Fed-up residents have described lengthy delays and disruption during an ambitious project to make their houses greener and more energy efficient as ‘seven months of hell’.
Housing association tenants have complained family homes in Bishop Auckland were left looking ‘like a bomb site’ as work was carried out by believe housing.
The group told people living in 22 homes on Proudfoot Drive that work, including the installation of solar panels and insulation, starting in January would take no more than seven weeks.
The aim was to make their home warmer and cheaper to run with £84,000 worth of measures to make them more energy efficient.
Heat pumps have been installed and gas has been disconnected, but some complain they have been left without a reliable source of hot water.
Others complain of ‘shoddy’ workmanship with loose windowsills and steps, damaged fittings and a decorating budget nowhere near enough to restore the homeliness to the dwellings.
Six months on, although the major work is now complete, residents unable to redecorate their home feel they have been left in limbo by the housing association.
Maureen Spensley, 71, who has lived in the property for three years but on Proudfoot Drive for almost three decades, said: “We should have been moved out of these houses because we were living on a bomb site. We cannot see an end to it. I just want my home back.”
Mrs Spensley said workmen had left a dangerous loose switch live in a cupboard that could have given her an electric shock.
She can also no longer reach the kitchen window to shut it because new insulation means the wall and window sill is too wide.
Kitchen cupboards now have the laminate peeling off, handles need replacing and there are patches of plastering that still need attention.
Mrs Spensley said the problems with her home have compounded the pain of losing her son suddenly at the age of 39 before Christmas and being treated for breast cancer.
She said: “We were grieving for my son and they wanted to come the day he was getting buried. I said: ‘You cannot, we are burying my son’.
“He was buried on the Thursday and they came on the Monday. We were taking sympathy cards down.
“They said the worst part be the rewiring and told my it would put back the same if not better than it is now.
“I have lymphoedema and I have not been able to let a nurse come since February because of the mess.”
Neighbour Gemma Dowson, 36, who has three autistic children, said: “They said it was going to take seven weeks for the full street and four days to do my house.
“That is the biggest lie I was ever told. There is muck everywhere and we have had no kitchen cupboards on the walls for months. The kids have not had their toys because I put it all in storage.
“You go to start decorating and they come back out and mess it all up.
“It is still not finished yet. The work has been horrendous and it just goes on.”
Mother-of-four Lyndsey Jardine, 33, said: “It has been an absolute nightmare. The whole thing. When the first got started we did not have any heating or hot water for 15 days. It has been happening since January when it has been really cold.
“Five times since then we have gone for four days without hot water. We have had to put up with seven months of hell.”
The houses date back to the 1950s and a spokesman for believe housing said the project was aimed at reducing the impact on the environment.
Each home has had:
- Inefficient gas heating systems have been replaced with air source heat pumps.
- Photovoltaic panels and solar batteries provide residents with a renewable source of electricity.
- Loft insulation, cavity wall insulation and external wall insulation
- New roofs, doors and triple-glazed windows to reduce the amount of warmth lost from the properties.
- New electric hot water systems, rewiring and ventilation systems complete the works.
Ruth Dent, director of assets and compliance at believe housing, said: “We understand that the substantial works required to make existing housing stock suitable for a low-carbon future can be messy and disruptive.
“We acknowledge that while working with our delivery partner, EQUANS, to put together a programme of work, seven weeks per home was not long enough, and would like to apologise to our affected customers that they were not given a longer timeframe at the outset.
“The challenge we have faced is that this type of deep retrofit work is brand new, using new technologies in older homes in this way has not been done before.”
The housing association said weekly drop-in sessions, one-to-one meetings, and discussions with local councillors had been held to support residents.
Ms Dent said: “The work is now all signed off, although there is some outstanding snagging work, and redecoration plans are discussed with all residents on an individual basis and adapted to meet individual circumstances. “On this scheme residents were offered an additional £100 on top of our standard redecoration allowances.
“Just because the work is over, this is not the end, as we will continue to reflect on the delivery and customer engagement of this scheme and we’ll monitor the internal living environment and household cost savings over time, using this learning to inform future schemes.
“This coming winter is going be challenging for everyone, with spiralling energy costs, however residents who have benefitted from this scheme will be able to have warm homes this and every winter.”
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