黑洞社区

Ballymore has said it will pay 拢20m to fix fire safety issues across its housing developments in London, 10 days after a fire at one of its towers with ACM cladding.

But, while the Irish-Anglo developer has confirmed it will pay 拢5m more than the 拢15m it initially agreed with the government in February, it has not said whether the amount will cover the full costs.

This is the first time that Ballymore has publicly stated how much it plans to put towards resolving cladding issues and comes after heavy criticism that it had sought to pass too much of the cost on to leaseholders.

A spokesperson for Ballymore said the firm understood that 鈥渓easeholders [had] bought properties in good faith just as we built them in good faith and in accordance with building regulation鈥�.

She added: 鈥淲e decided in February to establish a 拢15m fund, and alerted MHCLG [Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government] to this, to pay for fire safety-related cladding works across our portfolio.

鈥淔ollowing these recent meetings, we told the government and our affected residents鈥� associations that we intended to increase the fund to 拢20m to bridge the shortfalls between the cost of works and what will be covered by the government funds.鈥�

As a privately-owned business, the firm said that the 拢20m figure represented a 鈥渧ery substantial contribution鈥� but did not guarantee that it would cover all costs.

The spokesperson added: 鈥淲e are hopeful that all costs of remedial works for fire safety can be covered between the government鈥檚 fund and Ballymore鈥檚 fund.

鈥淗owever, we will not be able to commit this until such time as the relevant approvals are in place for the 黑洞社区 Safety Fund. We await finalisation of the scope of works for each building to fully understand the nature of the shortfalls across affected properties under our management. We hope to clarify this by September.鈥�

The fire at the developer鈥檚 New Providence Wharf scheme in Poplar, east London, earlier this month came in the wake of a long campaign by residents to get Ballymore to replace Grenfell-style combustible ACM panels on the new-build block. A subsidiary of the developer was put on a 鈥渘ame and shame鈥� list of landlords who had failed to take action on combustible cladding by the government at the start of the year.

But, in a statement issued in the wake of the fire, Ballymore said: 鈥淲e can confirm that the ACM cladding on the building did not combust and played no part in causing or facilitating the fire.鈥�

The firm said that enabling works to start removal of the cladding had begun two weeks before the fire.

A spokesperson for the MHCLG told The Guardian: 鈥淔ixing unsafe cladding is the building owner鈥檚 responsibility and, as the housing secretary said when he met with them last week, it is deeply disappointing that Ballymore took so long to begin work at New Providence Wharf.鈥