Cladding is removed at Braithwaite House in Finsbury

TOWER block residents this week claimed they had been ignored over fire safety concerns by Town Hall chiefs for years as the fallout from the disastrous Grenfell Tower blaze in west London continues.

It comes as Islington Council yesterday (Thursday) announced they are “actively looking” into fitting sprinklers in council-owned tower blocks and said enhanced fire safety measures will be fitted in two of Islington’s tallest council blocks – as campaigned for by the Tribune in recent weeks.

As council chiefs scrambled to inspect ­buildings and reassure residents, it emerged this week that:

• residents on the Finsbury estate in Clerkenwell said their fire safety concerns, repeatedly aired since the deadly 2009 Lakanal House fire in south London, have fallen on deaf ears;

• leaseholders are not required by the council to install fire doors even when tenants do, despite years of pleading by the Islington Leaseholders Association (ILA) to send a clear message;

• cladding at Braithwaite House, Finsbury, was removed this week after it failed independent safety tests, raising questions about the 1998 refurbishment of the block and who signed off the project;

• external fire escapes from upper floors of blocks on the Brunswick Close estate in Clerkenwell were removed as part of a 1999 refurbish­ment project, which also saw cladding applied that has been sent off for testing;

• residents of the Harvist estate in Holloway – where a fire broke out last week but was contained – last night (Thursday) presented councillors with a petition demanding external fire escape stairs, fire alarms, sprinklers and that doors to stairwells are made fire safe.

Reading out the petition, signed by 70 residents of the Harvist estate, which is also awaiting results of tests of cladding, Highbury West ward councillor Richard Greening told the full council meeting: “Had it not been for the bravery of our local fire brigade, who arrived within a few minutes [on June 18], there’s no guarantee that a similar tragedy as at Grenfell Tower would not have occurred.”

Responding to developments, Town Hall chiefs announced they are now considering fitting sprinklers in council tower blocks in the wake of the fire that ripped through the Kensington tower, killing at least 79 people.

Councillor Diarmaid Ward, Islington’s housing chief, said: “We are also trying to understand the cost of fitting sprinklers, and how effective they would be in improving safety.” Meanwhile, the council has also announced further fire safety measures for Islington’s tallest council blocks, Michael Cliffe House in Clerkenwell and Peregrine House in Finsbury.

The council has 123 buildings fitted with dry risers, which supply water within buildings for fire-fighting. The dry risers at Michael Cliffe and Peregrine are being converted to wet risers, which are permanently charged with water for fire-fighting.

The Town Hall said it has spent £7m on its fire risk assessment programme and associated fire safety works since 2013.

A report before the full council last night said £24m is being invested in communal doors and bin storage areas throughout the borough’s estates. A programme of upgrades to front doors to improve their resistance in the event of a fire is also being carried out at a cost of £11m.

Cllr Ward added: “All our procedures are under review.”

The housing chief called on the government to pledge funding to pay for fire safety work. Croydon said the cost of retrofitting sprinkler systems in 25 blocks was estimated to be around £10m.

A government spokeswoman told the Tribune yesterday (Thursday) that if an authority is not able to pay for fire safety measures, the government will put a “financial support package in place”.