Council to pay £47,500 to replace all non-fire compliant doors in Ross House

After two years and two months Folkestone & Hythe District Council have begun replacing all the non-fire compliant doors in Ross House, which houses 43 residents in sixteen flats, at a cost of £47,578.05.

When Oliver Davis, (pictured below left) and Daniel Knight of  Crusade Building Services Limited (pictured below left), refurbed Ross House, Ross Way, Folkestone, between Sept 2017 and March 2018, before selling to the Council for £1.8 million on the 13th April 2018, the building was NOT fire compliant.

 

Now as you may or may not know Ross House, where 43 residents live in 16 flats has had five fire risk assessments undertake on it between the 30th April 2018 and the 6th Dec 2019. Each of the the assessments found Ross House to be non-compliant.

One of the recurring features in each of the fire risk assessments were regarding the doors to residents flats and front doors. The second Fire Risk Assessment undertaken on the 25 Jan 2019 said:

• All doors appeared to be of fire resisting construction, but did NOT appear to be FD30S standard door sets, there were no visible labels or certification.

No significant work was undertaken on Ross House between 30th April 2018 and the 25th Jan 2019, yet conditions improved.

The third fire risk assessment  undertaken on the 30/10/2019 said of the residents doors:

• 

The report went onto say:

• All doors sampled doors appeared to be of fire resisting construction, but, are not NOT to FD30S standards. Doors are standard FD30 blanks from major supplier and would not restrict the passage of smoke and fire. Passive fire resistance appears to have been routed into softwood frame.

Still nothing was done.

The fourth fire risk assessment undertaken on the 1st Nov 2019 says the same as above. And the fifth fire risk assessment undertaken on the 6th Dec 2019, highly recommends each door is subjected to a detailed examination by a competent person; and evidence be supplied by the installer to fully evidence all doors suitability.

It’s clear all the doors were subjected to detailed examination and all of them did not meet the necessary standard. In April 2020,  Folkestone & Hythe District Council awarded Poyntell to replace all

•  16 flat doors, 3 corridor doors and 16 kitchen door sets. All doors to be flush timber and would come in a primed (paint graded finish) with overhead door closers to all doors. Flat entrance doors to be fitted with a multipoint lock and the doors coming with a laminate top finish providing extra strength and security. Flat entrance doors also to have door viewers.

According to the tender details they were due to start yesterday, 15th June. The price to replace these doors to the Council is £47,578.05.

As we understand Poyntell, the contractor fitting the doors, is doing two doors a day, meaning it’ll take close to three weeks to fit all 35 doors.

Now we hope the Council will be billing Mr Oliver Davis & Crusade Building Services, as it’s clear the doors could not have been fire compliant when the council took the building on, even though the Council’s building control department signed them off as compliant.

The ratepayer should not have to foot the bill for shoddy workmanship and non-fire compliant doors. Will Cllrs Prater (Lib Dem) and Fuller ( Lib Dem) as ward Cllrs ensure that both Oliver Davis and Daniel Knight are billed for the work.

If they are allowed to get away with their dodgy workmanship, then the future won’t bode for council tenants, as they might end up with dodgy builder installing non-compliant fire doors in a council owned property where they live.

Council tenants lives matter and we are glad that finally the council has taken steps to address this matter after 26 months.

The Shepwayvox Team

The Velvet Voices of Dissent.