Block of flats built in 2011 to be demolished and rebuilt due to severe defects

Southwark Council’s Planning Committee are likely to approve plans to build 50 new flats in Peckham. Not so strange you may think, but these new builds will replace new flats built as recently as 2011 and riddled with faults.

The flats are located at 40-46 Solomons Passage, opposite Peckham Rye Park.

Two blocks will be refurbished whilst two will be rebuilt. Wandle Housing Association purchased the site in 2012 after the original developer Greenacre Homes entered administration in August 2011 with blocks A, B and C completed. Block D was completed in May 2012.



The council’s report lists these flaws:

  • Water ingress to flats and resulting problems with damp
  • Water damage to timber frame
  • Inadequate fire protection
  • Poor insulation
  • Defects to roof
  • Detailing of external cladding and frame shrinkage
  • Defective balconies
  • Poor drainage
  • Basement car park flooding
  • Ineffective ventilation
  • Poor condition of gas and plumbing services.

Not only are the buildings a mess inside but outside too. Cladding was added which barely lasted a couple of years before aging badly. Timber and render stained heavily.

The developer may now be defunct so will anyone pay the price for this?

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I've lived in south east London most of my life growing up in Greenwich borough and working in the area for many years. The site has contributors on occasion and we cover many different topics. Living and working in the area offers an insight into what is happening locally.

3 thoughts on “Block of flats built in 2011 to be demolished and rebuilt due to severe defects

  • This does not surprise me. The standard of new builds is shocking and a lot of buyers are paying mortgages on houses and flats in which they cannot live because they are so bad.

    I do question, however, the housing association having bought these units without getting a thorough survey. I am sure many of these defects would have been picked up with just a quick once over by a qualified surveyor, let alone a more detailed assessment.

    I remember reading somewhere a while ago about a developer hoping to offload its unsold blocks to a housing association, but it refused on the grounds of their being sub-standard. The whole lot had to be demolished. How times have changed.

    Reply
  • Agreed! I heard a similar rumour about some of the flats in Kidbrooke Village had defects and may have to be pulled down, but that was a while ago and I don’t think anything happened

    Reply
  • Is it too much to ask that property developers reap what they sow, rather than sidestepping their responsibilities and passing it on to councils, landlords or residents? We are now starting to see the wheels coming off of the wagon in regards to the boom in cheap, low-standards property development. It’s clear that these properties were designed only to cash in on the housing price bubble rather than to be sustainable homes fit for people to live in.

    Reply

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