Southsea house wall that suddenly fell down to leave residents homeless still at risk of “further collapse”

As reported, miraculously residents inside the Victoria Road South house - converted into three flats - were unharmed after evacuating the building following the incident around 8pm on Tuesday of last week.

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Residents were forced to escape the house after the shocking turn of events. Georgia Brady, 25, said she “screamed’ at her flatmate Anna, 26, who was eating her dinner near a falling window as the horror unfolded. They had only moved in a week before.

The women sounded the alarm to a family in the flat below with a two-year-old child. Meanwhile, a woman in the top apartment returned home from work to the chaos.

Georgia and Anna were temporarily rehoused at the nearby Ibis Hotel before going into an apartment after contacting their landlord. The building was deemed unsafe by the fire service but concerns were flagged months ago, according to Georgia.

Georgia, speaking of the incident last week, said: “We were sat there eating dinner and suddenly the whole wall collapsed and fell down. The bricks just crumbled off. My flatmate was on her bed as the window and bricks fell down…I screamed out for her because she didn’t see it at first.

“It left a massive hole in the wall. We didn’t know what to do so we called the landlord and he said to “sleep in the front room”. I called my dad and he said to call the fire service and get out. We went downstairs and told the family to get out. Our landlord said he couldn’t do anything until the morning. He didn’t apologise.”

Speaking of concerns over the building, Georgia said: “We’ve been told by the residents the side wall of the house has been blowing and bowing for months with nothing done - despite concerns being raised to the landlord and council. Now it’s just given way.

“When we moved in we saw the wall down the side of the building bursting at the seams but had no idea how serious the issues were.”

Now more than a week on from the incident, Portsmouth City Council has given an update. A spokesman said: “Building Control met last week with a local structural engineer who has been appointed directly by the property owner. The engineer has advised that the property appears stable, and a specialist contractor is to be appointed to safely remove the remaining parts of masonry which are still at risk of further collapse.

“Arrangements are being made for residents to collect their belongings and the property remains fenced off.”

A spokesman for Hampshire’s fire service said last week: “We were called to a terraced property on Victoria Road South in Portsmouth shortly before 8pm on Tuesday night following the partial collapse of an exterior wall.

“Occupants of the affected property and nearby neighbours have been evacuated and are being temporarily rehoused. A crew from Southsea were assisted by a fire service Urban Search and Rescue officer, as the electric and gas supplies to the building were isolated by the relevant companies.

“The area was cordoned off before we handed the incident over to Emergency Planning.”