The Guinness Partnership hits back at Havant residents’ claims following tower block evacuation due to flooding

Residents, including disabled, vulnerable and elderly people, were forced to vacate Solent House in Swarraton Road, on Friday evening after a reported power and water outage wreaked havoc.

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The Guinness Partnership, which runs the block, has now issued a staunch defence of its handling of the crisis after contacting The News, which approached the company early on Monday morning for a comment. In its email, the housing partnership counters several claims made by residents who contacted the newspaper.

A statement from The Guinness Partnership said: “We continue to support residents who have been temporarily displaced following the significant leak in the building last Friday evening.

“Works are being carried out to the building so that residents can return home as soon as possible. We are grateful to the fire and rescue service for their support on Friday evening and since.”

In the email, Guinness went on to say: “With support of local emergency services, including the fire and rescue service, together we were able to safely evacuate the building following a substantial water leak.

“Our staff were on site addressing the leak and supporting residents from early evening on Friday and throughout the night, and we were able to provide the accommodation needed for residents (noting that some preferred to stay with friends or family). The staff team was on site throughout the weekend and obviously continues to be, and continues to support all the residents of Solent House.”

The association said residents were asked to leave the building “property by property, in an orderly way”, over the course of four hours – this was to “enable us to arrange accommodation on a household-by-household basis”. Residents who required assistance to leave the building were provided with this by the emergency services. Due to a pre-existing medical condition, one resident required assistance from ambulance services to enable their evacuation and this was arranged, the partnership said.

After some residents with pets said they were forced to stay if they had no other accommodation as hotels refused to take them, Guinness said: “No resident was forced to stay in the building – we asked residents to leave for their own safety and comfort. A number of hotels have policies that meant pets could not be accommodated, which meant that it took longer to find accommodation for residents with pets.”

Responding to claims that Guinness “dismissed multiple calls” over the flooding progressing throughout the day, the association said: “On Friday morning calls were received regarding a water outage and this was addressed promptly by engineers attending the site. We asked residents to leave the building following a separate incident later that day. Neither was dismissed by Guinness.”

Claims from one resident that water flooded into the electricity mains which then caused an electrical fire in the fuse box were dismissed. “There was no electrical fire or fire of any type,” the Guinness spokesman said.

Responding to claims that residents were sat on grass verges outside in the cold until 2.30am and then sent back into a building to sleep with no electric or heating, or means to heat any food, Guinness said: “Inevitably given the time of evening and the number of households for whom accommodation was required, it took some time to find all the necessary accommodation and secure taxi transport.

“This was complicated by the unwillingness of some hotels and taxi operators to accept pets. Residents were only permitted to re-enter the building when the fire service confirmed this could happen. We did have staff onsite from 12 to 4.30am.”

The Guinness Partnership added it was “grateful to the emergency services for attending and ensuring the safe evacuation (of vulnerable residents) which they are obviously equipped and trained to do”.