Residents of a tower block in Cardiff that is due to be demolished say they are living in grim conditions while they wait to be rehomed. Tenants in the 13-storey council-owned high rise in the Channel View estate in Grangetown claim they have been living for years with damp, black mould, leaks, flooding, and drafts.
They say there are no fire sprinklers in the building's 78 flats nor in the corridors and that the "horrendous" plumbing has caused sewage from other apartments to appear in their toilets and baths. In 2016 the residents, many of whom are aged over 65, were told that the block would be demolished and new flats would be built for them.
But the completion dates of the new builds have been delayed - and now the tenants have been informed they might have to wait another four more years. Feeling in "limbo" and "abandoned" by Cardiff Council, they claim that the local authority has not provided them with any adequate refurbishments because the building is going to be demolished anyway.
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In response to the residents' complaints, the council confirmed it is carrying out a full review of the building to see what improvements can be made while the residents wait to move. It said it took fire safety "very seriously" and that there were fire doors and smoke alarms in every flat and a sprinkler system in the bin store. The demolition of the tower block is part of a wider regeneration scheme for the estate, which was built by the river Taff in the 1970s. The redevelopment will see its 180 existing properties, including the high rise, replaced with 320 new homes.
The project will be delivered in phases, with the first phase involving two new blocks to replace the existing high rise. The first building is expected to be completed by the end of 2026. It will be the smaller of the two blocks, comprising 24 independent living flats for older people. Support award-winning journalism with WalesOnline’s Premium app on Apple or Android
The second building, a larger block, is expected to be completed by early 2028. It will be a community living scheme, including communal facilities. Work is now underway on site for the first phase, the council said. It assured the current residents of Channel View high rise will be guaranteed one of the new flats and will have "first priority" once they're ready. Their needs and preferences will be taken into account when determining which of the two new blocks they'll move into, the council added.
'They've been playing cat and mouse'
But Leo Chadwick, who has been living in the high rise for 17 years, has doubts the flats will be completed on time - and whether some tenants will still be alive to see them.
"There have been numerous meetings in here since [2016] where completion dates [of the new builds] have been discussed and then haven't materialised," said Leo, 65. "There are a lot of people in here who are doubting whether they'll go the distance. I've seen people who were looking forward to moving who never got there anyway and died in the meantime. What's the guarantee come 2026 or 2028 it's going to materialise?
"I wouldn't be surprised at sometime down the road if they said: 'It's not 2028, you'll have to hang on another year.' They've been playing cat and mouse with the [completion] dates...I think I said once: 'I better unpack my case then.'"
He added: "They've just left us here to basically make the best of what we've got. But how long can you maintain that?...It's not a good environment." Another resident, Elizabeth Walsh, 70, said: "It started off in 2016, and we were going to move in 2022. Then it was 2024. Now it's 2026, but only 24 can go into the first building. This is a 13 storey building with six properties on each floor. Then it will be 2028."
'Everything about this place makes me feel sick'
WalesOnline paid a visit to the Channel View high rise to speak to residents and see the conditions for ourselves. There was visible mould and cobwebs on the exterior, particularly around the windows, which the residents claim had "never been cleaned".
Inside, the windows and vents in the corridors had visible mould, cobwebs and bird mess. There was also water leaking down the wall in one corridor and dripping from the ceiling in the stairwell, which residents claim happens when it rains a lot. For the latest Cardiff news, sign up to our newsletter here
According to the tenants there has been a marked decline in the cold and damp issues since the building's cladding was removed in 2018 following the Grenfell Tower tragedy. A decision was made not to re-clad the block but instead to bring forward the redevelopment plans, Cardiff Council explained.
But the safety measure has come at the cost of comfort, according to the residents. "It's very cold," said Leo. "[The flats] were a bit drafty and old fashioned before they took the cladding down, but now they're really bad...Every window is old.
"The water in the bottom of my toilet, when it's windy, it's like you're on a ship - it's rocking back and forth. And if you try to open your front door, you've literally got to pull it really hard because of the wind pressure." Another tenant, Carol Hughes, 70, who has been living in high rise for 16 years, showed us photos of black mould she had discovered when she recently redecorated her bedroom.
"When they said 2028, you want a place to look nice, so I decided to put up new wallpaper. I peeled the old wallpaper back and found the mould - it was soaking wet. I don't know where is the water coming from - it's an adjoining wall to my living room." She added: "If I sleep at my daughter's, I feel fine...If I'm here, I'm coughing all night. Is that what is making me cough? I don't know."
She showed us a hole above her living room that water has been leaking through for around three or four years. "I keep a tea towel there to stop the water coming down the wall," she said. "They came down and put a bit of plasterboard there - but I thought: 'That's not going to stop water coming in'. It's not fixing the problem."
She also showed us part of her ceiling which she said used to have a hole with water dripping through it. She claimed it had simply been "painted over" last year - and now the water stain had reappeared.
Meanwhile, Elizabeth showed us how she'd used tape and plastic to block out the draft coming through her balcony door and window in her flat, both from inside and outside. "They came [last summer] to put the black seal around the door, but it wasn't wide enough. So I can still put my fingers through it," she said.
Like Carol, she said she had black mould on her walls and would "cough constantly" with recurrent chest infections. She also complained that not only were any repairs inadequate, but they would take a long time to happen. "We need to have comfort and not put up with draughts and not have to wait so long for every repair to be carried out. We have to wait around 25 days," she said.
"If it's going to start to deteriorate much much more, I feel unsafe. I don't think we should be living like this really...if you put the heating on in here, it was a waste of time until I boarded up all the windows and doors...I sometimes go to bed at 8pm or 9pm just to stay warm. Going outside [into the corridors], I'd have to wear a coat because it's so cold - you may as well be out on the street."
