High-rise Buildings: Remediation

Tom Hunt Excerpts

Wednesday 2nd March 2022 Westminster Hall

[Tom Hunt (Ipswich) (Con)]

I beg to move,

That this House has considered the effect of remediation works on residents in high rise buildings.

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Mrs Miller. As the Member for Ipswich, I have been involved on the issue of cladding in more ways than one. My first surgery appointment was with a leaseholder from St Francis Tower, which is an incredibly prominent building on the Ipswich skyline; it is right in the heart of the town. The appointment had to do with making sure that leaseholders did not have to pay for the remediation works. On that particular issue, we have come quite a long way. St Francis Tower was one of the first beneficiaries of the building safety fund, and in that respect we have moved forward.

St Francis Tower was built in the 1960s. There were extensive refurbishment works between 2005 and 2008. In August 2018, a decision was made that the cladding needed to be replaced, and in September 2018 the work began. In many respects, St Francis Tower was a precursor to the many other buildings in Ipswich where leaseholders were affected. Those leaseholders have had significant periods of huge anxiety and concern about being chased for bills to do with fire defects that the leaseholders had absolutely nothing to do with. I commend my hon. Friend the Member for Stevenage (Stephen McPartland) for the work that he has done on that issue.

Although I appreciate that some hon. Members will believe that we still have a way to go in providing full support for all leaseholders and making sure that none is left behind, the debate today is specifically to do with the impact of remediation works on the residents who are expected to live in those buildings while work is taking place. It was good news that St Francis Tower was one of the early beneficiaries of the building safety fund, but in some respects it has almost become a victim of the fact that it was such an early beneficiary. The residents of the tower have had to endure something that I hope, if we continue to shine a spotlight on what has happened through debates like this, residents in other high-rise buildings like the 17-storey St Francis Tower will not have to experience.

In Ipswich, almost overnight, it seemed, a giant shrink-wrap emerged and covered the entirety of St Francis Tower—I was absolutely astonished. A very large number of my constituents assumed that the residents of St Francis Tower had been relocated somewhere else; they could not actually believe that any human beings would be expected to live in those conditions. Of course, in short order I visited my constituents in St Francis Tower. I went to four or five of the flats—some on the top levels, some on the bottom levels—and I was astonished by what I saw. What I came across were conditions that I would feel guilty about an animal living in, never mind human beings, my constituents. The shrink-wrap was put on the building in June 2021, leading to virtually no natural light at all in the building. Bars across the windows were added, meaning that even getting fresh air was very hard. Of course, that was in the midst of the pandemic. There were concerns and anxieties about potential periods of self-isolation, lockdowns and having to work from home. The flats have no balconies.

I will always remember one of the conversations that I had with a constituent. She spends a huge amount of time in her flat. To her, it was a precious place—her home. She derived enjoyment from her plants, which were on the window, and the view that she had across the town. Those plants died. I know that some might say, “They were just plants,” but they were important to my constituent. I will remember that conversation with her in particular.

Block Management UK is responsible for the building, and Oander is the company that is carrying out the work. My constituents were given very little notice that the shrink-wrap was even going to go up—very little notice at all. Initially, those companies were incredibly difficult to get hold of, or for residents to meet, so I got involved and met the residents, and I was incredibly vocal in the media. I thank the East Anglian Daily Times, the Ipswich Star and BBC Radio Suffolk, because they got their teeth into this issue. Emily Townsend, who is a former journalist from the East Anglian Daily Times, was particularly passionate about it, and I honestly think it was only the front pages that ran in the local media that brought Block Management and Oander to the table at all.

I have to be honest: I have long given up expecting these companies to act in a moral way. I have essentially come to think of it like this: on the one hand, they could have the inconvenience and cost of potentially replacing the shrink-wrap; on the other, they have the reputational risk of me continuing to bang on about it in this place, and the local media rightly continuing to cover it.

Residents were told that this shrink-wrap would be up for 12 months—12 months of living in those conditions—which has led to serious anxiety and mental health problems for many of my constituents. It is very sad that this has been the case. I have raised the issue at Prime Minister’s questions and in different departmental debates. In fact, I remember talking about it in a summer Adjournment debate to which the Minister, in his previous role, gave a very positive response, so I know that even before this debate—even before his current role—the Minister had some understanding of this issue and how important it is for me.

In essence, St Francis Tower covered in that shrink-wrap has become a scar on our landscape, and it is incredibly visible every day. In a sense, as the local MP, I also see it as a little bit of a sign of failure on my part every time I get back to the town and see that tower. I think of the people living inside it, and of the fact that the shrink-wrap is now going to be up not for 12 months, but for around 18 months, because there have been delays, as is often the case. My current understanding is that the shrink-wrap is likely to be on the building until December 2022, so even at this point, my constituents are looking at another nine or 10 months of that shrink-wrap being on the building.

St Francis Tower was the precursor in Ipswich to the leaseholder issue; my concern is that it will also be the precursor for issues to do with the living conditions that constituents who live in high-rise buildings are expected to endure. We have had other examples; in particular, there is Orwell Quay, another building in Ipswich. Initially, I was given hope that a different approach would be taken there, one more based on consultation. I heard that a netting material was going to go up, as opposed to shrink-wrap; it would be more breathable and would allow more natural light in. Having seen the material in question, frankly, it is borderline whether it is netting. It is a slight improvement on the shrink-wrap, but it still is not where we need to be.

