Oakfield Estate Agents has secured £6.4m in funding to completely replace cladding on a prominent seafront apartment block in Bexhill-on-Sea.
Oakfield are the appointed managing agents for The Landmark building, encompassing 66 flats, and have been involved in the management since the original build having been appointed by receivers when the developers went into administration back in 2012.
In November 2020, a survey confirmed that the block would need remediation work to replace its external wall system because of the combustible insulation (expanded polystyrene) in the cladding. The report recommended major repairs to the complex.
This led to a significant rise in service charges for those who lived in the building as the costs of insuring the block soared.
Already, a waking watch and new fire alarm system have been put in place. The former is a fire safety system in which trained staff patrol the floors and the outside of a building continually to provide warning in the event of a fire and support the evacuation strategy.
Oakfield were able to secure funding for the installation of the new fire alarm system via the government’s Waking Watch Relief Scheme. However, leaseholders had to pay for the waking watch patrols themselves.
Now, after much work, further funding to replace the cladding has been approved from the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC) via the government’s Building Safety Fund.
Financial Director at Oakfield Sam Hensher said: “This has come as a huge relief for everyone, particularly the leaseholders. We are all looking forward to the remediation work being fully completed.
“We’re now working very hard to get work started as soon as possible, and have lined up the contractor to begin work on site in May. It has been a very long and challenging journey for everyone involved.”
If you would like to get in touch with our Block Management team with any related issues they would be more than happy to assist. Check out our website for our contact details: https://www.oakfield-property.co.uk/branches/block-management/