MCR Property Group firms fined £14,000
TWO housing companies linked to Manchester-based MCR Property Group have been fined more than £14,000 for risking the lives of tenants in student properties.
The firms were both found guilty of serious breaches of failing to meet safety standards at a development of 55 apartments at Grafton St in Ardwick.
Surveyors from Manchester City Council found breaches of fire safety rules including a lack of self-closing fire doors and external wall fire barriers that stop fires from spreading throughoug buildings. Windows required for smoke ventilation were also obscured by scaffolding and rear fire escape routes passed through a building site. The property would also have been difficult for the fire service to access.
The companies, Cost Design and UK Real Estate, were fined a total of £14,479 after pleading guilty to breaching building regulations at a Manchester Magistrates’ Court hearing on Wednesday 24 August 2011.
Cost Design was fined £4,500, ordered to pay £2,590 in court costs, while UK Real Estate was fined £4,750 with costs of £2,609.
Cllr Nigel Murphy, executive member for the environment, said: “Allowing this building to be occupied when it was so flagrantly unfit for occupation is inexcusable.
“These two MCR Group companies let their own self-interest take priority over the safety of students and the council had to step in and ensure that vital safety work was carried out before students could move back in.
“I hope this case serves as a lesson to the developers never again to put profit before safety. I also hope serves as a timely reminder to students, as they look for accommodation for the next academic year, to be very careful where they put their trust.”
Councillor Paul Andrews, executive member for neighbourhood services, said: “The lives of the students were put at substantial risk by those involved with this development. The court has rightly hit them in the pocket.
“This should serve as a warning to all developers that they need to work with the council to ensure properties are fully compliant with regulations before tenants move in.”
A spokesman for MCR said that the two companies “very much regret” the incidents that led to the prosecutions.
“At all times, the companies had followed the advice of professional advisers throughout the design and construction stages of the build programme,” the spokesman said.
“Once the breaches were brought to the companies’ attention, huge efforts were made to re-house the occupiers forthwith and to undertake the necessary works to the deficient areas.
“Since this incident, the group has employed a former senior council Officer to deal with compliance issues generally and to ensure that there is no repetition of such events.”
The spokesman added that most of the original occupiers returned to the properties once work had completed, and that several subsequently signed to stay at the development for a second year.
