Every year, it seems, the News is contacted by residents on the Aylesbury Estate saying that their communal boiler is on the blink.
Now, two years after a new boiler was put in, at the cost of £3.2m, residents again are saying that they are enduring hot water problems.
Southwark Council has confirmed to the News that the boiler is being manually checked every two hours, after repair works were carried out in the plant room last week.
Residents are complaining of lukewarm water and cold showers.
Councillor Stephanie Cryan, Southwark Council’s cabinet member for housing, told the News that older estates such as the Aylesbury were ‘prone to engineering issues with their heating systems’ and has apologised.
Contractors are checking the plant room every two hours, so it would seem that the council is pulling out the stops to try to keep hot water on the estate – although the resident we spoke to has said that ‘nothing really happens’ when complaints are made.
But the years of complaints before the new boiler and the problems since it was installed, show that the council must constantly be monitoring our estates and act quickly to bring permanent improvements, when things go wrong. Patching up problems on old estates isn’t a long-term solution for the buildings, or their residents.