A woman whose building has been beset by cladding issues has spoken out over the “freezing” conditions and “financially devastating” situation.

Ritu Saha, who lives in the Northpoint building in Bromley, is among residents left frustrated after their tower block was found to have Grenfell-style cladding.

The cladding was removed in November 2020 but a stand-off over funding of the replacement cladding meant work did not begin until earlier this year.

With the building walls exposed, residents were left in “freezing conditions” during the harshest weeks of winter.

Ritu, who is the co-founder of UK Cladding Action Group, spoke about the toll this had on residents.

She said: “The flats are freezing. There have been water ingress issues which we’ve never had before, ever.

"And I lived here for five years before the cladding was removed, we never had any issues.

“Several flats have complained of being bitterly cold. [Earlier this month] it was five degrees inside my flat, three degrees outside.

"And obviously with electricity bills being the way they are, people are naturally being quite cautious about switching the heating on. So it’s been quite tough.

The period with no cladding came after the building was found to have ACM cladding following the Grenfell fire, which claimed 72 lives.

This revelation caused chaos for Northpoint residents, who were successful in their attempts to claim ACM remediation funding after the government opened their scheme.

But Ritu said leaseholders were told by the London Fire Brigade to obtain the services of a waking watch team.

The waking watch are trained teams who patrol buildings which have dangerous cladding to prevent another disaster. Ritu said this came up to £650,000 for residents combined.

She said: “It has just been the most painful five years of my entire life. And it is not just frustrating, it is disheartening, it is demoralising.

"We were stuck in these flats for two years when Covid was raging, so we could not even escape the flat.

“We had a waking watch for almost four years. And our residents have had to pay over £650,000 just for the waking watch.

"It has been financially devastating for us.”

She added: “I cannot believe this is happening in one of the richest countries in the world.

"My building was built in the year 2000 with this cladding. I wasn’t even in this country, I only came [here] in 2009. How am I responsible for this?

“The injustice of this is just mind-blowing.

"And it’s mind-blowing the government have had to be dragged kicking and screaming where they are setting money aside for cladding.”

A spokesperson for the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities said: “We sympathise hugely with the residents of the Northpoint Building for the problems they have faced.

"This building and project is run by a leaseholder management company and the government has provided them with £3.8 million to pay for the necessary works, as well as providing expert construction support.

“Ultimately building owners are responsible for making their buildings safe and should work at pace to make sure residents feel safe and comfortable in their homes.”

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