Fire protection row over city tower block

A Sheffield council tenant is facing a court injunction to force him to have fire protection installed in his flat, despite his belief that it does not meet safety standards.

Sheffield City Council is seeking an injunction at Sheffield County Court to gain access to Jeremy Fisher's flat in the Hanover House tower block in Broomhall.

At a hearing last week, the council said it needed access to Mr Fisher's flat in order to install a misting system as part of fire safety measures, but Mr Fisher said he believed that equipment did not meet currently accepted standards.

The hearing was adjourned until a date to be set in February.

At the hearing on Wednesday, Mr Fisher said that a sprinkler system was repeatedly promised for all Sheffield tower block flats following the Grenfell Tower fire tragedy in London in 2017 which led to the deaths of 72 people.

However, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service, he told the hearing that at some point, without any explanation as to why, that was instead changed to a misting system.

He said he believed that was inappropriate and not up to current British standards for tower block fire safety.

Mr Fisher said: "The counter-claim is really that they have been harassing us. They won't do some of the work.

"There is a list of work they have been repeating in documentation. Two items we have been wanting for seven years, they won't do."

Mr Fisher said he felt he was being punished for resisting the installation of the misting system.

"If they don't want to put the sprinkler system in, which I understand would be practically difficult, we would accept nothing because the mister systems don't meet the standards as you have claimed."

At the hearing, District Judge Childs told Mr Fisher: "What you're saying is the behaviour amounts to a breach of your quiet enjoyment of the property."

The judge asked Mr Fisher if he accepted that the council needed to do the work to ensure the building was up to fire safety standards.

Mr Fisher replied that some aspects of the building were 50 years out of date and would not be allowed under current safety standards.

"The entire building is not up to the current regime," he explained.

"There is no legal requirement to put in sprinklers. If it was a new building, it would be.

"It would have been the case in 2010 when they put the Grenfell cladding on."

Sheffield Council had to remove unsafe cladding from the Hanover block when checks were made following the Grenfell tragedy.

Gary Willock, barrister acting for the council, asked Judge Childs to adjourn the hearing so council documents he believed to be relevant to the case could be produced.

He said the documents were a council fire risk assessment, a building control application to enable the work to take place on the flats and a fire risk strategy in relation to the works.

Mr Willock said: "In my view, they are essential for the court to look at and consider before the case can be dealt with effectively."

The judge gave Sheffield Council until 9 January to produce the documents, and a further week to provide explanatory notes.

Mr Fisher, who is representing himself, would be given two weeks to put together any response, the court was told.

The judge said: "I do implore both parties to get around a table."

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