Systemic neglect

Gilton House, Brislington - Image: Bristol Live

We've written a fair few posts about the debacle of Barton House, the social housing block in the east of Bristol that had to be evacuated because of concerns about its structural integrity. This is the most recent one we've published: Possibly a small step in the right direction, but... 20.12.23. Barton House has grabbed the headlines but, it's not the only social housing block in Bristol where residents are suffering due to a combination of council neglect and incompetence: Pensioners facing winter in freezing tower block after severe building delays - Yvonne Deeney | Bristol Post | 23.12.23

The block in question is Gilton House in Brislington, which is on the south eastern fringes of Bristol. There's a programme of refurbishment underway but, as described in the Bristol Post article linked to above, it's been plagued by delays. The refurbishment involves the installation of new windows, the stripping away of the old cladding on the outside of the block, and replacement with new cladding. The cladding on the block has been stripped away and should have been completely replaced by July 2023. It has not been replaced. The delays in replacing it have been caused by a shortage of the materials needed.

Before the cladding is due to be re-fitted, when the materials eventually arrive, the windows in the block also need to be replaced. At a meeting back in July 2023 between residents and Bristol City Council to discuss the delays to the refurbishment of the block, residents were told that the windows hadn't even been ordered. Work on fitting the new windows finally commenced in September 2023 but according to residents, it's going slowly because not enough workers have been allocated to the job. This delay means Gilton House has been left without any cladding during the course of this winter.

This is leaving residents with the option of having to find alternative accommodation or jack the heating up and face astronomical bills as a consequence. Most of the residents of Gilton House are pensioners who may face problems paying massively inflated energy bills just to keep warm. If they can't afford the cost of heating their homes, they have to endure levels of cold that will threaten their health. Because of the botched management of the windows and cladding re-fit of the block, there's now a situation where people's health and possibly lives are at risk. In the 21^st century, this should not be acceptable.

There are questions to be asked. Firstly, why was the old cladding stripped off before the materials for the new cladding were sourced? Secondly, should it not be standard practice before any major work is done on a re-fit to check if there are any issues regarding the sourcing of materials? We're no experts in managing building projects but surely, it's just common sense to make sure this is done before starting any major work.

Lionel Oxley House, Grays

Does the sorry saga of Gilton House sound familiar to us? Sadly it does. When we used to live back in Essex, we were berating Thurrock Council over their botched management of a cladding and window replacement programme in Lionel Oxley House, a tower block in Grays just round the corner from the council offices:

Not f**king fit for purpose… 21.1.22

We’re talking about residents who are now struggling to heat flats with no exterior thermal cladding, windows that are overdue for replacement and who are having to deal with damp and mould. This is in the middle of what is a prolonged spell of cold weather. All factors which will adversely impact their health. Thurrock Council have a duty of care to these residents. If any of them fall ill or worse as a result of living in these conditions, the council will have nowhere to hide.

It's not just botched and mismanaged refurbishment programmes residents of social housing blocks have to endure. There's also a seemingly endless catalogue of neglect and shoddy and delayed repairs that tenants have to contend with as well. This is what one resident of Brooke House, a block in the middle of Basildon town centre, had to endure when she had water from the flat above coming into her flat:

Seriously, how long does it take to fix a leak?! 23.2.21

A tenant in the Brooke House block in Basildon town centre has been experiencing problems with water leaking down from the flat above into her bathroom ceiling for over eighteen weeks now. The leaking water has put the light in the bathroom beyond use. At the time of writing, the leak has yet to be repaired. Eighteen weeks is way too long to wait for what in all honesty is probably not much more than a routine repair.

There's an all too obvious pattern across the country of the systemic neglect of social housing blocks alongside delayed and botched refurbishment programmes. It's almost like social housing is an afterthought, regardless of the political composition of the council in question. The three councils mentioned in this post, Bristol, Thurrock and Basildon, all bang on about 'regeneration', 'urban renewal' and 'attracting investment', yet they all seem reluctant to do the basics of making sure their social housing tenants are in decent accommodation.

In the case of Bristol, the city mayor, Marvin Rees, is happy to rack up the air miles in his bid to 'sell' Bristol, boosting his post mayoral political career in the process, but is strangely reluctant to get involved with the nitty gritty of making sure the city's housing stock is fit for purpose. This simply isn't acceptable...