Residents remain unable to return home days after the frontage of two houses collapsed in south-east London, with one resident saying he had raised concerns about heavy vibration from nearby development works and requested that work be paused.
The partial collapse happened on Woodland Terrace in Charlton at about 18:30 BST on Saturday.
The terrace sits between the former Morris Walk and Maryon Grove estates, which are being redeveloped as part of Greenwich Council’s Woolwich Estates regeneration project., external
Lovell, the developer carrying out the work, said the cause of the collapse had not been established and it would be inappropriate to speculate while investigations continued.
London Fire Brigade said the fascia of a wall fell from roof level.
There were no reports of any injuries, but a number of properties were evacuated and residents are unable to return until a structural survey has been completed on the properties.
Greenwich Council said it was in touch with about 20 households affected by the incident and had placed seven in temporary accommodation, while others made their own arrangements.
The council said it was working to understand the circumstances surrounding the incident.
Ben Carew, who owns a ground-floor flat on Woodland Terrace and has lived there since 2013, said since 2019 he repeatedly raised concerns about the condition of the properties.
Emails seen by the BBC show Carew contacted Lovell on 21 July after noticing cracks opening up in his home during periods of heavy vibration.
He asked for work to be paused while the issue was assessed.
The following day, he contacted Greenwich Council’s planning enforcement team to report concerns about vibration, cracking and parts of buildings coming away.
He also requested Lovell’s vibration monitoring data and asked whether there was an allowable limit, but said he never received the information.
Carew said he noticed new cracks appearing in a neighbouring property in the days before the collapse.
He said: “I don’t know what caused this. That is for the engineers. What I know is what I reported, when I reported it, and that nobody came.”
