Cuba Street tower: Backlash over plans for a 51-storey tower in London with single staircase
Backlash over plans for a 51-storey residential tower in London more than DOUBLE the height of Grenfell with just ONE fire escape for more than 400 flats
Developers want to build the 570ft high block of flats on Cuba Street, DocklandsThe 421-flat tower block will be one of the tallest residential buildings in the UKBut fire safety experts have hit out at plans, which include just one exit staircaseThey warn worst-case scenario with single staircase is ‘another Grenfell type fire’However London Fire Brigade has not objected to the developer’s proposalsMeanwhile, the council and developers say scheme meets fire safety standards
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Council planning chiefs are facing a furious backlash from fire safety campaigners after recommending the approval of a new 51-floor skyscrapper with just one exit staircase.
Developers want to build the new 570ft high block of flats on the outskirts of London‘s Canary Wharf.
If approved, the 421-flat tower block will be one of the tallest residential buildings in the UK.
And it will be more than two-and-a-half times the height of Grenfell Tower, where 72 people died in 2017 when a fire spread to exterior cladding and engulfed the building.
But the proposals for the skyscraper, which will go before a council planning committee tonight, show it will have only one exit staircase.
This has sparked criticism from fire safety campaigners, who have drawn comparisons to Grenfell – which also had just one exit staircase.
Council planning chiefs, who have recommended the proposals be approved, say the scheme meets fire safety standards.
Developers also say the new block will include measures such as safety doors and sprinklers.
And, crucially, London Fire Brigade has raised no objection to the scheme.
However building experts say it is ‘utter madness’ that the plans can be put forward with only one exit staircase.
They also say that such a building would require a second set of stairs under the international building code – used in the US but not adopted in the UK.
Developers want to build the new 570ft high block of flats on the outskirts of London’s Canary Wharf. Pictured: An artist’s impression of the planned Cuba Street tower block (centre)
Once built, the 421-flat tower block will be one of the tallest residential buildings in the UK. It will be more than two-and-a-half times the height of Grenfell Tower (pictured), where 72 people died in 2017 when a fire spread to exterior cladding and engulfed the building
A graphic showing the size of Grenfell compared to Cuba Street. Under the international building code, which is adopted in the US, buildings over 420ft must have at least two staircases. But the UK does not adopt the code
Once built, the 421-flat tower block at Cuba Street will be one of the tallest residential buildings in the UK. Pictured: An artist’s impression of the new block
The row is over plans for the new skyscraper at Cuba Street, near to Canary Wharf, which are due to be discussed by Tower Hamlets Council’s Planning Committee tonight.
However plans for new tower block, proposed by Ballymore, the developers behind the controversial Sky Pool at Embassy Gardens, contain a single staircase.
Such designs have drawn criticism in the past because in the event of an evacuation residents will be attempting to leave the building through the same staircase as firefighters – potentially blocking rescue attempts.
But single staircase designs are currently allowed under building regulations, so long as the fire plan is to tell residents to stay put inside their homes.
Rules instead require buildings above 11 meters must be fitted with sprinklers.
However fire safety experts warn such features can fail. And they have pointed to recent events at nearby New Providence Wharf – where a fire broke out in May last year.
The blaze engulfed three floors of the 19-storey building, also developed by Ballymore, leaving three people injured 44 people needing medical treatment.
During the fire, smoke engulfed the corridors, while the London Fire Brigade found ventilation systems, the firefighter lift and door holders did not perform as expected.
Nadim Ahmad, 43, who lives with his wife and three daughters on the 14th floor, said at the time: ‘It’s a miracle no one died.’
Grenfell survivors also reacted with fury, with survivor and family group Grenfell United saying: ‘When will the Government take this scandal seriously? Enough is enough.’
Meanwhile, Natalie Carter, a resident at New Providence Wharf and who is part of the Tower Hamlets Justice for Leaseholders group told the Guardian: ‘It’s very scary.
The blaze engulfed three floors of the 19-storey New Providence Wharf development near Canary Wharf
Fire fighters inspect the damage at New Providence Wharf on Fairmont Avenue in Poplar in east London
‘If they do need to evacuate for any reason you are talking about doing that on the same staircase the firefighters would be using, it just seems absolutely bonkers.’
Meanwhile, Arnold Tarling, a chartered surveyor and fire safety expert, also speaking to the Guardian, said: ‘It is utter madness that this is still allowed.’
He added that the worst-case scenario of having a single staircase was ‘another Grenfell type fire’.
Russ Timpson, secretary of the Tall Building Fire Safety Network, meanwhile said developers should include a ‘plan A and a plan B’.
He told the Guardian: ‘If stay-put doesn’t work, a simultaneous evacuation is an almost impossible challenge with a single staircase.
‘Around the world firefighters talk about having one escape stair and one attack stair.’
Under the international building code, which is adopted in the US, buildings over 420ft must have at least two staircases.
But the UK does not adopt the code and instead uses its own guidance, which states that ‘appropriate means of escape in case of fire from the building… (must be) capable of being safely and effectively used at all material times’.
A spokesperson for Ballymore told MailOnline: ‘The planning application for our Cuba Street development is underway.
‘The design follows the latest guidance and Ballymore will ensure that the project exceeds the most up-to-date building standards at the time of future detailed design submissions.
‘The project will only move forward with the support of the London Fire Brigade and Building Control. Ballymore has committed significant investment towards covering the cost of cladding remediation, with works having been underway across our developments for some time, and are working to ensure leaseholders bear no cost.’
A review of the proposals by planning chiefs at Tower Hamlets Council shows that London Fire Brigade made no objection to the plans.
In the document, which will be discussed by councillors tonight, it says: ‘That subject to any direction by the Mayor of London, conditional planning permission is granted subject to the recommended conditions and prior completion of a legal agreement to secure the following planning obligations.’
MailOnline has contacted London Fire Brigade and Tower Hamlets Council for a comment.
