RESIDENTS of two St Helier tower blocks say they have been forced to dodge buckets catching rainwater in communal corridors for years, as roof leaks they describe as a “health and safety biohazard” remain unresolved.
A resident told the JEP that the roof leaks affecting Andium-run Le Tour Heron and Le Tour Dunlin had “just got worse and worse”.
She explained that she and a family member had experienced severe water leakage in the landing area outside their front door, despite living in two separate tower blocks.
“[My family member’s door] has literally been rotting away for years and they just put buckets down and have done nothing about it – every time it rains, it’s awful, basically.
“My one is one bucket – it is not as bad, [but] it is progressively going to get worse and we keep having heavy rain,” she explained.
A video sent to the JEP showed drops of water falling down from a ceiling stained with mould into several buckets arranged onto the woman’s relative’s landing.
Figures released earlier in the year by Jersey Met found that January saw 80% more rainfall than average in St Helier.
The Le Tour Heron resident confirmed the extreme weather conditions had “added another layer to what’s already been going on”.
She said: “I was around [my family member’s] when it was heavily raining – I walked out of the lift and the whole landing was quite flooded, even though the buckets were there”, she explained over the phone.
“It’s a health and safety biohazard, [and] how long’s it been going on for? Years. I said to my [family member], that ceiling is going to cave in, it’s a matter of time.”
Her “brilliant” caretaker, she said, has complained to Andium “many times”, but a solution is still not forthcoming.
“I got ignored for a while – no responses to my email – I tried to call and they just barely answer the phone as it is,” she explained.
She eventually received a call from Andium contractors Calton Ltd who rang to said they would be coming to “have a look at the problem this afternoon”.
Still, though, the buckets remained – and during a conversation with an Andium employee over the phone she was informed that the job had been somehow “marked as complete”.
It turned out that the roof leakages had actually been subcontracted out to a new contractor, who’ve now also made her similar assurances that the problem will be handled “on a dry day.”
“It’s been happening for years,” she said. “And there have been many dry days, it shouldn’t have got to a stage that there’s a hole.”
It was suggested that having several buckets out on the landing to collect drops of water constitutes a fire safety hazard.
She explained: “Us, as residents and tenants, are not even allowed to have things out on the landing, blocking the fire exits – they are very hot on that.
“But, OK, you’ll have five buckets there [that] people might clearly trip over when they’re trying to escape from the fire.”
The use of buckets were referred to as “temporarily fine for a couple of days or weeks”, but not for “years”.
She attributed the lack of a long-term fix to the fact that the issue is technically a “communal” one.
“I think basically their inbox is flooded daily with communal complaints of people saying whatever, and maybe mine just missed.
“The fact is the job is a complete mess – they did report it and did send somebody out who said it had been completed,” she added.
“It sounds like a lack of communication between departments,” she continued. “[And] my [relative] is the type of person who just doesn’t complain.
“Yes, it is affordable housing, but it’s not that much more affordable compared to the private sector – it’s still money coming out of people’s pockets at the end of the day”, she insisted.
In a statement sent to the JEP, Andium’s Chief Property and Asset Management Officer said: “We have been aware of the roof leaks at Le Tour Heron and Le Tour Dunlin affecting the communal corridors and we have instructed a specialist roofing contractor to undertake the required repair works.
“Unfortunately, these works, which require a period of dry weather to complete successfully, have been delayed by the recent poor weather conditions.
“During that period, we have been visiting the buildings daily to monitor the situation.
“Weather-permitting, we expect to have made significant progress with the repairs within the next week.”
WATCH: Buckets of varying sizes are used to stem rain-flow at Le Tour Dunlin
