The Chalcots estate

TOWER block residents say they have been left sweltering in the heatwave due to the council’s strict window rules.

Tenants and leaseholders on the Chalcots – once dubbed Camden’s unluckiest estate – have to each undergo a mental health assessment to see if they can be trusted with a key that allows them to open their windows at a 90-degree slant.

The rules are there to prevent vulnerable people and children falling or throwing rubbish out of the tower blocks in Adelaide Road, Belsize Park.

Two of the five high rise towers have had the windows installed in multi-million pound works on the estate, but people living in Burnham and Dorney are still waiting.

Edwin D’Souza, a leaseholder in Burnham, said: “With this hot weather, and summer upon us, tenants and I need to be able to open all windows fully. Despite years of strong resistance to the change of windows, residents have had them forced into our homes on the basis that they were safer and provided more ventilation than what we had prior. It now turns out that the opposite is the case.”

He added: “Ventilation has been significantly reduced in bathroom, toilets and kitchens – and the ‘key’ to open the bedrooms and living room windows fully is being withheld on the basis of ‘safety assessment’.”

Mr D’Souza said that a meeting was held on the estate last week where other tenants reported being injured from the sharp edges of the new window frames, adding: “The likely reason for the ‘safety assessment’ is that there is a risk of head injuries to children if the window is fully open. Warnings were raised to Camden Housing and the project team several times prior to the windows fitting.”

Mr D’Souza, a leaseholder since 2010, was the last resident on the estate to permit access to the council for the works.

The council had to go to court to resolve the dispute.

The new windows have been installed after a long dispute about design and safety which followed years of major works at the blocks in 2017.

Cladding on the towers found to be similar to that used in Grenfell was stripped off and eventually replaced.

Last year the New Journal reported how many of the window panes had to be refitted after initially being put in the wrong way around.

Tenants got a £300 payout in compensation for the contractor bungle which led to scaffolding being put up again shortly after it had been taken down.

The scaffolding still being up is one of the reasons why many of the key-holders haven’t been assessed for the right to be able to open their windows, the New Journal understands.

Tenants have questioned whether the council’s housing officials are qualified to decide whether a tenant is mentally unwell.

A Camden Council spokesperson said tenants had been offered blackout blinds and curtains to reduce overheating due to the delays that hoped to be completed this month.

The council added that the widest open setting for the windows was designed for a “quick ventilation purge” and would not make much difference to the temperature in the flats overall.

“We know how important it is to have cool and ventilated homes during the hot weather – and all the windows at the Chalcots have been replaced with ones which reduce overheating and enable quick ventilation. We are working as quickly as possible to complete the necessary safety checks for residents in Burnham and Dorney towers who have requested keys.”

IT is now nine years since tenants and leaseholders on the Chalcots estate were told they had to leave their flats immediately – due to problems identified with the towers.

Most quickly packed some belongings into suitcases and tried to find somewhere to stay.

Some ended up sleeping on the floor of the Swiss Cottage Leisure Centre.

Almost a decade on, answers to questions around delays to repairing the blocks going back to the end of the 1990s and a tangled web of PFI arrangements have never really been answered for tenants.

The “who knew what when?” about the estate’s fire safety defects looks to now be buried in the past.