Rear of 35 Glovers Court
A developer that went into liquidation less than three months ago has been given a fine over repeated fire safety breaches related to construction work.
Glovers Court was handed a £165,000 fine after being found guilty of four offences committed while turning a former warehouse in Preston, Lancashire, into 35 apartments.
Lancashire Fire and Rescue Service visited the site, known as the Glovers Court project, during construction in May 2023 and found multiple fire-safety issues, according to the Health and Safety Executive (HSE).
It prohibited use of the building, and residents already living there had to leave their homes.
According to a statement from the HSE, one of its inspectors carried out a follow-up visit and found the construction work that the developer was carrying out had fire-safety failures including:
- No fire detection system.
- No means of raising the alarm in case of a fire.
- Inadequate escape plans.
- Construction work had not been phased to ensure fire compartmentation was maintained throughout the project to prevent fire spreading to all floors.
Its inspector served a prohibition notice against the company ordering all work to stop until proper fire protections were in place.
They also served an improvement notice requiring Glovers Court to design and implement a fire management plan.
But during follow-up visits in June and November, the HSE said it found no action had been taken to comply with either notice – and construction work continuing.
The HSE said that Glovers Court Ltd, of Kingsway, Altrincham, Greater Manchester, was found guilty in its absence of two breaches of section 33(1)(c) of the Health and Safety etc at Work Act 1974 by virtue of breaching Reg 11(1) and Reg 13(1) of the Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2015 and two of section 33(1)(g) of the Health and Safety etc at Work Act 1974.
It was fined £165,000 and ordered to pay £10,512 in costs at Preston Magistrates’ Court last week.
In April it filed for voluntary liquidation. Documents filed at Companies House by insolvency specialist Ideal Corporate Solutions show it owed creditors more than £1.7m at the time, including £249,750 to HMRC, with little expected to be recouped.
In a statement released after the sentencing, HSE inspector Christine McGlynn said “This company showed a blatant disregard to both fire safety and the laws in place to protect both people and places.
“Each year there are estimated to be hundreds of fires on construction sites, potentially putting the lives of workers and members of the public at risk.
“Any outbreak of fire threatens the safety of those on site and is costly in terms of its damage and delay. Many can be avoided by careful planning and control of work activities.”
A Lancashire Fire and Rescue Service spokesperson said: “We welcome the court’s recognition of the seriousness of these breaches and hope this serves as a clear message to all about their legal and moral responsibilities.”
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Ian Weinfass