The fire at the Crawford Building in Whitechapel

We’re thankful all residents were safe following the fire on the 17^th floor of the Crawford Building in Whitechapel on 7 March.

The fire was in a private part of the building not managed by Network Homes and the London Fire Brigade (LFB) have carried out extensive investigations following the incident. The LFB are confident the cause of the fire was accidental and not a result of any issue with the building, which they confirmed performed as they expected it to. Furthermore, they confirmed they have no plans to advise that the current stay put strategy should change. 

We held a meeting for residents on 31 March where they were able to hear directly from the LFB, the freeholder’s managing agent John D Wood and colleagues from Network Homes. The LFB will produce a report following the conclusion of their investigations and we will share it with all residents.

We’re the head lessee of 70 flats across floors 7-11 which are a mix of tenanted, shared ownership and leasehold homes. None of these flats were affected directly by the fire although three had some water damage to their homes. Responsibility for the building and balconies is with the freeholder.