RBKC council has spent more than £5m on a house to provide urgent accommodation for council tenants that is still empty after EIGHT YEARS, an investigation by The Citizen can reveal.

Despite back-to-the-brickwork renovations that have cost £850,000, the four-storey Victorian terraced house in a popular part of Chelsea still shows no signs of welcoming residents. A council spokesman said that the property is expected to be finished by the end of this year.

The contractor in charge of the works – a north-London based building firm called Milestone Group – informed The Citizen that it aims to finish on (of all days) 25th December. The company proudly states on its website that it secured a contract worth £1.2m for the Edith Grove that will take “9 months”. The company revealed later to The Citizen that it has in fact been working on the project since January.

The Citizen is seeking a clarification from RBKC for the full and final costing for the refurbishment and how it tallies with the fee publicly declared by Milestone. No confirmation had been received by the time we went to publication.

The council paid a private landlord the asking price of £4,150,000 in November 2017 for the house at 116 Edith Grove SW10. The purchase was part of an urgent need for council accommodation following the Grenfell disaster, which happened in June of that year.

In the wake of Grenfell, RBKC undertook an unprecedented buying spree and bought a total of 290 properties “at speed” to find accommodation for residents displaced by the fire tragedy. The council admitted earlier this year that some of those properties were a mistake and that they have proved to be unsuitable for renovation to house council tenants.

The Edith Grove house had been newly refurbished to a high standard by the previous owner, who had divided it into SEVEN flats. That landlord was preparing to rent out the individual properties when the council swooped and made a ‘cash offer’. ‘The vendor could not believe his luck,’ said one person close to the sales process.

The council has revealed to The Citizen that only after the purchase that council officers realised the seven flats did not meet the “stringent” health and safety requirements that are required to let a council property to tenants. Initially, there were plans to ‘flip’ the house and sell it on, but making this decision became embroiled in delays. Then it was decided to keep it and begin modifications.

The council has not yet been able to explain why there was such a lengthy delay before renovation work began, but The Citizen has been told by workers at the property that previous contractors left the site having failed to complete the works.

“Always pushing the envelope” – Milestone Group celebrates RBKC contract

Since taking control, Milestone Group has been completing works that have included a new roof, structural strengthening, new utility services, complete re-wiring and re-plumbing, new drainage system, damp-proofing and “fire compartmentation and fire stopping”.

Milestone marks winning the £1.2m contract on its website with a celebratory clapping hands emoji and the line: ‘A huge well done to our teams for securing yet another brilliant project with RBKC. #Milestone #AlwaysPushingTheEnvelope.’

 

 

 

A director of the Milestone Group refused to answer media enquiries from The Citizen, referring us to RBKC. We have asked the RBKC press office for a statement to clarify the £1.2m fee and how it tallies with the £850,000 it had declared to us earlier as the cost of the refurbishment.

As Milestone refers to the Edith Grove project as “yet another” with RBKC, we have also asked for the details of other building works that are being managed by Milestone in the borough and their total value, as well as detail of the tendering process, if indeed one was required for No.116. RBKC press office has suggested that such details may be commercially sensitive and could require a Freedom of Information request.

The house at No.116, which looks across to the World’s End Estate, is four storeys high and has a basement. There is no garden or notable outside space. RBKC has reduced the property from seven individual flats to FIVE to “align with sizing guidance”. All the new kitchens and bathrooms that were previously installed have been ripped out and replaced.

The Citizen visited the house and explained openly that we were researching an article for the local newspaper about the property. We were then guided around all levels of the house and can report that all rooms are at the stage of being fitted with lights and alarms. The new bathrooms and kitchens are also some way from being completed. Milestone has demanded that our photographs and videos from inside the property are not published. We are seeking further legal clarification before publishing them.

 

RBKC Statement

 

Councillor Sof McVeigh, RBKC’s lead member for housing said in a statement:

‘Purchasing 290 homes at pace after the Grenfell tragedy to provide homes for those that had lost everything, was an unprecedented challenge and the Council had to complete sales quickly. This included purchasing privately owned properties like 116 Edith Grove, that we assumed could be made suitable for social housing.

‘The vast majority of those 290 homes were able to be let to bereaved families and survivors of the fire quickly. But for Edith Grove, it became clear that the property would need significant works to make it suitable for social housing. At the same time, we have been improving safety and quality of all our homes across the borough and prioritising raising standards where residents are already living.

‘The Council considered selling the property but on balance decided to keep it and make the necessary changes, including meeting the highest standards for fire safety, to provide five good quality homes. Works are due to be complete by the end of the year. The average property price in Kensington and Chelsea is £1,362,000, so the purchase and refurbishment of this property still represents a good investment for homes in our borough.’

 

Land Registry documents