Frequently Asked Questions

General

East Village’s independent Fire Risk Assessor has reviewed all the buildings at East Village and confirmed that they are safe to live in. This is based on current information, the condition of the building and the safety measures already in place.

The defects identified arise from when the buildings were initially built. This includes the use of materials which are not recommended on high-rise buildings, as well as some work not being done correctly when the buildings were built.

Please refer to the safety leaflet, to read more about the ways we keep you, your family and your household safe.

All external works are expected to be covered by government funding (via the Building Safety Fund). Residents will not pay these costs.

Internal works (including compartmentation and fire doors) meet the legal definition of a ‘relevant defect’ under the Building Safety Act (BSA). This means residents will not pay these costs.

EVML is using the legal remedies in the BSA and its associated regulations to proactively seek funding from the freeholder and its parent company Get Living PLC.

Leaseholders may be required to pay for general repairs that aren’t fire safety related – such as wear and tear. If this happens, we’ll always consult with you first, in accordance with Section 20 of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985.

EVML has been undertaking several investigations over the past year to better understand the works required inside homes at East Village. Some issues have only been discovered recently during in-depth surveys. Others have either taken time to investigate thoroughly to make sure we have all the information we need or are pending approval from the Building Safety Regulator.

The Building Safety Regulator is the official body that regulates fire safety in tall buildings within England – this applies to all buildings over 18 metres tall with two or more residential units. We cannot legally progress works without its approval.

The BSR is currently handling a high number of applications which has slowed things down – but we are in close contact with them to keep things moving.

Different contractors built different blocks at East Village, and some buildings have already had work done. That’s why some of the materials used in each building differ.

Our team of building managers check the buildings daily to ensure corridors and escape routes are clear. We also monitor the fire panel in your building from our control room 24/7 and test the smoke detectors weekly. We also meet with the London Fire Brigade which inspects buildings regularly.

You can find out more about how we keep you and your household safe in our safety leaflet.

Your safety is our top priority. EVML works closely with its independent Fire Risk Assessor and London Fire Brigade to make sure the necessary measures and procedures are in place to keep you safe should a fire break out.

All buildings have working smoke detectors, fire alarms and, in some cases, sprinklers. Extra measures – like waking watch staff or changes to evacuation procedures – are in place where needed.

You can find out more about how we keep you and your household safe in our safety leaflet.

The defects identified arise from when the buildings were initially built. This includes the use of materials which are not recommended on high-rise buildings, as well as some work not being done correctly when the buildings were built.

The tougher standards introduced by the Building Safety Act 2022 allows us to identify these defects and seek funding to remediate them.

In terms of internal issues (like fire doors or fire barriers inside walls), these problems go back to the original construction. However, they were not visible or known at the time. They have only been uncovered now, following the detailed surveys and investigations carried out as part of the national response to new safety legislation.

We are actively looking into the best possible solutions to remediate these issues.

The entire former Olympic Village was certified by Building Control before homes were occupied or sold. This certification confirmed that the Building Regulations had been met. Independent fire risk experts have also confirmed that your building remains safe to live in.

That’s completely understandable. Some of the wording we need to use can sound technical, but we’re always here to explain them clearly.

If you’re ever unsure, please reach out. Remediation Director Johnathan de Beer and our wider technical team are always willing to sit down and talk it all through in a way that works for you.

You can reach us on [email protected].

Resident Communication & Engagement

We always aim to notify you of any works to your building with as much notice as possible. For the internals and externals work highlighted in the recent letter, we will give plenty of notice (at least 8 weeks) before works start on your building.

We know how important it is to keep you fully informed, especially with a project of this size and scale.

There are a number of ways we’ll keep in touch and make sure you know what’s happening and when:

  • Newsletters: a regular newsletter is circulated site-wide every 2-3 months, with the latest on the overall programme and progress to date
  • Letters to your building: whenever something important is happening in your block – like a new survey, contractor visit or approval milestone – you will receive a tailored letter
  • Our website: the resident hub is regularly updated and hosts a wide range of information, including a dedicated page for each building
  • Dedicated email addresses: For general estates queries: [email protected]. For fire safety or remediation queries: [email protected]
  • Drop-in sessions: we host open sessions on-site every few months where you can meet the team, ask questions or raise and concerns in person
  • One-to-one meetings: we can arrange 1-2-1 meetings with the Estate Director or the Remediation Lead at any time if you prefer to speak privately
  • Town halls and contractor introductions: before any major works begin in your building, we will host either a virtual or in-person townhall meeting. You’ll also get the opportunity to meet the contractor delivering the work.