Marlene Nealon, 75, had been forced stop using two of her cupboards because they were so damp and full of mould. There's also been a crack in her ceiling since she moved in, and later on a water stain had appeared there. "I don't know where it's coming from... the woman who lives above me doesn't have a leak," she said.
Another resident, Katy Monaghan, 64, had not had issues with mould in her flat, but as a former nurse she was concerned about its impact on the tenant's health. "There's nothing worse than damp conditions for your health," she said. "Everything about this place makes me feel sick. It's so unhygienic... it's just appalling we've got to live like this and it's 2024."
Like Elizabeth, she'd also had problems with the sealant around her balcony door and used tape to block out the drafts. "They took all the black sealant off so it could close and they put this plastic tape up which flew off in the wind - they did that about three years ago....they said there was too much sealant so it wasn't closing properly".
She can feel the cold coming in and has her heating on "all the time". "£299 was my electric bill for one month. Because I had an oil-filled radiator on - I didn't know it used up a lot of electricity". Cardiff Council said in light of the building's lower thermal efficiency, funding has been available to support tenants with their utility bills over the winter..
'Filth turning up in their baths'
While the residents believe the cold and damp issues have been exacerbated by the removal of the cladding, they said the "ancient" plumbing has been a long-standing problem - and they don't know how it was approved in the first place. "There are serious problems with plumbing in here, where many people have had literally filth turning up in their baths and in their sinks," said Leo.
"I personally haven't, but I have seen brown water coming out of the taps. They put a disabled shower in for me many years ago, so that's most probably why I haven't noticed anything nasty there. But sometimes there is a terrible smell around the sink in the kitchen and the sink in the bathroom."
Marlene added: "[A] plumber told me the sewerage in this building is horrendous. It's so old...that's why it's all leaking, he said." She claims she had a sewer fly infestation in one of the pipes in her flat, which caused a "terrible smell" from around last August until January this year. "It was absolutely disgusting," she said.
Even worse, she claims someone's else sewage has come before in her toilet. "And sometimes in the kitchen the sink will clog up, filling up with dirty water," she said..
There are not just flies in the pipes, according to the residents. "In the summer, if you can open the window - because they get stuck - or they open the veranda door to cool down, you're surrounded by flies. So you've got to keep your doors and windows closed to stop the bugs," said Leo. Meanwhile Katy said flies come into her flat, which she believes come from a rooftop that is covered in bird mess and located just below her window.
She added that the building was "terrible for flooding". "Every time I put it on my washing machine, I have to watch it really carefully, because it will come up the sink and overflow. It doesn't drain out fast enough and it quite regularly blocks. It wrecked all my kitchen tops." She also said a pipe keeps flooding in their personal sheds on the ground floor - and she claims one time it flooding two inches of waste water and she was forced to throw bedding out which she had stored there.
But most concerning of all, the residents say, is a lack of sprinklers in their flats and corridors. They also claim the upper floors have solid two-hour fire resistant front doors, but the lower floors only have only half-hour fire resistant front doors. Cardiff Council said all flats are fitted with a smoke alarm and there are smoke vents throughout the building, as well as sprinklers in the bin store.
What Cardiff Council says
A council spokesperson said: “Following the Grenfell Tower tragedy a review of the council’s high-rise residential blocks led to the removal of cladding from five high-rises, including Channel View. While the cladding on these blocks was not the same as that on Grenfell it no longer met current buildings-safety standards. Consequently, a decision to remove the cladding was taken. Ensuring our residents are safe in their homes is our highest priority.
“Plans were then put in place to reclad the majority of these council high-rise buidings and this work is ongoing. A decision was made not to re-clad Channel View, but instead to bring forward plans to redevelop the area creating 400 new highly energy-efficient, low-carbon homes, which included the replacement of the existing 180 Council-managed properties.
“All our tenants were consulted on the plans and told they would be able to move into the new homes when the development was ready. These proposals have developed and tenants have been updated on any changes.
“Unfortunately, the development of the new buildings has been delayed with the pandemic playing a part. However, we were pleased to recently announce the conclusion of a tender process to appoint Wates Residential as the developer partner for the project. Wates will now deliver all phases of the regeneration scheme with the immediate priority being Phase 1, which is the direct replacement for the existing block of flats at Channel View.
“Work is now underway on site for phase 1 - and the current residents of Channel View high-rise flats will have first priority to move into the new flats once they are ready. Phase 1 consists of two buildings, one larger block which will be a community living scheme to include a range of communal facilities for residents and some staff provision, and a smaller block of 24 independent living older person flats.
"Although this is one phase of development, the smaller block will be completed and handed over first. It is less complex and will be quicker to build. The larger block will follow. All residents in the existing high-rise block will be guaranteed an apartment in the new development, their needs and preferences will be taken into account in determining which of the two blocks will be their new home."
The spokesperson added: “We are currently carrying out a full review of the building to ascertain what other improvements we can make and are working closely with tenants to support them, and respond to their individual issues and needs, while they wait to move. In recognition of the lower thermal efficiency of the current building, funding has been available to tenants to support payment of their utility bills over the winter.”
On the fire safety of the building in particular, the spokesperson commented: "We take fire safety very seriously. Removal of the cladding was for safety reasons. A comprehensive fire risk assessment is carried out annually and any resulting required actions are completed. There are fire doors throughout the building which ensure compartmentation. These doors are in place to delay the spread of fire and smoke.
"All flats are fitted with a smoke alarm which are serviced annually. Smoke vents are located throughout the building and emergency lighting illuminates the escape routes in the event of a power failure. A caretaker is on site every day and carries out daily checks. Any issues are reported and then actioned. There is a sprinkler system located in the bin store."
