Entire building collapsed in to rubble in West Hampstead
Ten people were evacuated and were forced to leave the surrounding homes after two-storey house in West Hampstead, Sumatra Road, North West London, collapsed from the roof to basement level. This dramatic scene highlighted the arrogance of property developers in an affluent area where properties fetch over £1 million, as the entire building collapsed into rubble and
Fire crews from both West Hampstead and Battersea fire stations were called to the scene on Monday 12th February 2018, at 12:06 GMT. The house appeared to be undergoing renovations at the time o the collapse. Luckily no one was injured.
The London Ambulance Service sent an ambulance crew and an incident responder but said there were no patients to treat at the scene.
One fire engine and one fire rescue unit and 10 firefighters have rushed to the scene and made it safe working with the local authority’s structural engineer.
Planning permission to renovate the basement of the property was granted by Camden Council in April 2014. However, an application to convert the home into two one-bedroom flats and two two-bedroom flats were refused on11 August 2017, and an appeal made by Jeremy Stein against the Camden Council was dismissed by the Planning Inspectorate on 10th October 2017.