When the Metro newsroom heard about apartment blocks in Swiss Cottage that had inside-out windows installed, we knew we had to see it to believe it.
We went along to the estate in North West London and met with just some of the angry residents dumbfounded that their windows had been installed the wrong way round.
Residents living in the Dorney and Bray tower blocks affected have complained about sweltering conditions because of the issue.
This factor is caused by the window panes being installed at the wrong orientation, reflecting sunlight directly into the flats and causing them to overheat.
The new double glazing was wrongly installed in 85 flats in the Dorney block and an unknown number of flats in Bray.
Now, there is the prospect that as spring and summer approach, the inside-out windows could cause the flats to seriously overheat.
Camden Council confirmed that the refit of each new window installation will take around 40 minutes to complete – but at what cost?
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One resident, Michelle Urquhart, 59, is a full-time carer for her dad with dementia and says she is in therapy for anxiety.
She had to rearrange her apartment, which she describes as now ‘stifling hot’,in order for the initial work to be done, and now finds herself having to do it all again.
She told Metro: ‘I can’t describe the stress. I’m actually having therapy for my anxiety.
‘I have to clear everything away from the windows [so they can come to do the work]. I can’t tell you the impact and stress this will cause now.
‘My dad will have to go through it as well and it is just not on.’
Michelle, alongside other residents, were evacuated before in 2017 after dangerous cladding, the same as that found in Grenfell, was found in the tower block.
She said her issues with anxiety started then and have been ongoing ever since. The environment she lives in, she says, increases her stress levels.
‘I’m fuming,’ she says. ‘What idiot would put the windows in the wrong way around?
‘I’m angry with how we’ve been put in this position, it’s just not good enough.
‘I’m just furious and I keep thinking of ways I can get around this because I can’t bear the thought of having to move everything.
‘I’m a full-time carer, so even though four hours doesn’t seem a lot, it is for me. What about people who have illnesses and are not well?
‘They think this will be sorted by May but that’s the best outcome at the moment.’
Paul Urquhart, 52, Michelle’s husband, said that the problem has become ‘annoying’.
‘When my flat was done last year, I thought this was all over for me,’ he told Metro.
‘All of a sudden we’ve got to have the glass taken out of the windows, have it turned around and put back in again.
‘It’s going to be annoying and inconvenient because things will have to be moved away from windows.
‘It’s particularly disappointing because we thought it was all over and now we have this issue.’
Grace, who didn’t want to give her last name, added to Metro: ‘I found out they were inside out on Sunday. I thought, “Is this a joke?”
‘I initially thought they were going to put up the scaffolding to flip it again but apparently they need to go into each individual flat.
‘It is a waste of time having them come back in the flats. It is something they should have noticed at an earlier stage.’
Some of London's most vulnerable are impacted by this council gaffe
“Having spent the day down at the Chalcots Estate reporting for Metro, it became apparent that many of those who are most vulnerable in our society are impacted by this issue.
The flats were built between 1967 – 1968 on land owned by Eton College and have required a series of repairs in recent times.
Many of these residents have had ongoing work carried out in the block of flats for years, not least work done to make the building safe in light of the Grenfell fire.
At the scene, many residents are constantly interrupted by the droning sounds of building work carried out.
It is people like Michelle who are most affected by issues like the incorrectly installed windows.
Being a full-time carer for her dad who has dementia and being at home much of the time, having to have the windows replaced takes its toll on her physical and mental health.”
A spokesperson for Camden Council, who own the buildings, said: ‘Following checks on the newly installed windows at the Chalcots, the council’s project team have found that some window glazing panels in Dorney and Bray have been incorrectly fitted by the contractor.
‘This is not a safety concern but will affect the reduction of overheating in the summer – so we will be putting this right straight away.
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‘We are contacting the residents who this issue affects to arrange for our contractors to install the glazing correctly.
‘Each re-installation takes about 40 minutes and this will not be noisy work.
‘This corrective work does not extend the overall programme as it can be done simultaneously to the remaining work which needs to be done and will be of no extra cost to the council or the taxpayer.
‘All works on the windows will be checked independently once completed. We apologise to the affected residents for this additional work.’
Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk.
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