The best way to stay up to date is to use a mix of the channels available. Here’s what we recommend:

  • Check the website: visit evml.co.uk regularly for the latest news, updates by building, and useful documents.
  • Read the newsletter: we send out a digital newsletter every 2-3 months with key programme updates.
  • Attend local events: our on-site drop-ins and town halls are a great chance to hear directly from the team and ask questions.
  • Watch your inbox: keep an eye out for emails from your landlord (Get Living or Triathlon Homes) and EVML – they’ll often contain important information about your building.

If you’re ever unsure whether you’ve missed something or need updates in a different format, just drop us an email and we’ll make sure you’re up to speed.

The current draft of the Resident Engagement Strategy is here on our website.

We recently invited residents to share their feedback on the draft as part of a consultation. That feedback is now being reviewed, and a final version will be shared on the website very soon.

If you’d prefer a printed copy or need it in another format, just let us know.

We welcome your feedback and want to make it easy for you to get in touch if ever you have a question, a concern or a suggestion.

For general questions or queries about your home or building, you can email our Estates team at [email protected].

For anything relating specifically to fire safety or the remediation works, you can contact [email protected].

You can follow our complaints procedure online if you feel you need to make a formal complaint or raise anything more serious.

We’ll always do our best to respond quickly and clearly.

Fire Strategies

A Simultaneous Evacuation is only put in place when recommended by our independent Fire Risk Assessor. They look at all the latest information available, as well as the other safety measures already in place, to make this decision.

Even though your building is safe to live in, Simultaneous Evacuation is a precaution that gives everyone extra time to leave safely if there’s a fire. It’s often combined with a Waking Watch team who are trained to spot and respond to any fire risks straightaway.

Changing a fire strategy to Simultaneous Evacuation and putting a Waking Watch in place helps to keep you and your family safe while we plan and carry out the necessary remediation work.

For Waking Wach information specific to your building, please email us at [email protected].

All Waking Watch officers are professionally trained and sourced through a reputable security company. They’re responsible for monitoring the building 24/7, spotting any signs of fire or safety issues, and making sure residents can evacuate quickly if needed.

Our own EVML Security team has daily meetings and briefings with the Waking Watch officers to check in, provide updates and ensure they’re following the latest safety guidance. Their role is an important part of the temporary safety measures in place while we prepare for remediation work.

A Waking Watch supports our Simultaneous Evacuation strategy. It is an additional safety measure where trained personnel continuously patrol the building to detect fire hazards, raise alarms, and manage evacuations. They have a loud hailer, which once sounded alerts the residents of the building to evacuate.

On the other hand an evacuation officer is responsible for overseeing and coordinating the evacuation of a building during an emergency, ensuring everyone is safely evacuated.

EVML plans to go to tender for a contractor to install the new automatic alarm system in June this year. Following the appointment of a contractor, they will then draw up the necessary designs and submit these to the Building Safety Regulator for approval before works can progress.

If you – or someone in your household – would need help leaving the building in an emergency, please let your landlord know as soon as possible.

They will then work with you to create a Personal Emergency Evacuation Plan (PEEP). This is a tailored plan that outlines exactly what support is needed in an emergency. The plan will also be shared with EVML and the London Fire Brigade to make sure the right help is available if ever needed.

Funding

The Building Safety Act 2022 provides comfort for leaseholders when it comes to costs that can legally be passed on. To ensure EVML meets its obligations, it has employed the services of an independent surveyor to classify all defects and will advise which costs could legally be passed on to leaseholders.

Both the internal compartmentation and the external work identified are relevant defects. Residents will not pay for these.

We work closely with the relevant government bodies – including the Building Safety Fund – to secure funding before any fire safety work begins.

We have recently had confirmation that funding will cover things like the replacement of combustible materials in balconies, soffits, spandrels and certain external panels. This is a big and positive step forward.

We are now preparing to go to tender to appoint a contractor. Once we have approval from the Building Safety Regulator, the work can begin.

Some parts of a building naturally wear out over time – for example, lighting, certain mechanical systems and wear to fire doors. This is what we call general wear and tear. This is different from fire safety defects, which are covered by government funding or the building owners.

If we do need to carry out works that fall under general maintenance, we’ll always let you know in advance. We’ll write to you with details about what work is needed, when we plan to do it, and what the estimated costs are. You’ll have a chance to comment or ask questions before anything is agreed.

Costs are estimated based on competitive quotes from contractors and we follow a formal process called a Section 20 consultation, which protects leaseholders’ rights.

