, a north-east to south-west underground railway, will tunnel beneath Fitzrovia, Somers Town and King’s Cross. 

Special noise monitors have been set up in the block and on Tuesday night Crossrail carried out a 30-minute sound test.

A Crossrail spokesman said: “Crossrail is committed under the requirements of the Crossrail Act to address any instances of damage to properties above tunnels. 

“We have received a small number of claims in relation to properties in the vicinity of Red Lion Square. 

“Our engineers and loss adjusters have investigated these and all claims relate to aesthetic damage. Crossrail will either repair, or reimburse the costs of repairs, once ground settlement has returned to background levels.”