'It's inhumane': Life inside a permanent construction site
Residents of a West London housing estate have described a multi-million pound refurbishment project as having turned their lives into a living nightmare, with homes left without heating for months and lifts out of service for nearly a year.
The £40 million refurbishment of the four 20-storey towers on the Silchester Estate in North Kensington was scheduled to begin in October 2023 and take two years to complete, according to contractor Equans. Yet when journalists visited last month, scaffolding enveloped only two of the four buildings.
A litany of failures and frustrations
The scale of the problems reported by residents is vast. At Markland House, one of the two lifts has been out of service since December 2024. Despite assurances it would be fixed by March 2025, residents now face a wait until the end of this year. The single working lift only services every second level, forcing elderly and disabled residents to navigate flights of stairs to reach their front doors.
Inside individual flats, the situation is equally dire. One resident, an accountant living with his wife and twins, described an apartment so damp that his children's clothes will not dry. "It's not an environment I want to raise my kids in," he told reporters. His family has been so desperate for respite that his wife and children flew to Germany to stay with family, while he moved in with his parents during the half-term break.
The problems are systemic. Radiators and ventilation systems were removed from many flats in August to facilitate window replacements, but months later, they have not been reinstalled. With no heating, some residents report indoor temperatures dropping to 15 degrees Celsius.
Carla Pina, who lives with her two young children and requires a wet room due to mobility issues, described bizarre noises emanating from her walls whenever neighbours flush their toilets. "My son says it sounds like spiders but I think it sounds like someone throwing up in their sleep," she said.
Council response and a new timeline
Kensington and Chelsea Council has acknowledged the difficulties, with Lead Member for Housing, Cllr Sof McVeigh, issuing an apology to residents. The council cites unexpected challenges, including the discovery of asbestos that required removal and the estate's potentially dangerous crumbling concrete as reasons for the extensive works.
In a significant development, the council confirmed it is now renegotiating its contract with Equans to extend the project's timeframe, though it failed to provide a new completion date when asked.
The council outlined measures to support residents, including:
- Providing temporary electric heaters
- Offering hotel accommodation to vulnerable residents
- Deploying community support providers
- Hand-delivering update letters and providing text alerts
Despite these assurances, for residents like one mother of five, the experience has been "horrible and inhumane." She lamented, "I wouldn't wish this on my worst enemy." With the contract being renegotiated and no clear end in sight, the community on the Silchester Estate faces an uncertain and uncomfortable future.
