Latest news with #PeterGill
BBC News
2 days ago
- General
- BBC News
Coventry's Mercia House flood evacuation blamed on 'freak accident'
A major flood at a tower block which left residents in temporary accommodation was a freak accident, a housing association has floors of the 17-storey Mercia House in Coventry were affected by the leak with both water and power turned off so the issue could be building was evacuated with 63 households having to move into temporary accommodation while others chose to stay with family or friends, Peter Gill, from Citizen Housing director of housing, care and support added: "It's a freak accident. At the moment what we need to do is to do some further investigations." He said a sprinkler joint had become detached and caused the flood."The joint seems to have fractured. We don't quite know why that's happened but at the moment our focus is trying to get the building back up and running so we can get people back home," Mr Gill said."The issues around why people can't stay in the building is because the emergency lighting has been affected and the sprinkler system isn't operational. "It's a high-rise building. The fire brigade has told Citizen that people can't live there."Power had since been restored but further work was needed to the block's emergency lighting, lifts and the sprinkler system, Mr Gill added."We hope to have all that completed by Wednesday but we're waiting to make sure before we sent out information to our customers," he were being contacted by phone and email with an update on Monday, Mr Gill said. Follow BBC Coventry & Warwickshire on BBC Sounds, Facebook, X and Instagram.
BBC News
3 days ago
- General
- BBC News
Temporary housing for evacuated Coventry residents extended
Temporary accommodation for residents who were evacuated from a block of flats in Coventry after a major flood in the building will be extended "as a precaution".Citizen Housing, which manages Mercia House, said a leak in the sprinkler system was to blame, with four floors of the 17-storey building directly address the issue, both water and power were turned off at the site, further affecting residents and prompting the evacuation on firm said it would temporarily rehome residents, and Peter Gill, director of housing, care and support at Citizen Housing, said in a statement on Sunday that the arrangement would be extended until Friday. Pearl Miller, who has lived in the building for more than 30 years, said she had been moved to the Hotel Ramada with her partner, but has requested a move to a room with a fridge as they cannot store his has also had to buy a number of items after she was unable to get them from her flat, due to the "strict" visiting Miller said her partner had been able to return to her flat, but had to be guided by a worker for the housing company, and was only able to stay for 10 minutes. "Citizen have just said that it's too dangerous to go in," she said. "Whenever you ask Citizen when we can get back in, all they ever say is they can't say. "I just wish they would tell us that we can't go back in for seven days, or whatever it is, so we all know where we're going." In a statement, Mr Gill said the "safety of our customers remains our top priority".He added: "We've identified the source of the leak and are doing everything we can to get residents home as soon as possible."We're contacting all customers to let them know that once we've got the power and water back on, we'll be contacting them to arrange an appointment so we can check their home safely. "We know this is not ideal for our customers, but we'll continue to support them in any way we can until we get them back into their homes safely." Follow BBC Coventry & Warwickshire on BBC Sounds, Facebook, X and Instagram.
