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56 tenants living at Le Marais in Jersey will have to permanently leave their homes to allow their landlord to refurbish the interiors.
Some of those tenants are described as "very elderly," and have lived at Le Marais since it was built in 1972.
Tenants of the first of the four towers to be worked on will be offered other homes instead, potentially in Andium Homes' properties at Samares or Le Squez, if they want to stay in the area.
The housing provider says that the outsides of the four Le Marais towers, including the windows and the cladding, were refurbished in 2000; but now they need to work on the insides, including new kitchens & bathrooms, a new heating system, re-plumbing and re-wiring, and a sprinkler system.
Dominique Caunce, Head of Policy and Communications added:
"These works are significant and extremely disruptive. We had initially considered a plan to carry out the works 4 floors at a time and move tenants up/down floors on a temporary basis, but we no longer think this is fair or appropriate given the significant disruption the work will cause, and tenants told us this when we last visited them. Instead, we will now empty the blocks, one block at a time.
"Tenants from the first block will have to move elsewhere but we have the benefit of new supply becoming available at Samares and Le Squez Phase 4, so they will be able to remain in the area should they wish to do so. The later blocks will move in turn to the newly refurbished towers. So these are now permanent moves rather a temporary move.
"We do acknowledge that a number of residents at Le Marais are very elderly, and some have lived there since they were built. These works are essential, so we have no choice but to move them."
Pictured: One of the four 1972 towers at Le Marais.
Andium says that it has written to tenants to let them know about the permanent move, and will visiting them all individually this Wednesday, 31 July.
Work is due to start on the first block next summer and finish in 2024, and is currently out to tender.
Picture Credit: Google Maps
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