Residents are furious after being incorrectly told to ‘stay put’ should there be a fire by housing association Peabody.
Furious tenants say the notices posted around the Southwark Street Estate were “highly dangerous”.
The oversight raises the spectre of Grenfell where 72 people died after staying put. The Home Office says it remains the correct policy for many buildings.
But in this case, Peabody has admitted the wrong advice was given. A spokesperson said it was “really sorry the wrong posters were up” and admitted it “could have caused confusion”.
Janette Edwards, 57, the estate’s Tenants’ and Residents’ Association (TRA) Chair, said: “Post-Grenfell, this is just crazy!”
She added: “Where they have gone wrong is their lack of communication between teams because they should not be putting up stay-put notices which are highly dangerous.”
Opened in 1876, the Peabody Estate housing estate has roughly 159 flats.
A document seen by this newspaper shows, by September, Peabody knew the buildings were not suitable for a ‘stay put’ policy because of their Victorian design.
The document said: “Due to the period of construction, the separation between flats is likely to be lath and plaster ceilings, and wooden floorboards, and would not offer the required period of fire resistance for a ‘stay put’ policy to be tenable.”
However, residents have been met with signs in at least three buildings instructing them to ‘stay put’ in the event of a fire.
A resident claimed the notices had been there since around October and were in more buildings which Southwark News was unable to access.
Liliana Cannas, 40, TRA Vice Chair, said: “They treat us like we’re less than plebs where we’re actually asking for the basics of our enjoying our living.”
The fire policy document, sent to the Tenants’ and Residents’ Association (TRA) in October 2023, also recommended installing an updated fire detection system.
But the system, featuring interlinked heat detectors in flats’ entrance halls, wasn’t installed until mid-January, residents claim.
A Peabody spokesperson said: “We’re really sorry the wrong posters were up. While they are just one of the many ways that we communicate fire safety and evacuation information to residents, it’s clear that this could have caused confusion. Thank you for bringing this to our attention.”
Peabody said the posters had now been removed.
It added that the time taken to install the new system was normal and followed a process of consulting with residents, selecting a contractor and giving leaseholders notice.
‘Stay put’ policies are only suitable for blocks where ‘compartmentation’ is designed to stop fires spreading from flat to flat.
However, the policy is controversial, even in buildings where ‘stay put’ is the approved policy.
At Grenfell in 2017, residents were told to stay put but unsafe cladding allowed the fire to spread leading to 72 deaths.
The 2009 Lakanal House fire in Camberwell claimed six lives after tenants were ordered to remain in their homes.
A recommendation from the Grenfell Inquiry, backed by Grenfell United, said building owners should outline personal emergency evacuation plans (PEEPs) in the event of a fire.
But in 2022, the Home Office gave renewed support to ‘say put’ policies, saying there were “significant issues” with the “practicality, proportionality and safety” of PEEPS.
By June 2021, four years after Grenfell, ‘stay put’ advice had been suspended in 65 buildings in Southwark.