Fire safety works due to have been carried out in June and July at Invicta House flats in Margate have been delayed due to the need to reappoint a contractor.
Thanet council published a tender for a contractor to undertake the improvement of fire safety measures within the block earlier this year.
This followed detailed fire safety reports where a number of enhanced fire safety works were identified.
Revised risk assessments were carried out following the Grenfell Tower tragedy in 2017 and additional fire safety works were identified.
Some works began in 2018 but a further £810,000 was required to complete the recommendations. This year another £100,000 was required to continue with non-urgent fire safety recommendations.
Works at 14 floor Invicta House in Millmead Road are to include upgrades for the communal fire alarm system and smoke detectors.
The block has been hit with a spate of deliberate fires over the past two years with the most recent last week when fire crews visited the site twice due to a bin chute fire and had to evacuate the whole block. Two people were treated for smoke inhalation.
In July an arson investigation was launched after the block suffered five fires in just one week.
Last year firefighters were called to the block three times in one week following a spate of deliberate fires, mainly in the rubbish chutes but one more worryingly in the stairwell.
A spokesperson for East Kent Housing said: “Fire safety enhancement works were due to start at Invicta House earlier in the year, however there has been a delay and we and Thanet District Council are in the process of re-appointing a contractor.
“We aim to complete the works by Spring 2020 and are keeping residents up to date on progress. Work includes new front entrance, communal and kitchen doors, and enhancements to stairwell fire protection, the communal fire alarm system, and flat smoke detection.
“This work is part of a broader programme of fire safety works that are being delivered in a series of phases by East Kent Housing and Thanet District Council. In the meantime we continue to carry out fire safety work at Invicta House, including fire stopping, and we have ordered a new sprinkler system for the bin room on the ground floor.”
Thanet council is due to carry out a public consultation on plans to ditch arrangements with East Kent Housing and bring its social housing service back under authority control.
Currently EKH manages all council housing stock for Thanet, Dover, Canterbury and Folkestone and Hythe.
Cabinet members approved the plan this month (October) with a report coming back to council early next year.
The action comes on the heels of revelations earlier this year that hundreds of council property tenants across east Kent had been awaiting gas safety certificates due to overdue Landlord Gas Safety Register assessments.
It then emerged that there were also grave concerns over potential further issues with fire safety, electrical certification, lifts and legionella testing.
In addition there was the possibility of a criminal case being brought due to contractor P&R overpayments which could ‘constitute fraud.’
An audit report published in July, covering all 17,000 properties managed by EKH across Thanet, Dover, Canterbury and Folkestone, said: “Approximately 4,800 issues identified on fire risk assessments remain outstanding. While work is ongoing to rectify some of the less technical issues, approximately 800 of those are overdue their recommended completion dates. “
Work has since been undertaken to deal with the outstanding issues.
