Wicker Riverside: Hundreds face homelessness as Sheffield flats face closure over fire safety concerns

Residents in Wicker Riverside have been warned they may have to leave by the end of the month if the issues - including internal fire compartmentation and external cladding - are not addressed. Last week, people in 35 flats on floors 6-10 were moved out with immediate effect because remedial works had ‘significantly increased’ the risk in the 132-apartment building.

The fire service first served a prohibition notice in 2020 in the wake of the 2017 Grenfell fire which killed 72 people. But on January 13 assistant chief fire officer Andy Strelczenie said he had been forced to reissue the notice as “previously identified issues had not been resolved.”

George Truman, who lives on a lower floor, is furious at having to move out.

He said: “We want people to hear about our plight because so far no-one seems to care. This has clearly happened due to someone at Nine Group ignoring warnings from the fire service until they were forced to serve a prohibition notice. This has left many of us homeless.”

The Star contacted building owner Nine Group but did not receive a reply. The building is managed by Love Your Block. Managing director Paul McCormack said there may not be enough time to complete the work to prevent closure.

He added: “We are very disappointed that it was necessary to issue a prohibition notice to ensure that essential work was performed safely at Wicker Riverside. We are encouraged by the recent actions of Nine Group to fulfill their legal obligations under the leadership of their new executive director…but a lack of detailed planning continues to cause concern.”

Councillor Terry Fox, leader of Sheffield City Council, said they placed 10 families in emergency accommodation on January 17 and the authority had identified 40 hotel rooms for residents.

He added: “It is shocking and unacceptable that despite repeated advice, those responsible have still not made this apartment block safe. We understand that this will be a distressing time for residents who have had to face the financial and emotional burden of this for years.”

SYFR assistant chief fire officer Andy Strelczenie, said closing the building was “always a last resort” but it is still expected to proceed as planned.

He added: “Ultimately though, the safety of the residents must come first. Our hearts go out to all those affected by this horrendous situation, but we simply cannot allow this unsafe situation to continue.

“We’ll continue to work closely with the responsible persons to ensure the matters within the building can be resolved. Responsible persons are now making efforts to remediate issues within the building as quickly as possible and the prohibition notice will be removed as soon as we believe it is safe to do so. But as things stand, we fully expect the notice to come into force on 31 January.

“The fire service originally served an enforcement notice on Wicker Riverside in December 2020 and has continued to engage with the responsible persons since then to ensure the safety issues identified by inspectors were resolved - but this has not happened within the timescales set out in the notices.”