A housing association is planning to demolish a housing block, after ISG’s collapse into administration stymied an an attempted £4m claim over alleged defects.
At the time of ISG’s demise, Elim Housing Association had been pursuing ISG Pearce in the claim relating to Bouverie Court, a 21-home site in Bristol.
But the housing association has now decided to demolish the site following ISG’s collapse into administration last September.
A statement from Elim said: “After ISG became insolvent and collapsed into legal administration in September 2024, Elim was unable to progress the claim for the estimated £4m cost of works required at Bouverie Court.”
Elim’s chief executive Paul Smith said the decision to demolish the site was “extremely difficult”.
However, when ISG went under – which he said was just before arbitration proceedings over the block were due to open – the association did not have any option to fund the remediation work.
“Unfortunately, the inherited repairs, poor efficiency and structural issues identified at the scheme, along with the unviable potential long-term disruption for residents means we have taken the hard decision to demolish the properties after exhausting all other possible solutions,” he said.
Speaking to Construction News, Smith said that the association had discovered flammable timber cladding and some compartmentation issues at the site, following an external wall fire safety survey in 2021.
He said that the building also had a leaky roof, and gaps between the wall and the roof in some places.
The building itself measures 10 metres in height, which is below the threshold of 11 metres and above for Building Safety Fund (BSF) public remediation funding.
ISG Pearce, he said, built the housing block on a design and build contract in 2011.
In total, the association has spent £200,000 on investigatory and legal work, which included funds for a waking watch to patrol the site, Smith added.
But remediation to the tune of £4m would mean a cost of £200,000 per home, which he said “made no economic sense”, especially for a small housing association.
The entire site has been valued at around £700,000 in total, much less than the cost of remediation work, he added.
The site will be demolished in 2026, and Elim is currently working with the local council to find new homes for the 21 households forced to move out of Bouverie Court.
CN approached the Ministry for Housing, Communities and Local Government for comment.
ISG Pearce’s administrators, Azets, declined to comment on the story.
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Joshua Stein