The residents of Richmond House have issued legal action against a housing association and a builder after a fire completely destroyed their homes.
All 23 flats in the four-storey block in Worcester Park in south-west London were destroyed after a fire broke out on 9 September 2019. At its height, the London Fire Brigade (LFB) dispatched twenty fire appliances and 125 firefighters to tackle the blaze. 60 residents lost their homes. An independent investigation commissioned by MTVH following the incident revealed “basic construction errors”, including issues with the cavity barriers. In his report, inspector Gerard McLean stated:
“In Richmond House, the cavity barriers that were fitted were defective: they were too small to close the cavity and they would have contributed nothing to control of the fire. Based on the limited number of drawings that I have seen, the defects in the cavity barrier installation appear to be the result of errors in the design.”
“Because effective cavity barriers were not fitted in the external wall void, in its early stages the fire was able to spread almost unhindered, both horizontally and vertically. When it reached the roof, there was no effective obstacle to prevent fire spreading into the roof, which there should have been.”
As reported by Inside Housing (IH), more than 50 residents of Richmond House have now issued a High Court claim against Metropolitan Thames Valley (MTVH) housing association, which owns the building, and constructor St James Ltd, which is part of the Berkeley Group PLC.
Submitted to the Technology and Construction Court by Bindmans LLP, the residents are “claiming damages for their injuries, lost possessions, and for the discomfort, and inconvenience they have suffered due to the loss of their homes”.
In their claim, the residents argue that the builders, St James, were in breach of the Defective Premises Act (DPA), while MTVH were in breach of both the DPA and the Occupiers’ Liability Act.
As previously reported by the FPA, the founder of Berkley Group, Tony Pidgley told residents shortly after the fire that they had been “let…down badly”:
“It is our fault, we’ve missed it ... We did miss that fire stop, and I’m sorry, and we will be taking responsibility,” he said.
At the time, it is understood that households were each given £3,000 plus a “contribution towards legal fees” in a “one-off compensation” payment; however, residents and Bindmans law firm have since stated that this is "not sufficient”.
Housing and public law specialist at Bindmans, Christian Hansen said: “Developers should not be able to build and sell unsafe homes and then just shrug their shoulders and show no concern for the victims of its tragic mistakes.”
According to IH, MTVH responded to the High Court claim by saying: “This has been a distressing time for our residents as they have sought to resolve this claim, and our focus has been on doing the right thing by them. At each stage of this process, we have acted in good faith, working towards a mediation within a timetable agreed between the parties.
“It is regrettable that for reasons outside of our control, mediation to date has not been possible. We will work constructively, as we have done throughout, and are hopeful that the parties can arrive at a resolution that will help to bring some closure.
“Meanwhile, over the coming months, we will be welcoming back those residents who have chosen to return to Richmond House and doing all that we can to help them to settle back in.”
Earlier, IH also reported that MTVH had agreed to an out-of-court settlement with St James for “damages and/or indemnity” following the fire. More details can be found here.
(Photograph by London Fire Brigade)