Residents ‘shocked’ at council order to tear down two tower blocks

By Joe Coughlan, Local Democracy Reporter

Residents say they are shocked after learning a pair of tower blocks that have only recently been built could be torn down at the council’s order.

Greenwich council announced on September 26 that it had taken enforcement action against the Comer Homes Group, after a pair of tower blocks the developer built in Woolwich were said to be “substantially different” from the plans that were approved.

The authority said the new buildings, which contain 204 flats and stretch up to 23 storeys tall, had at least 26 main deviations to the original planning permission granted. This included smaller balconies and windows, different cladding and “bulky” design changes.

The two towers, known as Mast Quay Phase II, sit beside a set of existing blocks on the site that were made by the previous developer, Mast Quay Developments. The company then sold the site and plans for Mast Quay Phase II to Comer.

Cairns Sham, 26, said he only moved into the neighbouring blocks in Mast Quay a few days ago. The student said he was unaware of the council’s recent order to knock down the towers until this week.

Mr Sham said: “I’m just shocked, honestly. I didn’t know anything about them not getting any permission for just doing whatever they want.”

He added: “The developers should have known. They should have stuck with the regulations. If they did then there wouldn’t be any trouble.”

A Comer Homes Group spokesperson told said the developer was surprised and extremely disappointed by the decision of the council.

They said Comer would be appealing against the enforcement notice and looked forward to addressing the council’s concerns and correcting the project’s inaccuracies.

The council claimed several amenities in the tower blocks were also absent such as children’s play areas, roof gardens and a ground floor shop which has since been replaced by a gym.

Ara Umali, 27, also moved into the block next to the towers a year and a half ago and noticed several features were missing from the finished buildings.

Ms Umali said: “I thought this was going to be a garden or playground but it turned out to be a parking lot and nobody parks there.

“I see it every day because it’s right in front of my window but there’s only one or two cars parking in it. It’s honestly a waste of space.”

She added: “With the housing crisis now, it just doesn’t make sense that you would demolish a building. But I don’t know if, in safety terms, they would just try to fix the stuff and add bigger windows. I don’t know how safe that is.”

The notice from the council orders the developer to demolish the two new blocks and restore the land to its former condition within 12 months.

Anthony Okereke, leader of Greenwich council, said in a statement: “The right thing to do is not usually the easy thing to do.

“That is why we will not stand by and allow poor quality and unlawful development anywhere in our borough and we are not afraid of taking difficult decisions when we believe it’s the right thing to do.”

A Comer Homes Group spokesman said: “The council’s concerns regarding Mast Quay Phase II can be addressed through following normal process and engaging with us on a retrospective planning application.

“We encourage the council to meet with us and agree a way forward which will avoid wasting significant sums of taxpayers’ money on litigation when sensible solutions to their concerns are available.”

Pictured top: Ara Umali, 27, said she noticed several features missing from the finished buildings (Picture: Facundo Arrizabalaga)