Our flats burnt down without fire checks – now we fear it will happen again

Agnese De Masi only knew a fire was spreading across her block of flats in south-west London when she was woken by neighbours pounding on her door.

“I opened the door and my neighbour was on the phone with the fire brigade, telling me there was a fire.”

All 23 flats in Richmond House, located in Worcester Park, were ultimately destroyed by the 2019 fire that left 60 residents, including 17 children, without homes.

Those living there at the time only learned that it had building safety defects after the blaze tore rapidly through it – despite occurring two years after the 2017 Grenfell Tower disaster which killed 72 people.

“We all went on the hill opposite the building and most of us – me for sure – were thinking the fire brigade would arrive on time and our flats would be spared, but we just kept seeing the flames spreading until it was evident there wasn’t really anything that anyone could do,” De Masi said.

Firefighters arrived to tackle the fire just nine minutes after the first 999 call, but the flames spread so fast it was impossible to contain. Investigations revealed that defective cavity barriers had allowed the fire to spread rapidly through the inside of the timber-framed building.

The block has since been rebuilt but residents now fear they could still face the threat of fire safety risks – without any way of knowing about them.

In December, Labour vowed to ensure that every building above 11 metres with unsafe cladding will either be remediated or have a date for the completion of the repairs by 2029.

Richmond House after the blaze on September 9, 2019 (Photo: Jennifer Frame)

But Richmond House was not assessed under the government scheme to examine fire risks at residential blocks – a legacy of Grenfell – because it measured under 11 metres. Buildings under this height are regarded as safe enough to go without repair.

“The building hadn’t been identified as a high-risk because it was low-rise and had cladding which wasn’t deemed problematic,” said Jennifer Frame, who lived at the block at the time of the fire.

“If Richmond House had been a high-rise block with combustible cladding – the narrow lens through which the government was looking at the building safety crisis – it is very possible that Richmond House could have been assessed for building safety risks and action could have been taken before the fire ever even happened.”

Ms Frame said the blaze “has demonstrated that even a building of that height could have very rapid fire spread and be a risk to life and to your property”.

With no government support, the victims of the fire settled their High Court claim against the building’s constructor, St James, part of the Berkeley Group, and freeholder, Metropolitan Thames Valley (MTVH), after a five-year legal battle.

Richmond House in south-west London during the blaze in 2019 (Photo: Angela Gadaleta)

Ms De Masi was among residents who moved back into the rebuilt Richmond House, but said she struggled to deal with the trauma she had experienced.

“Every time you get close to the building, you can’t get away from the image of that night when you lost all of your belongings, all of your memories and everything you worked for,” she said.

Days after she moved back in on 15 March, the new block, rebuilt by Boom Construction, was evacuated again.

“There’s been two fire alarms in two weeks. One of them actually required the fire brigade to evacuate the entire building,” she said.

Jennifer Frame, former Richmond House resident (Photo: supplied)

The reason behind the alarms has not been identified, sparking concerns that the building’s fire safety system remains defective.

“We are all frightened,” Ms De Masi said. “If the fire alarm goes off for no reason whatsoever, that’s grounds to believe it won’t go off in case of a real emergency. The alarms are clearly faulty.”

Ms De Masi said she has contacted MTVH to raise her concerns, but claimed she was met with “dismissive” responses and a “complete lack of compassion”.

“I don’t feel safe in my own home,” she said.

An MTVH spokesperson said they acknowledged that it has been an “incredibly difficult journey” for residents who experienced the fire and have since returned to a newly built home on the same site.

Ms De Masi evacuated Richmond House minutes before the blaze spread across the building (Photo: supplied)

They said the new block has a number of additional safety features to ensure residents feel safe. A liaison officer has also been allocated to each returning resident.

The spokesperson added: “We are investigating the cause of the false alarms and will share the findings with our residents as soon as they are available. We will be taking any actions required to address the cause as soon as they are known.

“Richmond House is safe to live in, and we are committed to addressing the cause of the false alarms at the building and to preventing similar occurrences in the future.”

Ms Frame’s bedroom after the fire at Richmond House (Photo: supplied)

Although Labour has clamped down on dangerous cladding for buildings above 11 meteres, residents in smaller apartment blocks, like Richmond House, have said the proposals will force them to choose between living in unsafe homes or paying up to large fees for repair work, leaving them bankrupt.

A spokesperson for the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) said: “We take resident fire safety concerns very seriously and review cases of buildings under 11 metres brought to our attention, although it is accepted the fire risk is generally lower and remediation is only required in a small number of instances.”

Landlords are responsible for managing and addressing safety risks in their buildings, regardless of building height, they added.

In 2022, a spokesperson for Berkeley Group, said: “The cause of the fire was never identified but the building ‘performed’ as it was supposed to, allowing everyone to get out safely.

“Compensation has been paid to residents and those that wished to do so have been able to sell their flats back to the owner, MTVH.”

The i Paper has contacted Boom Construction for comment.

Sadiq Khan’s plan to fix the housing crisis

Sir Sadiq Khan is set to redraw London’s green belt to encourage mass housebuilding on the outskirts of the capital in a “radical change” to build 88,000 homes a year.

Areas likely to be earmarked for development are green belt plots close to transport links, with Khan saying the idea of the green belt as “all beautiful countryside” is a “myth”.

Real estate advisory firm CBRE has previously highlighted areas such as Bromley, Havering, Hillingdon and Enfield on the outskirts of inner London as potential locations for thousands of new homes.

London has a new target of building a record 88,000 new homes a year, but the current plan, which expects all housing supply to come from brownfield sites, is delivering only around 40,000 a year.