Helping 105 residents find new homes after £15m fire during lockdown
When a serious fire broke out at a large residential building on 21st April 2020 it gutted the entire wing, 105 residents required immediate help at a time when Covid-19 restrictions were put in place for the first time in the UK a few weeks earlier.
Springfield Mill is a Grade II listed Victorian Mill complex built in 1888 and converted into 91 self-contained apartments in 2005. At 16:21 on 21st April 2020, a fire occurred within an apartment situated over the third and fourth floors with the cause most likely to have been electrical. The building has two wings, and the resultant fire, smoke and extinguishment water destroyed one wing completely.
The fire immediately displaced all residents.
Many challenges confronted our team, from working within the regulatory guidelines due to Grade II listing status to the operational constraints and hurdles presented through COVID-19 Government guidelines.
Also running parallel was the care needed for the residents and to urgently control the site and the huge exercise of making the building safe prior to progressing the reinstatement process.
We engaged with all key stakeholders and appointed McLarens to work closely with us in the management of the incident, with the adjusting team attending the site immediately in full PPE to review the scene. To help reveal the full extent of damage we also appointed a drone specialist.
Help finding new homes
A key decision we made at the offset was to appoint one member of the adjusting team to solely focus on the management of the residents’ needs. We knew temporary accommodation would be in high demand and availability would be limited due to not only the incident itself but also the timing coinciding with COVID-19.
Giving each resident comfort in not only their hour of immediate need but throughout the period of disruption was a key priority. We dedicated ourselves to ensuring quick and positive responses were supplied for unique and individual requests from residents.
- We offered varying accommodation options, arranged online viewings of potential rental properties,
- paid a mortgage to enable one resident to buy their new home
- agreed rates with some of the residents employers to allow them to live on site at their place of work.
- Appreciating the financial distress of many individuals due to the furlough environment we also funded all deposits on temporary accommodation.
The fire and the aftermath that ensued affected each resident’s financial, physical and mental wellbeing, potentially creating long term emotional affects for every individual required to vacate their home without notice.
How technology created an online community
We have managed and monitored the repairs with completion due in October 2022. The surveyor team have created an online portal which keeps everyone updated and enables owners to view progress on-site and enables them to select finishes in their home.
The usage of this and technology like Drones coupled with a calm and measured approach, enabled us to deal with all challenges brought on by this major incident.
Our collaborative team approach instilled a “can do” attitude and ensured we brought a level of certainty to an extremely difficult and uncertain time. We had the right professionals with the requisite level of soft and technical skills appointed for such an important response and every service provider and supplier we deployed recognised their key role in driving this £15M complex claim to a satisfactory resolution.
“Your people skills are absolutely perfect, your ability to listen, your compassion and empathy were so needed at a time where lives were "changed forever", and those are skills that not everyone is able to acquire! Every time we speak, I feel that any anxiety I have surrounding the Mill, almost disappears.” Customer (owner and resident)
"Such a huge loss involving so many displaced residents would be a major challenge at any time; for it to occur during the shock and uncertainty of a pandemic added an entirely new dimension for all involved.
Right from the very start Zurich aimed to assure, confirming policy liability within a week and making emergency funding and resources available immediately to over 100 homeless residents, helping them find and fund accommodation in as safe and considerate way as possible. Since then, nothing has stood still and through Zurich’s active engagement with all parties, practical problems have been resolved, decisions have been made quickly and the repair process continues to run smoothly.
I have personally found it a very rewarding and engaging approach.” Adjuster - McLarens
