Worcester Park Fire

May 2022 update

Following the fire at Richmond House at The Hamptons, Worcester Park on 9 September 2019, our focus as a charitable Housing Association has been to do everything we can to support those MTVH residents directly affected, to maintain the safety of our other residents on the estate, and to ensure that the original developer of The Hamptons, St James, put right any fire related building defects.

In November 2019, we shared with all MTVH residents of The Hamptons the results of in-depth investigations by independent experts into the construction of the buildings we own at The Hamptons to establish if there were any structural issues that could compromise fire safety.

The investigations showed that work was needed to remedy certain defects in the passive fire protection of buildings on The Hamptons. In practice this meant installing or improving cavity barriers within the external wall systems, and correctly firestopping elements of the construction internally.

This work to rectify these defects is well underway and has been completed at many properties across The Hamptons. We will soon be starting work on the third and final tranche of properties and expect this to complete by the end of the year.

We have a dedicated project team at The Hamptons to oversee the completion of the required work to our buildings whilst supporting residents, and we have confirmed that we do not intend to pass on to leaseholders the cost to remediate the construction defects.

The safety of all residents is our main priority, which is why, as a temporary solution until remedial works are complete, we have installed a communal fire alarm system in all blocks, and the ‘stay put’ advice has been changed to ‘simultaneous evacuation’. Now that remedial works have been completed to the first phase of properties, the alarms have been removed and the fire strategy has reverted to ‘stay put’. This will also happen in the second and third phase of the works.

At the same time, we have been working on the rebuild of Richmond House. The London Borough of Sutton has granted planning permission for a like for like building and we are working with Richmond House resident representatives to appoint a contractor to undertake the rebuild, with a view to this beginning in Summer 2022.

MTVH Resident Newsletter

MTVH The Hamptons Resident Newsletter – October 2022 (PDF)

Frequently asked questions

The Hamptons FAQs – June 2022 (PDF)