Deal agreed on £5m Swansea tower's fire safety bill

Fire protection improvements at Wales's tallest building could cost up to £5m

A deal has been agreed over who pays to improve fire protection at Wales' tallest building.

Residents and leaseholders feared they could be landed with £40,000 bills for the £5m safety work at The Tower in Swansea's Meridian Quay.

Swansea council had issued the 29-storey tower's owners with an improvement notice

Meridian Quay Management Company said it had now reached an agreement with insurers to carry out the work.

The company's board told an annual meeting of the 256 leaseholders on Tuesday evening it had struck a deal with East West Insurance Company to rectify fire proofing in the development.

The Meridian tower was built by Carillion, which went into liquidation in 2018.

With 29-storeys, the Meridian Quay tower is visible across the city

The improvement notice from Swansea city council ordered internal "compartmentation" improvements to ensure fire cannot easily spread from one flat to another, and external firebreak improvements which involve replacing brickwork.

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"It is a huge relief to know that the insurance policy will respond in full to rectify the defects and that funding will now be in place to complete all necessary work at almost no cost to leaseholders," said one of those affected, Sian Thomas.

"This news could not have come at a better time. Many leaseholders have had difficulty meeting their commitments to fund this work."

Some leaseholders had refused to pay earlier demands towards the costs, and had sought legal advice.

The leaseholders meeting described the announcement as a "breakthrough" and praised the building's management firm for "perseverance, resilience and tenacity" in resolving the issue.