Stephen Clark at Bacton Tower

MULTIPLE fire safety failings in a Gospel Oak high-rise identified in an independent report have not been rectified in eight years, residents have warned this week.

Bacton Tower, a 22-storey building of 120 council flats, was given a “substantial” risk rating in a publicly available fire risk assessment (FRA) this July.

In an annual safety report, risk management company Frankham RMS said that in a fire there would likely be “extreme harm” to life.

The report has been available for public view online for three months and a copy was sent to the tower’s tenants and residents association (TRA).

When questioned by the New Journal on Monday, Camden Council said the report was not final and grading needed to be updated.

It sent the New Journal an updated version of the report, which stated that the building posed a “moderate” threat.

Four safety failings from the initial assessment were removed from the updated report, including a recommendation to identify disabled residents so they could be assisted during evacuation and an assessment of the external wall to check for combustible materials, such as cladding.

Camden Council leader Georgia Gould promised to publish fire risk assessments for all council blocks “in the interests of resident safety and transparency” following the Grenfell tragedy in 2017.

Fourteen medium risk failings were identified in the updated document. The block’s communal fire doors “were considered to be inadequate throughout” and were recommended to be replaced to stop fire spreading. Doors were damaged and some did not close properly, allowing oxygen to slip through.

The fire doors at the sides of the building are exposed to the outside.

Bacton Tower

Stephen Clark, chair of Bacton’s TRA who has lived in the building for 20 years, said that during stormy weather, those doors blow open funneling wind into the corridors.

“The council said they were going to replace communal doors when they did a refurbishment eight years ago. They haven’t changed the doors.

“They painted it with varnish that’s now cracking off,” he said.

The report states it is not known whether there are vulnerable people living in Bacton who would need special assistance from firefighters during evacuation – a recommendation that came out of the Grenfell Inquiry.

Mr Clark has been asking the council to look into this.

“We have every single kind of impairment and mobility issue in this block,” Mr Clark said, adding: “I’m disabled. I would need help getting down the stairs from my flat on the 17th floor. Am I on the council list? Not that we know of.”

Mr Clark said the fire action notices in the building, which explain whether residents should evacuate immediately in the event of a fire or to stay put while it is extinguished, are confusing.

On the ground floors, the notice tells residents to evacuate if there is a fire in their flat and “leave immediately” if they discover a fire in another part of the building.

Whereas other notices in the building say if a fire ignites outside of their flat they should stay inside.

The report states there are “suitable fire assembly points”.

Varnish peeling off the fire doors

But Mr Clark said there are no signs to indicate where those points are, and he and other members of the TRA have not been made aware.

“We’re trying to fight, but we’re getting nowhere. We’ve lived with these problems for so long now,” he said.
Frankham RMS declined to comment, stating it’s “not company policy” to comment on reports for clients.

A council spokesperson said: “Bacton Tower was judged to have a moderate risk rating in its most recent Fire Risk Assessment, which was carried out by independent experts Frankham in July this year.

“We are currently working through their recommended actions, according to their priority, to make the tower as safe as possible. We are committed to delivering the highest standard of safety for our residents.”