What is the issue here, in a more general sense? For me, it is recognition that the work that is taking place is vital. We need to ensure that everybody lives in safe buildings, particularly in the wake of the Grenfell tragedy; we all accept and understand that. We want that work to happen as quickly as possible, and to be as effective as possible. We also recognise the moves that the Government have made, and we appreciate the building safety fund. However, the point I am trying to make is that we need to balance the need to carry out that work with the mental health of those who are expected to live in those buildings while the work is carried out, and I do not believe that a single Member in this place would think it acceptable that any human being has to live in the conditions that my constituents in St Francis Tower have had to live in for well over a year. We need to get to a position where the work is carried out, but in a way that is sensitive to people’s needs and their mental health.

I have been told by Block Management that the shrink-wrap is 100% necessary—that there is no other way to do it. I simply do not believe that, Minister. I do not believe that there is not another way of carrying out this work, one that is more sensitive to the mental health of my constituents. I put it to the Minister that we should work up a better way to do this, whether that is by introducing new regulations that stipulate the use of more breathable material that lets in natural light, or by making available relocation funds to ensure that it is an option for those in buildings such as St Francis Tower to live somewhere else. I am loth to say that, because I appreciate the huge pressures on the public finances.

That is my ask today. There are examples like St Francis Tower across the country; I am aware of similar case studies, so I know this is not an issue just for Ipswich. During the recent storms, the shrink-wrap was partially ripped off St Francis Tower. I have wanted that shrink-wrap off since the moment I saw it, but not in that way, which caused significant distress to a number of my constituents. Yes, we welcome the building safety fund. Nobody disagrees that the work needs to be carried out, but it must be done in a way that is sensitive to the mental health and welfare of the individuals expected to live in that building while the work is carried out.

--- Later in debate ---

[Tom Hunt]

I thank everyone for contributing to the debate: the Minister, shadow Minister and all hon. Friends and Members who have made powerful contributions. In many senses, I have got what I wanted from the debate, inasmuch as it has been not only an opportunity to talk at length about specifics of St Francis Tower and Ipswich, but has put a spotlight on the issue.

More experienced colleagues have been able to share their experiences, teach me and explain various matters that I perhaps did not know. Being more experienced, they have come up with potentially workable solutions for some of these problems. This debate in itself has been a positive development. Lord Greenhalgh will visit Ipswich and St Francis Tower, though I will be coy about the date.

I welcome the Minister in his post. The impact on the mental health of leaseholders and residents, such as those in St Francis Tower, has come up a lot in the debate. Because of that, it is incredibly important that the Minister in charge shows good levels of emotional intelligence. The Minister has that in spades and, having got to know him since I became an MP, I think that the start he has made in his role is promising. I am confident that he gets the seriousness of this issue and the extent to which my constituents have suffered. I am very pleased about that.

I think we all agree that this work needs to be carried out, like the work that is happening at St Francis Tower, and I think that my constituents are realistic: they expect some disruption and disturbance. They accept that, and are happy that the building is being made safe and that those works are being paid for through the building safety fund. They expect a degree of disruption, but not to the extent that we have seen and in a way that has had such a negative bearing on their mental health, so clearly with St Francis Tower, the right balance has not been struck.

I agree with the shadow Minister, the hon. Member for Greenwich and Woolwich (Matthew Pennycook): if relocating people were a general policy, it would be incredibly expensive and not ideal, because people want to stay in their homes. However, in relation to the cases in St Francis Tower, it would be preferable to what they are having to endure, or have endured. I think there is a third way, for want of a better phrase, that would mean that residents could stay in their homes but not be as adversely impacted in terms of their living conditions and mental health.

As such, my advice to the Government is to get ahead of this issue, because it will not go away. There will be many more St Francis Towers, and many more colleagues who will come to these debates, talk about this issue and share their experiences. Today, we have had a small number of colleagues present, but a similar Westminster Hall debate in three or four months’ time could have many more colleagues sharing similar stories, so my advice to the Government is, “Let’s get ahead of it.” What my hon. Friend the Member for Stevenage has suggested with regards to a code of practice sounds very sensible, looking in detail at what is needed and what kind of material could be used that does not have such a negative impact.

Since I have been a Member of Parliament, very few issues have been as point blank and black and white to me as this one. I will always remember the day I went to St Francis Tower. Sometimes in politics, things are not always this black and white—they are not this clear cut, in terms of what the morally right thing to do is—but that day, it really was black and white to me, and I made a pledge to the residents that I would do everything I could to get that shrink wrap off. I hope that even though I have been unsuccessful in that goal so far, by having this debate, those people at least know that their plight is getting the attention it deserves, and hopefully feel that they are not alone. It is not just me who feels very strongly about this: it is everybody in town.

I pay tribute to the Ipswich Cladiators, who are the campaign group in Ipswich on this issue, and in particular Alex Dickin, who heads up that group. The hon. Member for Sheffield Central (Paul Blomfield) mentioned a constituent who is a GP, who has dedicated so much of his time to this issue: Alex is very much in that category as well. He has been so effective because he is incredibly committed, dedicated and passionate about this issue, but is also incredibly polite, lovely and understanding. Yes, we have sometimes had discussions in which he has felt that the Government have not gone far enough, and on certain occasions he perhaps thinks that I could have done more, but he has always been an absolute pleasure to work with. I thank him, and the Ipswich Cladiators more generally.

That code of practice could be what we are really after here. It will require some Government action, because sadly, we have seen in Ipswich that we cannot always rely on the companies in question to take the responsible and morally right decision. They certainly have not done so in Ipswich, and I do not think that Block Management UK has covered itself in glory. I say that with some reticence, but I think it is necessary that I say so.

I thank everybody for contributing to this debate, and particularly the Minister for the comments he has made. It is always a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Mrs Miller—I do not think it is the first time, and hopefully it will not be the last. Have a very good rest of the day.

Question put and agreed to.

Resolved,

That this House has considered the effect of remediation works on residents in high rise buildings.