Chalcots estate

• IT’S been two months since the tragic fire at Grenfell and the implications continue to be felt in Camden and around the country.

As safety work continues at the Chalcots blocks we have completed and published enhanced fire checks in Camden’s other high-rise cladded tower blocks.

The completed assessments show a normal and manageable level of risk and we have also published a programme of improvement works and action plans for each block.

We are currently recruiting for a new director of resident safety, the first role of its kind in the country, and setting up a borough-wide fire safety group led by tenants and leaseholders.

The Chalcots blocks continue to be the focus of a huge amount of energy. We asked residents to start moving home after the London Fire Brigade visited the blocks and concluded that the urgent works they had identified had been completed and these had been signed off by independent building control.

We want to go further to make sure residents have the highest standard of safety given the disruption they are continuing to live through. We are installing fire blankets in every flat, testing and replacing any failed white goods in all homes.

We have ordered new extra safe fire doors for each flat which will give 60 minutes’ fire protection. We continue to have fire wardens in place as we plan for the safe removal and replacement of the cladding.

Using the standards set by the LFB we have appointed a company to complete an enhanced fire risk assessment at the Chalcots. They have been in the flats making checks for over a week including to window frames and we will act on any issues they identify.

I know from the texts, emails and phone calls I receive that Chalcots residents want answers and so do we. We will complete an independent review into what went wrong and we will follow the evidence to put it right whether it’s in our organisation or national regulations.

We will work side by side with residents in Chalcots and across Camden to build a new era of resident safety and restore trust.

CLLR GEORGIA GOULD
Leader, Camden Council