The Foyer Oxford apartment block. Photo: Julian Wright
Camera IconThe Foyer Oxford apartment block. Photo: Julian Wright Credit: Supplied/Supplied

Leederville apartment block under round-the-clock surveillance over fire fears

Julian WrightEastern Reporter

A FOUR-STOREY, 98-room apartment building in Leederville is under round-the-clock surveillance after it emerged that it featured similar cladding to that found in the ill-fated Grenfell Tower in London.

UPDATE: Foyer Oxford cladding to be replaced

Foyer Oxford tenants were told today about safety concerns over the potentially flammable panels on the building, a week after a fire safety audit was completed.

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Foundation Housing, which lease the building from the Housing Authority, conducted the audit last week on the panels, which were installed in 2014.

The building houses youths from disadvantaged backgrounds.

Housing Minister Peter Tinley today announced the panels were a concern.

Foundation Housing General manager business development Chris Smith said steps were immediately taken to enhance safety.

“We’ve taken the fire engineers report, we’ve acted on that report that includes a 24-hour concierge surveying the building, additional CCTV cameras and thermal sensors being installed,” he said.

Mr Smith the building would not be evacuated.

He could not comment on the cost yet.

Mr Smith said a fire was reported in the building’s café two years ago, but it was not near the panels.

Chief executive Kathleen Gregory said telling tenants of the issue was brought forward, due to the Minister’s announcement.

“We have got a few other reports we are doing, and we wanted to let them know when we had all the facts and information, but in light of the Ministers comments today, we brought that forward,” she said.

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