Some tenants ‘will not recover’ from ‘life changing’ Hanover Tower saga

A resident of a Sheffield Council tower block fitted with dangerous cladding has spoken of the “frightening” and “life-changing” impact it has had on tenants.
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John Cawthorne, of the Hanover Tower Tenants and Residents Association, told a council scrutiny committee of the severe impact the saga has had on him and other residents.

In the safer and stronger communities scrutiny and policy development committee meeting, Mr Cawthorne said: “We’ve had three years plus of real stress, heartache, worry and fear. Tenants have voted with their feet and gone, they have upped sticks and moved from a home that they loved into the private sector because they were fearful.

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“I’ve seen tenants who will not recover from what they have been through. I cannot underestimate how frightening it was for many people. It was a life-changing episode.”

Hanover TowerHanover Tower
Hanover Tower

In reply, In reply, Janet Sharpe, director of housing at the council, said: “I absolutely understand tenants’ and leaseholders’ concern, this is their home and we have an absolute duty to make sure they feel safe, they are safe and if there are issues we resolve them. I think there is obviously some learning from this scheme in terms of how we might do things differently moving forward.”

The meeting followed the release of findings from a three-year investigation into why combustible cladding was put on the building.

Before the cladding was fitted on the tower block at Exeter Drive, Broomhall, residents were told safe aluminium material would be used.

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But years later government lab tests – introduced in the wake of the Grenfell disaster – exposed it as a cheaper aluminium composite material with ‘no flame retardant properties’.

The council began immediately replacing it with solid aluminium cladding as the investigation was launched.

Investigators drew from various documents including emails, planning applications and drawings but said not all documentation relating to the project was retained and it is impossible to say with certainty what is missing.

This was partly blamed for a lack of clarity on the council’s role in the decision.

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The investigation also failed to find any information illustrating if steps were taken to check the safety of the cladding before it was put on.

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