Residents of a Rotherhithe street have complained after their gardens were splattered with mud and water when a machine malfunctioned during building work on the Canada Water Masterplan.
The alarming incident forms just one part of the “almost unbelievable” disruption to the lives of people living on Hothfield Place between Lower Road and Canada Water Dock, several residents of the street have said.
Birkan Parlar, who lives with his parents on the street, said: “It was coming down like pellets. We had our niece over, who’s less than two years old. She likes to be outside in the garden, we were just lucky she wasn’t out there. Imagine if it came down on her.”
Another resident, Marion Thorpe, is 78 and has a bad back for which she has just had an operation. She uses a stick to get around. A third neighbour, who did not want to be named, said of Marion: “If she had fallen it could have been life changing for her”.
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Earlier Mr Parlar’s Audi had been covered in cement when parked on the street. He said that it took about six months to get repairs paid for.
This is just one part of the problems caused by the building works, residents said. People on the street told the News of the “constant shaking, constant noise” and dust from British Land’s work next to their houses.
One woman who lives on Hothfield Place has severe asthma that is triggered by the dust from the building work. “We explained all this before they even started,” said her husband, who asked to be named only as Al. “We can’t have the dust. They said they’ll cover it over with sheets – but they haven’t done that.”
He said that the dust “gets in everywhere,” even claiming that “it’s like being in prison – you can’t have a window open.”
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Similarly Mr Parlar’s mother, who is in her 60s and is physically disabled, feels she cannot go into their back garden because of the dust, despite medical advice to get regular fresh air.
Noise is another big disruption during the day, residents said. Two people who work from home said that the banging sounds from the machinery meant they often had to reschedule meetings and calls.
Mr Parlar said: “When I tell you this thing sounds like a jet engine, I wish I was exaggerating. It was the loudest thing I ever heard. When I first heard it I started panicking, I ran outside and asked them ‘what the hell are you doing?’
“I’m a web developer, so I’m working from home. I cannot hold meetings during certain hours because of the building work. There’s too much noise in the background.”
Al said his house shakes because of the machine. “We ran out and told them ‘you’ve got to stop, you’re going to have my telly off the wall.”
Ms Thorpe added: “It doesn’t stop all day. The noise is terrible. It feels as if they’re in my garden with the machine. And then all this dust comes over.”
Mr Parlar also said there were security issues at the building site. He said that he had footage of several teenagers climbing into the site, spray-painting and even urinating on things. British Land changed the hoardings to reduce the risk of this happening again after residents brought it to their attention.
“They’re building, but we have to live here the whole time,” Mr Parlar said. “I’m so mentally, physically tired of them. I can’t deal with it any more. I’ve had enough.”
Guto Jones, project director at British Land’s contractors Mace, said: “On Friday 8 October and Monday 11 October, we experienced unforeseen issues with a machine on site, resulting in a small amount of groundwater which spilled into the gardens of some neighbouring properties to our development site in Canada Water.
“The site team immediately spoke with the impacted residents, swiftly cleaned up the affected areas and installed a mesh net on top of the site hoarding as an additional mitigation measure. Our top priority is the health and safety of our employees and the communities where we work. We are mindful of the disruption that building works can cause and closely monitor noise, dust and vibration levels on site to ensure they are in-line with industry and local authority standards.
“Together with British Land and other contractors at the Canada Water development, we try to provide as much information about site works as we can ahead of time and host regular construction liaison forums.”
British Land’s £3.3bn Canada Water Masterplan will see the transformation of 53 acres of Rotherhithe and Surrey Quays over fifteen years.
The colossal scheme, the largest in Southwark history, is set to create around 3,000 new homes, of which 35 per cent are affordable, as well as up to 20,000 new jobs and other community facilities.