THE WAKING watch at Cardinal Lofts in the Ipswich Waterfront development was installed after inspections ‘raised fears about fire safety’, with leaseholders ‘frustrated’ over the costs.
Ipswich Star reported on the waking watch installed at Cardinal Lofts after two inspections this year in July and September, which ‘deemed’ fire safety at the block ‘so poor’ that the watch was installed around the clock. The news outlet added that leaseholders were ‘frustrated’ however at being sent a bill to cover the watch, which will cost £5,600 a week and over £44,000 ‘up until the end of the year’ and until a new fire alarm system can be installed on the building’s top floors.
The former warehouse was converted into apartments in 2004, and a fire risk assessment (FRA) in 2018 discovered cladding ‘which needed further inspection’, with aluminium composite material suspected to ‘be present’. The 32m tall building’s issues with cladding were ‘on the top floors’, and the FRA established that there were ‘potentially large amounts of combustible materials forming part of the external wall build-up’.
In turn, the FRA found that ‘there appears to be no cavity barriers and potential poor to non-existent fire stopping in the external build-up, particularly at levels 5 and above’, with this demanding further inspection. Property managers Block Management UK wrote to leaseholders last week, and said that the building’s owner had applied for government funding to remove and replace the cladding.
Resident Sarah Cushion, who lives in a buy to let flat in the block, said that while she understood safety was ‘the most important thing’, she had been shocked to receive a bill of nearly £400, adding: ‘That is on top of the service charge and ground rent and this is for the foreseeable future. It is also before we get to any of the costs of potentially replacing the cladding.’