Reflections one year after the Richmond House Fire
It has been one year since our block of flats in Worcester Park were burnt down in a fire . I thought of writing to make some notes that might be useful to people who buy properties and to those professionals whose signature can decide people’s lives. (video credit to Richmond House residents) The structure of the four-storey building was mostly made of timber. However, people wanted answers as to why the fire spread from one end of the building to the other end within just about 20 minutes. Residents attended more than 20 meetings with the Metropolitan Thames Valley Housing Association (MTVHA) that sold us the property and St James Group Ltd of Berkeley Group Holdings that constructed the building. Still there is no clear responsibility taking, though late MD of Berkeley Group Holdings, Mr. Tony Pidgley apologised to the group of residents in a meeting held in November 2019. In his words, “I worked very hard to build this company to what it is today. But we let you