Camden Council flats had windows with glass panes inside out

The north London council has admitted at least 85 flats on the Chalcots estate, Swiss Cottage, had their new double glazing incorrectly installed.

It issued a public apology, but insisted fixing the error would not cost any extra money.

“I can’t believe it,” said Mandy Ryan, a tenants’ representative of at one of the affected blocks.

“With all the teams and the money they have got, no one spotted it. They should be named and shamed. It’s embarrassing. It’s incompetent, to say the least.”

Mandy Ryan, who lives in Dorney, said since her windows were installed her family had experienced high temperatures, even in cold weather (Image: Charles Thomson/Newsquest) The estate’s five tower blocks have undergone years of work to replace insulation, cladding and windows after they were found to be riddled with fire safety issues in the wake of the Grenfell Tower disaster.

The new window system was already controversial after an official report warned it could lead to overheating. The council has now admitted the incorrect installation could make the flats even hotter.

“Following checks on the newly installed windows at the Chalcots, the council’s project team have found that some window glazing panels in Dorney have been incorrectly fitted,” a spokesman said.

“This may also be the case in Bray, which we are currently assessing.

“This is not a safety concern but will affect the reduction of overheating in the summer – so we will be putting this right straight away.”

Mandy Ryan said the issue came to light when a resident realised marks were on the inside panes that should have been on the outside, and vice versa (Image: Mandy Ryan) Mandy Ryan, who lives in Dorney, said her flat had been “very hot” since the new windows were installed.

“We had to purchase two Dyson fans for bedrooms,” she said. “It was 28 degrees at 10pm.

“The rooms are still very hot even when it’s cold outside – and if you open windows, they slam shut with a breeze.”

She said the mistake was realised by a resident who noticed labels which should have been on the inside panes were on the outside, and vice versa.

An email to residents from the council said it had commissioned checks on the windows “based on feedback from residents about their observations, including on heating in their home”.

The Chalcots estate was evacuated in 2017, when an inspection after the Grenfell Tower tragedy revealed the buildings were riddled with fire safety failures (Image: Archant) “Some of the glazing is in the wrong orientation due to a manufacturing process and this applies to a number of homes in Bray and through further checks to some homes at Dorney too,” wrote project director Astrid Kjellberg-Obst.

“Where the glass is in the wrong orientation, the glass does not perform as it should particularly relating to minimising overheating.”

A test was done on how long it would take to replace the largest glass panel from one flat and it was done in under 40 minutes, she wrote.

Contacted by the Ham&High, Camden Council said the work would not be noisy or time consuming.

“We are contacting the residents who this issue affects to arrange for our contractors to install the glazing correctly,” a spokesman said.

“This corrective work does not extend the overall programme as it can be done simultaneously to the remaining work which needs to be done and will be of no extra cost to the council or the taxpayer.

“All works on the windows will be checked independently once completed. We apologise to the affected residents for this additional work.”

In 2022, the Ham&High revealed an official report had found the new windows would cause flats to overheat unless they were opened wider than 10cm.

But residents with children were told they must not leave them in any room with windows open wider than 10cm.  

In a consultation booklet given to residents, including testing results, the column showing the overheating failures at 10cm was removed.

The council refused to answer our questions on why that column was missing from the consultation booklet.

It insisted the new window design gave residents “a wider range of choices to ventilate their homes to address this concern, and it does so safely”.