A woman living in a Croydon tower block says residents feel “exhausted” and “dehumanised” as they face climbing up to ten flights of stairs daily, with both lifts out of service and no timeline for repairs.
Residents are forced to carry babies, shopping, and wheelchairs up narrow stairwells in a building where fire safety risks had also recently been flagged.
The 10-storey block, known as Canterbury House, is a former office building converted into flats.
One of the lifts has been out of service since last year according to residents, and the second reportedly failed in recent weeks, leaving no working lifts in the building, which houses both private and council tenants.
“It is rare that both lifts are broken at once, but almost all the time there is one lift broken,” said Laura Kressly, who has lived on the ninth floor since 2018. “We had widespread failures last summer, there just doesn’t seem to be a long-term solution.”
Ms Kressly, who struggles to climb the stairs due to persistent joint issues, told the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) how the broken lifts impact residents in the block. She said a wheelchair-bound resident was having to be carried up the stairs to his flat by other tenants, otherwise he would be housebound.
“It is so dehumanising, and the parents don’t look young. God forbid something awful happens, like someone slips on the stairwell.”
With no working lift, prams now line the foyer and young families struggle daily with the stairs. “If you were to walk into the building now with both lifts down, it is chocka with prams,” said Ms Kressly.
She added: “I happened to be passing an engineer who was recently appointed as the chief consultant for this building, and he said he had never seen lifts in such a poor state.”
Sadly however this scene is being played out at medium and high rise buildings across London. A recent joint investigation between MyLondon and the LDRS found widespread lift failures in housing blocks across the city. Our reporters visited 21 separate blocks in 12 months with lifts that were either broken on the day or where they were persistently failing, trapping less mobile residents for weeks or even months at a time.
Back in Canterbury House, a notice posted on the ground floor lift doors informs residents that the right-hand lift is out of service due to damage caused when the doors were forced open.
A replacement part is reportedly needed from Spain and both lifts will remain out of action until it is installed. A common reason for delays in lift repairs during our investigation was parts having to be sourced from mainland Europe.
Since its conversion, the Croydon tower block has had multiple owners and landlords, but residents say maintenance issues remain unresolved.
The building is managed by Criterion Hospitality, who are also responsible for the much larger Delta Point block across Wellesley Road. According to residents, staff are slow to respond when issues arise at Canterbury House.
Outside of the lift failures, residents have also complained of security issues at Canterbury House with people reportedly gaining entry due to a faulty door.
Last year, Criterion was also served with an enforcement notice by the London Fire Brigade (LFB) for several fire safety regulation failings.
The LFB found multiple breaches, including failures to review the fire risk assessment, provide a suitable method to warn people of a fire, maintain emergency exits, establish an emergency plan, and ensure that fire safety equipment was properly maintained throughout the building.
The LFB has since confirmed to the LDRS that the notice has now been complied with. LFB said it will continue to carry out regular audits of the building, but Ms Kressly says she and other residents still feel nervous.
Criterion was approached for comment but did not respond in time for publication.
