Resident left ‘effectively homeless’ as two new tower blocks remain empty

By Tara O’Connor, local democracy reporter

More than five months after residents were supposed to move in, two new towers near East Croydon Station remain still empty.

This has left one new resident effectively homeless after their move-in date was changed last minute twice.

The world’s tallest modular building 101 George Street is made up of a pair of 44 and 38-storey towers.

It was built by Tide Construction and was a build to rent scheme for developer Greystar.

It appears the delays are down to delays in getting building regulations signed off.

When planning permission was granted in 2018 it included 44 conditions which need to be signed off throughout the building process and before people can move in.

A search on the council’s planning portal shows at least 25 of these have been approved, the latest yesterday (February 18) which was to do with a tree planting strategy.

Now known as Ten Degrees, the blocks are made up of 546 flats and include a rooftop gym, yoga studio, games room and even a pet spa.

Flats were first marketed back in the summer of 2020 when it was originally thought people would be able to move in.

One renter originally expected to move in on September 1, 2020 but was told on August 18 that this had to be pushed back to November – she says when she pressed Greystar she was just given vague details that the scheme had “not completed practical completion”.

By this point she had already moved out of her previous home she’d been in for four years to stay with a friend.

And again in October, she was told that the move in date had been pushed back to 2021, sometime between January and March.

Five months on from the first set-back she is still sleeping on the floor at her friend’s place with no idea when she will be able to move in.

She had secured a London Living Wage flat and already put down a deposit of £200.

She said: “Whenever I asked whether other residents had pulled out of their agreement, I was told that some had but others were quite happy to wait.

“I found this so odd because these people must either be in really fortunate positions where they don’t have to give much notice to their current landlord.

“So, although I do have a roof over my head and am still in the grand scheme of things very privileged, I feel somewhat homeless any very much in limbo with all my stuff still in a storage locker in Croydon now, and an airbed to drift off to sleep to on the floor in my friends house.

“The most frustrating thing is the lack of communication from Tide Construction.”

Tide Construction refused to comment on the situation with the building.