An application for prior approval to demolish Weymouth House and Stratford House in Margate has been submitted to Thanet council.
In November 2023, Southern Housing told residents in the two Eaton Place blocks that they had to move out due to structural issues which meant their homes would be demolished.
Of the 78 flats there were 36 in Stratford House rented as social housing. Weymouth House had 42 one and two-bed flats which were market rental properties.
Both blocks are now vacant and once the buildings are demolished there will be a cleared plot ready to obtain planning permission for a new scheme.
In 2024 Thanet council agreed to purchase the land and then build around 60 new affordable homes at the site in a £12m scheme. The proposal, approved in late 2024, aims to help tackle the affordable housing shortage and reduce costs for temporary accommodation.
The deal included the council paying £600,000 for the land and contributing up to £300,000 towards demolition costs before construction.
The demolition application shows the buildings have been plagued with faults from just months after they were built and serious structural and fire safety issues have been identified within both buildings. An estimated £20+ million would be needed for repairs but it has been deemed that further repairs are not practicable.
The buildings were previously owned by the Southern Housing Group (SHG). SHG and Optivo merged in 2023 to create Southern Housing.
SHG originally signed an agreement to purchase 33 of the units with the developer Tambrook Jersey Ltd in 2008. The build commenced in 2009 but was plagued with several companies going into administration/receivership.
The original contractor was Lillybrook Developments, which was succeeded by GSE Design and Build. Both companies went into administration.
Due to the delays and uncertainty, the bank removed the funding to complete the build. This forced Tambrook Jersey into receivership.
SHG decided to buy the site and complete the build to try and save the organisations’ investment in the scheme. Jenner Contractors were appointed in 2011 to complete the build. They remained the contractor up until completion in 2014.
The site was first occupied in July 2014 and cracks and other defects started to appear by December 2014. As each defect was identified it was repaired and made good. This continued until 2016 when the communal door head was repaired, only for the crack to re-open a month later. SHG then started to appoint consultants to try and get a better understanding regarding the condition of the building. A series of reports were prepared over the years.
Initially issues of building movement were identified. Later reports identified water ingress as a potential cause. This included issues with the balconies, which allowed water penetration into the building, weathering issues to the windows and waterproofing between the podium slab and timber frame.
More recent investigations identified fire safety issues, finding combustible material in the external wall system, inadequate or poorly installed cavity barriers and fire proofing issues.
A decision has not yet been made by Thanet council but pre-application advice from TDC says: “prior approval for demolition would be acceptable under the circumstances.”
Who’d have thought on 2008 that Arlington House would have outlived them?😂
Good riddance… they look like east European prison blocks. Only the pure greed of the developers would allow building of these modern day slums.
They had the edge over Arlington House though…
SHAME! The Builders built rubbish, now we have to PAY!
I fail to understand why TDC – and therefore us tax payers – are paying £300,000 towards demolition costs. Surely this should be met by the owners of the building? They are also getting £600,000 for the land from TDC.
£12 million to build 60 homes = £200,000 each. To say nothing of what ultimate cost will be with increaesd costs in labour and materials between time of initial budget in 2024 and final completion date. How much of this is funded by TDC and how from government funds?
How many of the future tenants will be paying rent? Even if they all do (but assume many will be on benefits) and rent is say £450 a month (social housing rental rate), that means it’s going to take over 37 years to break even. And that isn’t taking into account the amount it will cost in maintenance, annual repairs, buildings insurance etc etc. as this is all paid by the landlord, TDC.
all these questions, easily solved by filling out on FOIA request with the company/council in the same amount of time it took to write this.
The reason for TDC to part fund the demolition is that the methodology will impact on the construction cost of the replacement homes. It’s £5k cost per replacement unit, but probably a saving in practice.
Although there is no agreed scheme for this project, Thanet council housing is delivered through the housing revenue account, which is funded from rents and grants. It isn’t funded from council tax which supports general council services and is held separately. So there is no cost to council taxpayers per se – obviously government funding and housing benefit comes from national taxes, but not just locally.
Based on our policy of allocating a share of new council property to local people currently in temporary accommodation, there is in fact a saving for the council taxpayer, because temporary accommodation is funded from the general fund (council tax pot). Instead of their accommodation being funded by everyone in Thanet, it will be funded from rents, including their own.
All new council housing is based on a detailed business plan and isn’t taken forward unless the rent covers the council’s costs over time.
Thank you for this response with some answers to my queries.
Excuse me?
All it takes is half a dozen guys with sledges, pick axes, spanners and a small crane, etc. and some skips to take away the waste. Literally.
Unfortunately, we’ve all been caught up in the W.T.O. competitive tendering grift. Along with all the ancillary gifts that have arisen over the past half century.
As to the budgetary redirection… A £ is a £. If it sits in a government budget/account it has come from taxpayers. It’s just another, accountancy grift.
Just because something is legal does not mean that it is not utterly morally corrupt. Law is no metric for right and wrong.Thise who hid Ann Frank were breaking the law. Those who killed her were obeying the law.
Were lilybrook doomed to failure from the outset.? Wish I had owned a £1million home in westgate and a block of shops and properties in Broadstairs and Kingsgate but now moved to Minster. A marriage made in hevan,?
I remember these being built, timber frame and left open to the elements for a very long time, and I remember thinking that will not be doing any good at all, at to that they were probably built very poorly, I’m not surprised they have structural issues. Agreed why should we as a tax payer be paying for towards demolition, although I think £600k to buy the land is probably cheap by today’s rates
Surely the fire safety issues are prosecutable failures by the developer? It astonishes me that we allow individuals to let one company to go into administration to avoid costs and accountability, while running other lucrative businesses in exactly the same way.
I canvassed these blocks for an election previously. I was appalled at the total lack of any estate management. Electrical intake cupboards broken open and fuse boards left exposed. The roof access left open allowing anyone to get onto the roof and dozens of other defects and total neglect. These blocks appear to have had no regular inspections, showing once again that housing associations are basically unfit to run housing. At least getting TDC in to run the rebuild is the correct decision but years too late.
Who managed building control during construction? Was it TDC, Assent(liquidated) or another company?
Dreamland is missing a trick here! Come on Dreamland follow the new world order annexe these buildings and claim they are yours.
Don’t pull them down!
You could run the ghost train through them, a many floored flawed theme park ride showing off the fantastic and rocky ride of various governments and their commitment to the good folk that they allegedly serve.
Maybe a hostel for those less fortunate folk that are homeless? It’s right by the sea so could have space allocated for the parking of small boats?
Hotel for the attendees of Dreamland music gigs. Could prolly see some of the events from the blocks themselves.
Premium price.
Keep a small space inside for the procurement of ‘essentials’ for the concert oh and storage to keep the essentials safe.
It’s the ghost train/ roller coaster idea that’s going to get my vote I think.
🤔 hmmm could put the search and rescue helicopter on the roof too.