You can find out more about how we consult and communicate with residents in our Resident Engagement Strategy

A Section 20 process refers to a provision under the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985, specifically concerning the process of consultation for service charges related to property maintenance and repair.

A legislative requirement to ensure leaseholders are informed, involved and treated fairly, it forms three parts:

  1. Notice of intention: you’ll receive a letter about the proposed works, detailing what works are planned and why they are needed
  2. Consultation process: you’ll have time to review the plans, see cost estimates and give your comments, before anything is agreed.
  3. Notice of contract: you will receive a further letter confirming who will carry out the work.

No, your service charge won’t be impacted by the current works we have identified for your building, unless we have identified it is not a defect and is due to general wear and tear

Balcony / Soffits

Yes – you can. We’ve added a helpful summary of the FRAEW report for your building on our website – just visit your building page at evml.co.uk.

If you would like the full report, we’re happy to share it with you.  Just get in touch at [email protected] and let us know.

We won’t know the exact method of working until a contractor has been appointed. However, based on similar balcony work we’ve done previously, we don’t expect to wrap the whole building in scaffolding. It’s more likely that we’ll use targeted access methods, like stair towers placed at specific points.

In most cases, we also don’t expect to need access to your apartment to complete the balcony works.

We’ll be able to confirm the exact access arrangements once a contractor has been appointed and the detailed plan is agreed.

That said, based on how similar work has been carried out in other blocks, it’s likely that access to your balcony will be restricted during site working hours on weekdays for health and safety reasons. You should still be able to use your balcony in the evenings and at weekends.

We are currently awaiting approval from the Building Safety Regulator before we can progress with works to the balconies/soffits on your block. We will notify you ahead of any work starting to let you know the timescales, as well as introduce you to the contractor who will be responsible for the work.

Yes, your balcony is still completely safe to use. The remediation of balconies/soffits will remove any potentially combustible materials, but this does not affect it structurally.

Spandrels

We are currently developing the detailed scope of works for the spandrel panel remediation. Once a contractor has been appointed, we will work closely with them to finalise the plan, including how the work will be carried out and how long it will take.

We are currently awaiting approval from the Building Safety Regulator before we can progress with works to the spandrels on your block. We will notify you ahead of any work starting to let you know the timescales, as well as introduce you to the contractor who will be responsible for the work.

Aluminium Panels

We are currently developing the scope of works for the remediation of aluminium panels on your block and will work together with the appointed contractor to prepare this plan.

Following that we will apply to the BSR for approval, before starting any works.

We are currently developing the scope of works for the remediation of aluminium panels and as such cannot yet confirm the access requirements for the contractors. There will be an element of scaffolding involved, but we cannot confirm the extent of this yet.

Compartmentation / Fire Doors

Walls between neighbouring apartments are designed to withstand a certain amount of fire, slowing down the spread of fire the same way a fire door would.

Our investigations have revealed that, in some cases, the internal walls at East Village may not meet safety standards, meaning fire could spread more quickly than it should between apartments.

We appreciate this sounds worrying, but please rest assured: your home is still safe to live in, and we have already put extra safety measures in place to manage this risk.

You can find out more about how we keep you and your household safe in our safety leaflet.

If your building is following a Stay Put fire strategy, it means that our independent Fire Risk Assessor has confirmed that the safety measures in place are strong enough to keep you safe without needing to evacuate.

The Stay Put strategy is designed to limit fire to the area where it starts, giving the fire services time to respond while keeping everyone else safe in their apartments.

However, if the fire is within your own home, you should always leave immediately and call 999.

We now have completed detailed investigations across all buildings and have received the full reports on the internal walls and fire doors.

We are actively working through the approval process with the Building Safety Regulator, which is a legal requirement before we can begin this type of work.

We plan to start works to remediate the internal walls and fire doors in 2026.

We are working to find the best, safest and least disruptive way to carry out the internal wall remediation. We are working with leading technical experts to ensure our plan is not only the best possible solution, but also practical for you.

At the moment the plan is still being developed so we don’t have confirmed details yet. As soon as we do, we’ll share the information with you and consult with residents before any work begins.

For residents of Meller House, Chroma Mansions, Seasons House, Patina Mansions and Kaleidoscope House

We completely understand how frustrating this must feel, especially for residents of Meller House, Chroma Mansions, Seasons House, Patina Mansions and Kaleidoscope House, where the external works and scaffolding were only recently completed.

The issues with fire doors and internal walls were not known at the time those works took place. These were only uncovered later, after more detailed inspections.

We are very grateful for your understanding and patience so far, and we’ll continue doing everything we can to minimise disruption and keep you well informed as we move into this next phase of work.