Ipswich tower block residents on life living behind plastic sheeting

People in a town centre tower block have had their flats shrouded in plastic for more than six months while cladding is removed. What is it like living there?

Caroline Haydon-Knowell moved into the 17-storey St Francis Tower in Ipswich in July 2020.

Work to strip the flammable cladding had started just over two years earlier.

The scaffolding went up first, then in May this year, the shrink-wrap followed.

"It's so depressing - it's just awful," says Ms Haydon-Knowell.

"We were just coming out of lockdown when it went up and it felt like just as the whole world was opening - we were all of a sudden being closed in.

"The only reason I rented this property was for the fantastic view."

From her rented 15th floor flat, she should be able to see across Ipswich.

But she says "you never know what the weather's like - you have to phone a friend to know what to wear because you can't tell".

"Some people had taken to cutting holes in the plastic over their windows," she says.

For her, living in the plastic-wrapped block had "got gloomier and gloomier".

She has been staying with family and friends "as regularly as I can" through the summer to get away from the gloom.

"You need to get away from it," she says.

"But I find a lot of the time now I don't even want to go outside and I don't understand what that's about and I don't want anyone to visit because it's just so awful.

"It's so unlike me, I used to be so social. I just feel so depressed. It feels paralysing.

"It's suffocating. Even prison cells have got a window, you know?"

Chris Moore lives on the 13th floor of the tower block.

He says it had been "pretty difficult" but he understands why "the work needs doing".

"I'm happy for it to continue as it is and be done as soon as possible," he says.

He does not have sheeting across his windows but says he often covers them because of the work going on outside.

"I think we're lucky to have the work being done and I appreciate that it is being done, and the building will be safer because of it," he says.

Enda, who did not wish to give his last name, also lives on the 13th floor.

"It's been quite diabolical for the last month. It's the lack of natural sunlight... and the fresh air," he says.

He also moved in for the view.

"It's quite a nice view - I can't remember what it looks like any more," he says.

"It feels like you're living in Alcatraz. I go outside just to get a mental picture of what outside is."

A spokesman for Block Management UK, which runs the tower block, said: "We understand how important it is to undertake these works to replace the dangerous cladding as soon and as quickly as possible.

"Block Management only manage communications with residents regarding the cladding project at St Francis Tower, the remedial works/cladding project are being managed by a separate contracts administration company and specialist cladding contractors.

"The contractor had discovered approximately 300 windows needed to be installed in more than 100 flats as these were incorrectly fitted by the original developer/contractor, before the current freeholder owned the building and long before Block Management UK was brought in.

"The estimated timeline for the window replacement completion is the end of November. Work can then continue on replacing the cladding. The replacement work is expected to last another 12 months."

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