Islington Tribune - News: Unsafe

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Islington Tribune - by MARK BLUNDEN
Published: 13 July 2007

From left former Churnfield resident Theresa Coyle, Councillor Barbara sidnell, Councillor Terry Stacy and Councillor Phil Kelly at the demolition site

Unsafe for three years, flats finally come down

Homes to be built on site of condemned four-storey block

DEMOLITION of a dangerous block on a Holloway council estate finally began this week – nearly three years after residents were told it was unsafe.
Churnfield block, on the Six Acres estate, was condemned in August 2004 amid fears that it could collapse.
Residents in the 72-flat block were given two choices: have it strengthened or demolished and rebuilt.
They chose the demolition option and have now been rehoused until the new block is built. Work on it is due to begin early next year.
The Community Housing Group is to build 164 new homes on the site of the condemned Churnfield block, which will be replaced with a mix of private, rented and shared ownership properties.
The four-storey tower does not meet building regulations brought in following the 1968 Ronan Point disaster in Newham, where five people died when a gas blast caused part of a tower block to collapse.
There were fears that Churnfield, built in 1966 and the second largest block on Six Acres, was similarly unsafe.
Housing bosses estimated it would have cost £100,000 to strengthen each flat in the block.
The then Town Hall leader Steve Hitchins said of the block: “It’s illegal and must be changed. Just to keep the building as it is would cost millions.”
Prior to Churnfield being condemned, there was a failed bid for management of homes on the Six Acres estate to be moved to a housing association in a stock transfer.
Churnfield resident Roy Galer said: “After the stock transfer was rejected I went out and spent some money on my flat, because I thought nobody else would. Now they are knocking it down.”
Councillors and staff from Homes for Islington (HfI), which manages the council’s housing stock, visited the estate last week for one final look at Churnfield before the bulldozers moved in.
Theresa Coyle, HfI board member and former Churnfield resident, said: “I spent many happy years living in Churnfield and myself and the former residents have some fond memories.
“It’s now time for change.”

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