Southwark Council has pledged to carry out reviews on every major works project which has taken place in the borough over the last decade after the latest estate scandal was discussed earlier this week.

Those living on the Chilton Grove Estate in Rotherhithe have faced years of uncertainty after plans to refurbish existing blocks and build 44 new rooftop flats were abandoned due to rising construction costs and the developer encountering issues with building control.

Residents have been forced to live on a building site and, according to opposition councillors, now face extortionate bills, all while major refurbishment works have still not been completed.

Southwark Council Cabinet Member for Council Homes, Michael Situ, said: “The first thing to say is sorry to the residents who were in the building itself. I think if you’re a resident in the building and if you’ve had to experience the number of years where not only were you living on a building site, but you weren’t absolutely sure when things [would] be resolved, that would have caused a lot of anxiety and distress to the residents.”

During an Overview and Scrutiny Committee meeting on Wednesday evening (October 8), Cllr Situ said reviews will be carried out for all major works projects dating back to 2015, and said Cabinet will be kept updated on the progress made.

Ryan Collymore, Director of Repairs and Maintenance, said the major works project at Chilton Grove Estate also faced issues with Covid-19 which caused delays and led to slow decisions were being made on the cladding and other changes.

Mr Collymore added: “When the contractor left the site in 2021, they left the site in a state and it was a very, very bad experience for our residents. The fact the contractor left the site meant we had to abandon the rooftop homes and also the corner extension that we planned to do.”

Mr Collymore said the original offer to leaseholders was that they wouldn’t have to pay for the rooftop works as the cladding and lift replacement landscaping was all included in the new homes development. He said because the works didn’t go ahead, the council has agreed to pay residents £4,600 in compensation.

Mr Collymore went on to say some works, including some of the cladding, roof covering, concrete repairs and lighting repairs, will still be going ahead with a start date of January/February 2026.

Cllr Victor Chamberlain, Leader of Southwark’s Liberal Democrat opposition, said while it did sound as if the situation had been resolved, a lot of the residents he had spoken with didn’t have any confidence or assurance with the way things were going.

He explained that he had spoken with one Chilton Grove leaseholder, who claimed she could be facing a £60,000 bill on top of the £40,000 one she had already paid for the works.

Cllr Chamberlain said: “We’ve had Canada Estate, Devon Mansions, Kirby Estate, Arica House, Consort Estate and now Chilton Grove Estate; the list just seems to be systemic and endless about the culture in a department that doesn’t seem to be able to get on top of these issues. It’s always left to residents to do the digging and opposition councillors to try and challenge the council to do better.”

Hakeem Osinaike, Director of Housing, said: “The reality is, all of these schemes mentioned by Cllr Chamberlain and which this [committee] is very much aware of, you know Chilton Grove which we are talking about today, Canada Estate, Kirby Estate and Devon Mansions – all of those schemes happened around the same time, between 2020 and 2022.

“In fact, some of them started before that around Covid-19 – it’s not an excuse but the point is they are all historical, that is not the way we do things in housing now.”

He added: “We have made promises to you, the recommendations that you’ve made we’ve accepted in full each time and officers have gone away and we have been taking those actions to make sure that what residents have experienced on this estate they will never have to experience them again.

“They are not pleasant, I’m not sitting here excusing it at all, in fact it’s embarrassing for me that I have to come here each time and talk about the same thing so it’s important that I never have to do it again.”

At the end of the meeting, the committee proposed additional recommendations including a call for full transparency when it came to leaseholder charges at the start of any works to ensure there isn’t a duplication in costs and to make sure they are being correctly charged in the first place.

Council launches new online service for leaseholders

Southwark leaseholders and freeholders will now be able to view and download their service charge information through a new online service launched by the council. Residents can now go online and see a detailed price breakdown of their charges for 2024/25 by logging online to MySouthwark and looking at their account. This was in response to long-standing complaints from leaseholders about being charged high fees for vague services or works, with inadequate transparency around what the charges were for.

Cllr Situ added: “Our pioneering new online service will make it simpler for leaseholders and freeholders to check their charges. Anyone can now use their smartphone or computer to see what they owe, plan payments, and check if there are any charges they want to query or talk to us about.”