Alton West Estate Finally Getting New Windows

Residents had been suffering from cold and damp for years

Charcot House, Alton West Estate. Picture: Facundo Arrizabalaga/MyLondon

September 21, 2023

Residents on a Roehampton estate who say they are plagued by unbearable cold and damp could finally see their windows and doors replaced. Residents of the 1950s blocks on the Alton West Estate said they faced extortionate energy bills trying to stay warm and had become ill due to their living conditions as they called for the works to be completed.

The works needed planning permission along with listed building consent as the blocks are Grade II* listed buildings. The plans from Wandsworth Council, which owns the estate, include installing replacement windows and stairwell fire doors at the 375 maisonettes across Binley House, Charcot House, Denmead House, Dunbridge House and Winchfield House along Highcliffe Drive.

Residents threw their support behind the plans in letters to the council ahead of a planning committee meeting on 19 September. Kiri Palmer, from Winchfield House, wrote: “We desperately need replacement windows. The draft that we experience literally makes us ill. We waste thousands on gas trying to heat the flats, when the heat just escapes through the huge windows in each room.”

Sarah Terry-Shearman, from Charcot House, said, “The windows in the flats are very draughty, also the fire doors. The surrounding wood has rotten causing a lot of damp in the windows. The sealant is so old it has fallen off.

“The flats are extremely cold in winter causing families to have heating on constant all the time which is making heating bills very expensive. The draughts and coldness is getting unbearable. I have spent hundreds trying to minimise they cold air coming in but it doesn’t help.”

The council’s planning committee approved the plans and the application will now be referred to the Secretary of State for a final decision, as required by the Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas Act 1990.

At the meeting, Siri Thafvelin, senior planning officer, said a survey of the buildings had shown that “after 70 years, they’re not functioning as well as they should”. She said, “Ultimately, it’s considered that the benefit of securing the long-term future of the buildings outweighs the harm.”

Councillors supported the plans at the meeting. Labour councillor Matthew Tiller read out comments from Jo Playford, chair of Winchfield House Residents’ Association, which said, “Residents [are] currently living with windows that are in total disrepair. Some residents have had their windows sealed shut in order to make them safe whilst waiting for the window replacement. This causes damp and condensation issues because of the lack of ventilation.

“The current windows are not fit-for-purpose. They let so much of a draft through that it’s impossible to heat the flats without being faced with extortionate energy bills.”

Councillor Tiller added, “I hope that having heard what residents have to say, we’ll have an outcome tonight that restores their faith in us.”

Labour councillor and London Assembly member Leonie Cooper also said she was conscious of the “issues that relate to the damp and the mould and the living conditions” faced by residents.

She said, “For me, I’m thinking particularly obviously of the recent judgement in relation to Awaab Ishak from Rochdale, and whilst I think it’s really important that whatever goes in there is very sympathetic to the listed buildings, I think even if changing the windows results in some minor harm to the existing buildings, I actually think that the more major harm if we don’t replace them will be to the people that live there and I think that will be unconscionable.”

Charlotte Lilywhite - Local Democracy Reporter