Communal Fire Doors to be replaced

Major Works

Updated: 14/01/2020

The Council has notified the World's End Resident Association (WERA) that the Communal Fire Doors across the entirety of the World's End Estate are to be replaced within months.

There are approximately 150 Communal Fire Doors on the estate. They serve as a barrier between the tower stairwells, the only emergency escape routes from the building, and the walkways and tower landings where flats are located. They are intended to ensure that it is possible to exit the building safely via the tower stairwells in the case of a serious fire or other emergency.

The Council will be placing an order for new Communal Fire Doors with Gerda Security within days. It is hoped that the works to install the new replacement Communal Fire Doors will be able to start in March 2020.

The installation of new Communal Fire Doors finally addresses a long standing issue.

WERA has been expressing concerns with the condition of the estate's Communal Fire Doors for many years. There has been regular correspondence with both the TMO and the Council about this issue going back over ten years. WERA did not believe the existing doors were safe or compliant; the closers on the doors rarely worked properly and inappropriate repairs had been carried out to many of the doors that had clearly compromised their safety and their ability to withstand a fire.

Following the Grenfell Tower tragedy in June 2017 WERA once again brought these concerns to the attention of the TMO, the Council and local Ward Councillors. The issue was also raised by WERA representatives attending meetings at the Town Hall on several occasions. WERA was repeatedly assured that the Communal Fire Doors were safe and compliant, most recently in April 2019.

It is now evident that these assurances were wrong. The existing doors are not safe or complaint and do need to be replaced.

WERA is very glad that a serious fire safety issue is finally being addressed.