Apartment owners in Longboat Quay agree fire safety deal

Apartment owners in Longboat Quay last night agreed to accept a proposal to have the fire safety deficiencies in their Dublin dockland development addressed in order to avoid having to evacuate their homes by May.

The agreement between the complex’s management company and Dublin City Council will see the council contribute €1.85m towards the works, with the receiver for the company that built the complex adding another €1.25m. The company, Gendsong, was a Bernard McNamara vehicle which went into receivership in 2013.

Longboat Quay management company (LQMC), which represents the owners, recommended that the offer be accepted.

In a statement issued after the meeting, LQMC said that, from the outset, its objective was to achieve a fair and comprehensive solution.

“After two years of negotiations we believe we have now achieved this objective. Remedial work will now commence in January 2017.”

Contributions by the council and Gendsong will cover the €2.5m cost of the fire safety problems, with money left over to go towards a major problem with the roof of the building. However, any further cost will have to be borne by the owners of the 298 apartments, and this could be as high as €1m.

The deal comes two and a half years after major fire safety deficiencies were discovered, prompting Dublin Fire Brigade to insist that the building be patrolled 24/7 until an upgraded fire alarm system be installed.

Following that, a major survey uncovered further problems with fire stopping in particular. In September 2015, Dublin Fire Brigade obtained a Fire Safety Order in Dublin District Court, which ordered that remedial works be done by May 2017 or the building would have to be vacated.

Last night’s agreement followed over a year of negotiations between the management company and Dublin City Council and major experimental works in the University of Ulster Jordanstown which allowed for a reduction in the cost of the works by more than €1m.