Plans to refurbish the 120-home sheltered housing block in Green Street have been in the works since 2021, reports Nick Clark, Local Democracy Reporter

Delayed work to refurbish a large housing block in Green Street is finally set to begin next year.

Newham Council leaders agreed to spend £9million on refurbishing the Hamara Ghar sheltered housing scheme yesterday (Tuesday 16th).

Councillor Blossom Young, responsible for council housing, apologised for the delays but said the work would provide “safe, secure and warm homes for our residents”.

Plans to refurbish the 120-home sheltered housing block have been in the works since 2021.

Members of the council’s cabinet previously agreed to spend £10m on the refurbishment in December 2023. Some £1.8m of this was to be paid for using a government grant.

But council papers say that a “discrepancy” in how the council had awarded the contract to carry out the works meant it had to run the process again.

They say that new regulations under the Building Safety Act 2022 added further delays. This has put the award of the grant at risk, as there were conditions on when it had to be spent.

Papers say the council decided further delay “would not be acceptable to residents”. However, it has now split its original plans for the refurbishment in two.

Fabric repairs and modernisation of kitchen and bathrooms, and replacement of cladding and windows will go ahead. But upgrades to the heating system will now form part of a “future programme”.

The total cost has been revised to £9m. But the council also says it will have to renogotiate the grant funding with the government – so has to assume it will pay for the entire project itself.

The town hall says the spending was already included in its budgets for current and future financial years.

Speaking at a cabinet meeting yesterday, Cllr Young said: “I want to aknowledge the delays in this work.

“Much of this was tied up in previous activity and I do want to apologise to residents at Hamara Ghar for these delays.”

No news is bad news

Independent news outlets like ours – reporting for the community without rich backers – are under threat of closure, turning British towns into news deserts.

The audiences they serve know less, understand less, and can do less.

If our coverage has helped you understand our community a little bit better, please consider supporting us with a monthly, yearly or one-off donation.

Choose the news. Don’t lose the news.

Monthly direct debit

Annual direct debit

£5 per month supporters get a digital copy of each month’s paper before anyone else, £10 per month supporters get a digital copy of each month’s paper before anyone else and a print copy posted to them each month. £50 annual supporters get a digital copy of each month's paper before anyone else.