The Chalcots estate

CHALCOTS tenants are being told to wear noise-cancelling headphones to cope with a new six-week programme of “very noisy work”.

Letters to people living in the tower block estate in Adelaide Road, Belsize Park, warn of “the breaking of concrete and drilling into the floor and wall slabs”.

The works were due to take place this week in empty “home-away-from-home” flats on the 18th and 19th floors of Taplow tower.

But last night (Wednesday) the council said it had delayed the works so that residents could be properly informed and consulted about how to minimise disruption.

Taplow tenant Russell Gibbs, who has been in the block nearly 50 years, said: “There are a lot of vulnerable people there. There’s children. There’s nightworkers. “If the council are admitting it to be noisy you can imagine what is going to take place, because they always give the soft soap. This is not going to end well.”

He added: “It is not bearable. There is no privacy here. We have netting up, there’s no light. They are already drilling into the roof to put the cladding on. You have to have your telly up full blast. “It feels like they are punishing people who are not working nine to five. There’s a lot of vulnerable people here, people working nights. Young babies. People from other countries.”

The letters were sent out by the council and contractor McLaren.

Mr Gibbs said: “The alternative is wear the headphones they are offering. Where is the health and safety of sitting with headphones in your own property? I don’t want to insult myself by sitting in headphones in my home.”

Mr Gibbs’ grandparents lived in Burnham tower on the estate, while his mother was in Bray before she got a family flat in Taplow in mid-1970s.

A respite lounge with a television, microwave and baby changing facilities has already been set up in the basement of the Bray block.

In 2017, the entire estate was evacuated in unprecedented circumstances over fire safety concerns in the wake of the Grenfell tragedy.

Residents are still suffering with mental and physical traumas of a six-year scaffolding saga as the council orders the removal and replacement of dangerous cladding and installation of windows.

A council spokesperson said: “Our commitment to residents at the Chalcots is to always offer alternatives, support, and respite when disruption to their daily lives may be too great.

“This commitment is demonstrated in our ‘home away from home’ offer, which is open to all Chalcots residents, and our work with residents to find the most suitable approach.”