Staff at the South Kilburn nursery say they have experienced a leaky roof, squatters in the basement and a raft of health and safety issues
A North London nursery worker has described the ongoing refurbishment of the site as “shoddy” after a three-year-old girl was hit by a piece of a door frame that came loose and drug dealers moved into the basement.
Granville Plus Nursery School, on Granville Road in South Kilburn, was refurbished as part of the redevelopment of the Granville and Carlton Community Centres, yet a staff member argues that since moving back into the building in March 2025, there has been an ever-growing list of issues.
The staff member, who asked to remain anonymous, said: “It is a lovely building, but it got run down over the years, and then it got run down again, so having a bit of a refurbishment sounded like a great idea. It was a lovely prospect, but the whole way it has been done has been shoddy.”
They added: “It looks all nice and shiny on the surface, but as soon as you start trying to use the building, it was clear there were lots and lots of problems. In the first couple of weeks, all the door handles came off.
“We had a big bit of pelmet made of solid fibre board over a sliding door in the nursery, and it fell onto a child’s head, and it caused quite a nasty head injury. Instead of attaching it firmly to the wall, they had used clips to attach it to the wall. The clips came loose and hit a three-year-old girl on the head.”
The employee added that the girl was taken to A&E and staff reported the incident, which happened last year, to the builders who completed the refurbishment. However, they claim they were met with “no apology” and that the nursery children, who are aged from 6 months to 4 years, were accused of “swinging” on the pelmet, despite it being out of reach.
Major safety concerns were then expressed by staff when squatters got into the plant room in the basement earlier this year. It’s alleged the squatters were using and dealing drugs, causing parents to fear for their children’s safety.
Staff reported these issues to Brent Council, who reportedly kicked the squatters out while connecting them with outreach workers, but the staff member claims this only happened after the nursery called the police to intervene. While the squatters are gone, clearing up their mess is an ongoing frustration which has dragged on for months.
The staff member said: “On and off people were living in there; there was a drug dealing operation out of the basement, people just coming up and down all day to get drugs, which is just wholly inappropriate for a nursery. It could be dangerous; we have had enormous hassle trying to get this sorted out.
“It really smelt awful down there; the lady in reception couldn’t open the windows because it’s so bad. We are just going back and forth with the council to get this sorted out. We obviously get that you can’t send anyone down there; it needs to be done by a specialist [cleaning] team, but the time it takes to sort this out is frustrating.
“What is the point of renovating a building if it is going to be immediately occupied and squatted by people who are taking drugs?”
A staff member said a pile of waste, including faeces, has been left in the plant room for months, as Brent Council apparently doesn’t have teams available to carry out the specialist clean-up operation.
Meanwhile the playground in the nursery has been divided by the contractors, who will use it for construction of the Granville Road flats, with a portion left for the nursery children to enjoy.
Yet when this portion was returned to the nursery after the refurbishment, staff reportedly found the ground covered in small stones, just the right size for the young children to swallow, and therefore deemed it unusable until Brent Council and the nursery footed the bill to clear them.
Responding to the situation at Granville Plus Nursery School, a Brent Council spokesperson said: “We appreciate the patience of staff and families at Granville Plus Nursery while construction work has continued on site, and we have worked closely with the nursery to address concerns as they have arisen on what is a particularly complex site.
“The safety and wellbeing of children and staff remains our top priority. We will continue working with the nursery and developers on site to ensure that everyone has access to a safe and welcoming environment.”
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