Residents and business owners who have been forced to evacuate five tower blocks in east London due to a potentially “disastrous” crack have hit out at what they say is a lack of support

The blocks, located in Caxton Works in Canning Town, are considered at risk due to the crack in a concrete slab supporting the buildings - and residents have accused building management of leaving them in limbo while being told to fund their own temporary accommodation.

Centurion Tower, St Vincent Court and Sovereign Tower were evacuated on Thursday, October 22, while nearby Thanet Tower and Prince Court were evacuated on Friday, October 30 following a second report from structural engineers assessing the transfer slab.

Correspondence sent to residents of the towers advised that there was an “imminent risk to life”, and that entering the towers was not safe and done “at your own risk”.

The correspondence, which has been seen by The Standard, says that the condition of the inspected slab could lead to the collapse of the buildings.

Newham Council has served Dangerous Structural Notices for each of the towers.

Some of those evacuated were offered beds at a rest centre at Beckton Community Centre, but according to a note on Newham Council’s website, this was closed by 4pm on Saturday, October 31.

Over a week after the first evacuations, residents have not been told when they can return to their homes, and The Standard has spoken to a number of frustrated residents.

One, who wished to remain anonymous, said that as no-one is taking ownership of the crisis, the placement agency outsourced by Prime has been unable to facilitate temporary housing.

Numerous families have been forced to pay out of their own pockets for hotels and Airbnbs, with many not having the financial means to cope.

Residents told The Standard that some occupants remain inside the buildings because they have no alternative accommodation options, despite the premises being declared an "imminent risk to life” in the evacuation notice.

One evacuated resident, who did not wish to be named, told The Standard that the council had been “absolutely useless.”

He added: “Newham Council's ‘homelessness department’ said they could arrange flats for us in Canning Town or elsewhere nearby, but we had to pay the market price for renting it.”

He said that he and his family had decided to book a serviced apartment in Canary Wharf for the next three months instead.

He added: “We just don't have the mental space to be sofa surfing in the foreseeable future - we need to get back to some semblance of routine and normalcy, having our own space.”

When The Standard visited the site on Monday morning, a handful of contractors were on site at the base of Centurion Tower, assembling some scaffolding and expanding the “safety zone”.

A concierge from one of the towers declined to talk, having been told by Prime not to publicly discuss the evacuations.

A number of removals vans were on site, with desperate tenants removing their belongings despite being instructed not to enter the buildings.

One resident from Thanet Tower, who did not wish to be named, told The Standard that he received an email on Friday October 30 at 5.20pm telling him to evacuate.

The man says he has been sleeping on his parents’ sofa around a ten-minute drive away since then.

He said: “All I want is for at some point to be able to come back and sell it.

“In the short term, it's just a pain in the a**e. Long-term, the worry is the financial implications.”

“I don’t know if I’ll be back in three months, six months, a year? If it’s a year then I’ll have forgotten about it in ten years. If it’s longer, that’s all my money.

“I’m just sad. I want my flat back!”

He said that he had been back to his flat, which he owns, “a few times” since the evacuation to collect some items, despite being strongly advised not to.

He added that he’d seen a number of other people in the blocks, mainly also coming back to pick up some things.

He said: “We’ve been told not to go in, but we’ve also been told to switch off our water - how can I do that if I can’t go in?”

Riz and her family had been living in Sovereign Tower for around a year before the evacuation.

She wasn’t home on the night of Thursday, October 22, into the early hours of Friday October 23 - but received a notification from her Ring doorbell at 2.30am that the fire brigade were at her door.

The full evacuation of around 210 households from Centurion Tower, St Vincent Court and Sovereign Tower was not complete until 3am.

Since the evacuation, she has been staying in another property that she owns with her husband and their four-year-old daughter.

She was on site on Monday to collect the last of her possessions, having also come last week to remove most of her belongings.

She told The Standard that her landlord had been very supportive, and suspended her rental contract as soon as the evacuation was announced.

Riz said she believed Galliard had not accepted responsibility. She went on: “It’s really unfortunate. I know with other cases up and down the country, Genesis were able to pay out the insurance and get accommodation.

“They’ve said it's a design issue - it's clearly not, it's a structural issue, and you can see that from the report.

“I don’t know how the owners are going to get their mortgages paid off if I’m honest. I’m more concerned for them than for myself.”

Riz said the move had been difficult for family life, with her daughter’s school life affected.

However, she added: “If we use Grenfell as an example, it could have been a lot worse”.

A number of local businesses have also been impacted by the evacuations.

Rise Climbing, a bouldering gym and training centre based in Caxton Works, is one of several businesses which has been forced to close.

Centurion Tower sits directly above the premises, and the business was told to evacuate, with signs reading “Danger” and “Do Not Enter” pasted on their doors.

Josh Akapo, head of marketing for the business, told The Standard: “It’s the saddest thing in the world, this place is normally buzzing with life.

“People don’t know when they will next see their friends or use their community space.”

With high commercial rents, many local independent businesses were already struggling, Josh says, and any day the gym is shut “massively affects the business”.

He said: “It’s been over a week and we have no timeline - we’re running out of runway.

“The financial loss is awful but it is the community loss that is really heartbreaking.

“Hearing from our members, hearing from schools, people who use the centre as their safe space, their home away from home, has been awful.

“Having no information about when and how we get it back safely, or who will bear the cost, is literally devastating.

“So many community spaces have been taken away - it's just completely unacceptable that it's allowed.”

Labour councillor John Morris posted a video on Facebook, in which he said that he had been on site at Caxton Works a number of times.

Cllr Morris has also been in discussion with James Asser, Labour MP for West Ham and Beckton, about a possible freeze on mortgages for owner occupiers until the situation is resolved.

Mr Asser said there were "serious questions about how long this has been a situation and where the fault lies".

He added: "It's absolutely infuriating me. This shouldn't be happening to my constituents. We need to get answers for them urgently."

Speaking after the evacuation on Friday October 30, a Prime spokesperson told The Standard: "We recognise the enormity of asking anyone to leave their home. These are not decisions we have made lightly, but they have been made because safety is our immediate priority.

“The relevant organisations and Government bodies have been notified to seek urgent action to address the identified risks and assess whether there are any other building defects. Some have since attended the Royal Gateway Development to discuss such action.

“Protecting residents and those around the development remains our top priority, together with enabling residents to return to their homes as quickly as possible, when it is safe to do so.”

The Standard has approached Newham Council and Prime for further comment.