The TRA has received news about the wall in Roycroft Close.
At our meeting about leaseholder issues in April 2016 residents said:
There were subsistence problems with Portland House and the flats in Roycroft Close whilst the academy was being constructed. Ben [from Metropolitan leaseholder services] confirmed Metropolitan paid the entire cost of the repairs. He said he knew of no evidence the academy caused the problem. A resident said there had never been subsistence problems until the academy opened, she asked what investigation was done as to whether the academy caused the subsidence. Karla [a Metropolitan Housing officer] will investigate.
We have now received a response from Karla. It says:
The new wall was designed and built by our consultants BRM, who undertake larger works on our behalf. Their initial investigation found that the wall had not been built properly as it had not been constructed as a retaining wall. The wall also did not have adequate weep holes to allow water to seep through the wall. This meant that additional pressure built up behind the wall which caused it to move forward.
It is unlikely that the school is the cause of the wall movement since the school is a considerable distance away. We do not feel that spending money on experts to investigate the issue would be a constructive use of money as it would be extremely difficult to establish if the school was the cause of the wall movement. The fact that only one section of the wall has moved would point to an error in the previous construction with that sections of the wall.
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St Martins TRA 