Cladding fix agreed for fire-risk flats

Issues including unsafe cladding were flagged at Skyline Chambers in Manchester

The owner of a block of flats in Manchester, where the risk of fire was judged "so serious" that residents had to leave, has agreed to remedy a series of defects.

Wallace Estates signed legal orders outlining how issues including unsafe cladding will be remediated at Skyline Chambers and three other buildings in the NOMA district.

It came after the government took the company to a tribunal.

The firm said it would "make sure works begin as soon as practically possible".

Residents were moved out of Skyline Chambers on Ludgate Hill in October 2023 after Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue Service served residents with a notice saying the amount of "combustible materials" in the building meant the risk to their safety was "so serious that use of the premises ought to be prohibited".

The notice said the way the external walls were constructed constituted a "very high" risk to residents and the materials used in an internal atrium could "affect the means of escape" for residents if there was a fire.

Legal action

Flat occupiers at the building were moved into temporary accommodation, paid for by Wallace Estates, who also agreed to pay leaseholder-landlords the rent they had previously been receiving from their tenants.

Josh Morris, who owned and lived in his flat at Skyline Chambers, said he and other residents had "no trust and confidence in anything" that Wallace Estates said due to "repeated U-turns".

The government launched legal action to seek remediation orders for four buildings owned by Wallace Estates, which would compel the firm to fix a series of fire safety defects.

The firm agreed to the orders weeks before a first-tier property tribunal hearing was due to take place in March.

The agreements cover Skyline Chambers, adjacent buildings Red Building and 33-35 Simpson Street, plus Quebec Building on Bury Street.

Mr Morris said leaseholder-landlords were "frustrated" over the way the company had dealt with the loss of the rent from their tenants, and added that the "real victims" had been "silenced" because the matter had been settled before the tribunal hearing began.

A Wallace Estates spokesperson said the remediation orders were "merely technical confirmations of what Wallace had been working toward for years – to make sure works begin as soon as practically possible in spite of the various regulatory roadblocks".

The firm said it had "consistently worked to ensure building safety issues were fixed as soon as possible after being identified, and had consistently called on the Government to ensure leaseholders do not pay for these costs".

It added it had "already overseen the completion of remediation projects and is progressing others".

"These remediation orders are therefore merely technical confirmations of what Wallace has been working toward for years – to make sure works begin as soon as practically possible in spite of the various regulatory roadblocks."