Twenty-four hour watch on fire-risk flats

Council-owned flats on Leverton Gardens and Leverton Drive were among those affected, a meeting was told

Nine blocks of council-owned flats in Sheffield are under what is known as a "waking watch" amid concerns over the fire risk posed by their external insulation, residents have been told.

The waking watch at flats in Sharrow and Gleadless involved trained personnel making 24/7 external checks and fire door inspections, giving advice on improved resident safety and the installation of extra smoke detectors, according to Sheffield Council.

Members of the authority's high-rise forum, a council-tenant liaison group, were told of the situation at a briefing this week.

A council report seen by members of the forum said changes to the potentially dangerous external insulation were planned.

Six blocks of flats at Callow Mount, Drive and Place in Gleadless Valley were affected, as well as three at Leverton Gardens and Drive in Highfield, a meeting was told.

A council report to the high-rise forum said: "The remaining 15 towers across the city were confirmed to be low risk with no further actions required."

Residents of the affected flats had been advised of the situation by letter and drop-in sessions had been held, the report said.

Fire evacuation rules remained the same, meaning tenants should stay put if advised to by fire officers when a fire was elsewhere in their block, it stated.

'Increase risks'

According to the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS), members of the high-rise forum were told at a meeting on Tuesday that the problems were discovered during fire risk appraisals of external walls.

The report to members said the issue in the affected blocks was focused on "a limited area within the enclosed balcony area behind the glazed windows where the insulation configurations could increase risks in the event of a fire".

Removal of this insulation and replacement with materials complying with fire standards was planned and procurement was under way, meanwhile the waking watches had been put in place, according to the council report.

Peter MacLoughlin, a long-time council housing campaigner who lives in a high-rise block in Netherthorpe and who attended the meeting, told the LDRS he was "gobsmacked" to hear that the waking watch at the affected flats had so far cost £150,000, funded from the Housing Revenue Account.

He added that forum members were also told there had been problems with tenants throwing objects out of windows at waking watch staff.

Following the Grenfell Tower fire disaster in London, in which 72 people died, Sheffield Council worked with the University of Sheffield to check cladding on all its tower blocks, with defective cladding found on Hanover House in Broomhall.

Sheffield City Council has been approached by the LDRS for comment.

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