Survey of Riser Pipes – Bateman & Cruden

Following on from the survey of the riser pipes in Cornish House, which included some invasive cut-outs being taken and sent away for analysis, it was agreed that further investigations would be undertaken on two of the other towers. Bateman & Cruden were chosen. Visual inspections of every second floor in Bateman & Cruden were carried out on the 27th January 2022, and the photographic evidence can be seen below. All eight odd floors were photographed in Bateman, and five floors in Cruden, as three balconies could not be accessed due a defective lock &  pigeons nesting on two balconies.

Just as in Cornish House, the pipework was found to be in very good condition with no rust or corrosion where the insulation and ducting was intact. This evidence now proves beyond any reasonable doubt that the feasibility study carried out by MEPS consulting on behalf of Potter Rapier was flawed, and its contents and conclusions to be totally unreliable. We have now surveyed 50% of the six towers, and not found any evidence of any serious degradation to the riser pipework.

The diligent work by resident reps on the TRA saved residents living on a building site for months with scaffolding on every block, and also saved every leaseholder £7,000 in unnecessary charges.

The TRA would like to thank Sylvester Hilton for taking a common sense approach, and facilitating the double checking the recommendations of this flawed survey, which nearly caused £2.2m of public money to be wasted.