THE OXFORD PAPER Your guide for your
Thursday, January 18, 2018 No.75
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New season at the New Theatre Dance, music, com edy and a variety night... and that’s just February!
Reassurance for residents as re-cladding work begins By George Welch FIRE safety fears over two of Oxford’s five high-rise tower blocks have been ‘put to rest’ as vital re-cladding work began this week. Oxford City Council announced last year it would replace the rainscreen ACM cladding on Evenlode and Windrush Towers, both in Blackbird Leys, following the Grenfell disaster and subsequent government tests. Work with non-combustible material on these two towers is scheduled to be completed in July. Planned work on the three other towers in Oxford – Foresters (Wood Farm), Hockmore (Cowley) and Plowman (Northway) – has entered the fi nal stage of refurbishment. Cllr Mike Rowley, board member for housing at the city council, said: “This will put to rest concerns about the safety of the tower blocks as residents will be reassured by the knowledge that their homes now meet all aspects of fi re safety as prescribed by the government.” Re-cladding began as the council received a report this week on the process which saw the cladding installed in the fi rst place. The report concluded there were no failings in the council’s tower blocks refurbishment plan, which was approved in November 2014, adding that cladding fitted met fi re regulations when installed.
Since Grenfell, Oxfordshire Fire and Rescue Service has conducted fi re safety audits for each block and adequate fi re safety was demonstrated for each. The fi re service has also confi rmed that safety measures put in place by the council – including sprinklers, fi re doors, heat and smoke detectors, venting and fi re breaks in the cladding system – meet requirements. Meanwhile, it has been revealed that the council’s refurbishment plan has run £650,000 over budget. The local authority set £20million aside to refurbish all five blocks, adding a further £1m after the Grenfell blaze, which killed more the 70 people, last June. Through ‘additional works and costs,’ the work on all of the blocks has come to £21.65m overall. City council spokesman Mish Tullar told this newspaper: “We have incurred some additional works and costs across the £20m tower blocks refurbishment programme, which are separate to the extra £1m budgeted for re-cladding Windrush and Evenlode towers. We will be seeking to recover some of the additional £650,000 costs from third parties.” The towers were built in the 1960’s and comprise a total of 348 flats housing around 900 people. Renovation work, which began in 2016, is expected to extend the life of the flats by a minimum of 30 years.
Lucy Seakins, left, from CALA Homes with Charlotte Gillman of Oxford Baby Café
Baby Café boosted by £1,000 donation OXFORD Baby Café Group is celebrating after receiving a £1,000 boost to continue its breastfeeding support services. The funding comes from a new bursary scheme from builder CALA Homes.
Oxford Baby Café Group provides breastfeeding support with weekly sessions at four locations across the city with help from lactation consultants and experienced breastfeeding supporters.
The group relies on donations and fundraising to keep its sessions going, and the donation can help secure the future of the weekly East Oxford Children’s Centre support group on Cowley Road.