Somers Town residents mark final farewell to Horatia and Leamington House tower blocks as ground is levelled

Leamington and Horatia House towered over Somers Town for decades.

But their fate was sealed when, during work to replace cladding found to be unsafe after checks following the Grenfell fire in London in June 2017, it was discovered that the two buildings were not structurally sound. The concrete was not deemed strong enough, which cast doubts over the high-rises’ ability to absorb shock from a major incident like a gas explosion. It was decided it was better to demolish the blocks rather than try to fix them.

Since then residents of the 272 flats have been moved out, and the two blocks have been taken down piece by piece – or ‘deconstructed’.

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Horatia House came down in June this year after work started in January, and to mark the end of levelling work on Leamington House, some of the residents who joined the community panel during the deconstruction work met councillors and Portsmouth City Council officers at the site.

A planning application for housing to replace the towers will be submitted soon. It is like to include plans for a green space known as Somers Orchard, for which CGI drawings were released last month.

Cabinet member for housing and preventing homelessness, Cllr Darren Sanders said: ‘We said we would take down Horatia and Leamington houses and so it is satisfying to stand alongside members of the community who have been as enthusiastic as us in regenerating this part of Somers Town to mark this moment in the project. Our design team and the community have worked hard on a really exciting concept for the replacement homes and outdoor spaces, now we look forward to the next stages of this regeneration when we can move towards construction starting on this site.’

The council has met regularly with the community throughout the deconstruction phase, and in the most recent public session revealed the final design which will go forward to planning permission. It has been feared that the national economic turmoil could prove a threat – or at least a cost increase – to the £120m plan to replace the towers.