Triathlon Calls On Get Living To Foot Fire Safety Bill At Former Olympic Site
The partnership that owns London’s Olympic Village is being sued over a £27M bill to upgrade fire safety standards.
Triathlon Homes, which manages 1,379 affordable apartments on the Olympic estate in East London, has claimed that, as the current owner of the site, Get Living — a partnership including Qatari Diar, Dutch pension fund APG and DOOR — is responsible for the fire safety remediation work. Property company Delancey is an advisor to Get Living.
Triathlon — a for-profit joint venture between housing associations Southern Housing Group, L&Q and private developer First Base — has applied to a tribunal for an order requiring Get Living to accept responsibility for executing and funding the work, The Financial Times reported.
Of a total 66 blocks on what is now known as East Village, 16 buildings await is the issuing of an EWS1 form which then enables the shared equity leaseholders of the apartments in each building to sell or remortgage their properties. It evidences the fact that the cladding has had a fire safety assessment for the purpose of sale or mortgage.
The case brought by Triathlon relates to five blocks where it manages apartments.
The remediation bill for the blocks is expected to total more than £27M, about £16M of which is associated with the properties managed by Triathlon, with the remaining £11.5M for properties owned and managed by Get Living.
Get Living CEO Rick de Blaby has said his company will pay its £11.5M share and has signed a contract to start work. Get Living is also the majority shareholder in the management company for the East Village, EVML, responsible for maintaining the shared elements of the estate as well as fire safety. Triathlon has a minority stake.
EVML has applied for £13.5M from the government’s Building Safety Fund to cover the majority of the work to Triathlon-managed properties but Triathlon claimed it should not have to pay because it leases properties from Get Living, which is the freeholder.
The Olympic Village was built by the government and then sold after the 2012 Olympic Games to Get Living.
CORRECTION: JAN. 16, 7.15 A.M. ET: This story has been amended to reflect the fact that Delancey is an adviser to rather than owner of Get Living, and to clarify the fire certification still required on some of the East Village buildings.
