Six years on: Poole flat owners finally get their car park back after £13m fire-safety rescue

When contractors stripped Altitude's external walls, they found combustible insulation, timber where it should never have been, and an undercroft above the car park with no proper fire breaks. Behind the facade, the substrate needed more work than expected. The vapour control layer had to be replaced, and the steel-frame walls had to be reinsulated. The undercroft also had to be redesigned partway through the programme. As a result, the cost rose from an estimated £8 million to more than £13 million, all funded by the Building Safety Fund rather than residents. 

Throughout the works, all of the 50 households were able to stay in their homes. The fire risk was actively managed alongside a live construction site. The fire risk assessment was kept under review, simultaneous evacuation stayed in place, and temporary alarms were fitted in the flats. The contractor kept digital quality records of the work as it went, so there is a clear record for the building's "golden thread" of safety information. The new external walls now have an A1 EWS1 rating, the best available which means owners can sell and remortgage again. The next stage is internal fire-stopping and compartmentation, and the current safety measures will stay until that is finished.

Joe Mellery-Pratt, Managing Director of managing agent Rebbeck Brothers, said: "People were genuinely frightened, about their safety and their finances. After six years of waiting, it was fantastic to see residents finally able to use their car park again. 

He thanked project managers Bennington Green, contractor Sinden Construction and Homes England. He also thanked the volunteer Working Group of leaseholders, who "took on a problem they didn't create and saw it through to the end".