The foundation structure at the blocks in Belsize Road

STRUCTURAL engineers are being sent in to urgently assess blocks housing dozens of council tenants after cracking and dubious foundation structures were discovered during maintenance works.

Tenants in Rutherglen, Stanley and Felbridge in Belsize Road say they have been warning the council about problems for years but that calls for help to the landowner, Network Rail, and management company, Atlantic Housing, have been ignored.

Foliage at the back of the estate was recently cut back due to drainage problems – and this has revealed the decay to the structure of the buildings.

One of the tenants, who cannot be named for legitimate reasons, said: “The beams our building is sat on are on pillars that are falling apart with cracks straight through the middle – so structurally unsafe – as well as wide cracks separating sections of the building.

“This has been an ongoing issue which the landlord and Camden, including the environ­mental health team, have been aware of since 2017. It has been left to progressively get worse.”

A floor appears to be capsizing

The New Journal has seen images of a floor crumbling in one of the flats, where a tenant had to be moved out after a floor caved in.

The blocks, which had been decanted after being condemned in 2007, were brought back into use a decade ago after being done up by the Essex-based company.

At that time the council said it had reached a “deal” with the firm that saw the buildings refurbished and made available to tenants.

Cracked walls can be seen from the outside

Publicly accessible figures show the council is still paying Atlantic £337,000 a year which the council said included around £100,000 for maintenance of the blocks.

In a 2016 press release, “Making a house a home”, the council said of the deal with Atlantic: “With the flats completely uninhabitable, and repairs needed to the tune of over £1m, it wasn’t until the council secured a deal with Atlantic Lodge (Housing) Ltd last year that the funds were available to get the flats back into use.”

A tenant was pictured with a beaming smile and holding keys.

This week, a Camden Council spokesperson said: “We want every resident to feel safe in their home and we recently visited these buildings to discuss tenants’ concerns. We are working with Atlantic Lodge Housing and have arranged for a structural engineer to carry out an inspection this week to assess any repairs that need to be done.”

Atlantic were contacted for comment on Monday but did not respond.