Pub site where man died in Isle of Dogs wall collapse was ‘dangerous structure’
![Police arrive at scene of collapsed wall with construction officials [pictures: Steve Poston]](data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAAEAAAABCAQAAAC1HAwCAAAAC0lEQVR42mNkYAAAAAYAAjCB0C8AAAAASUVORK5CYII=)
Police arrive at scene of collapsed wall with construction officials [pictures: Steve Poston] - Credit: Archant
The construction site in east London where a worker was killed by a wall collapsing today has been at the centre of safety concerns by Tower Hamlets councillors, it has emerged.
Police arrive at scene of collapsed wall with construction officials [pictures: Steve Poston] - Credit: Archant
The former Anchor & Hope public house in West Ferry Road on the Isle of Dogs, next to Millwall fire station, had been left “in a dangerous condition” for several years, according to the local councillor for the area.
Concerns were raised in August by Andrew Wood, who represents the Canary Wharf ward on the council.
Now he is to ask the Health & Safety Executive to find out why it wasn’t made safe three months ago.
“I asked the council in August for reassurance to check structure to make sure it wouldn’t collapse,” he told the East London Advertiser today.
Police arrive at scene of collapsed wall with construction officials [pictures: Steve Poston] - Credit: Archant
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It has been left in a dangerous condition with smashed windows exposing it to the elements and letting in rainwater, which has probably weakened the structure.
“I have been worried about the building falling down.
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“But it seems it wasn’t considered a ‘dangerous structure’ or the council would have told the owners to rainproof it so it wouldn’t deteriorate further.”
Planning consent was running out. Work should have started in May last year, Cllr Wood has discovered. He is asking Health & Safety took into whether this may have put pressure on the development to get work started.
An ambulance crew and paramedic team from the air-ambulance service at the Royal London hospital in Whitechapel were called to the site at 9am today after a 999 call about a construction worker being injured.
They battled for 20 minutes to try and save the man’s life—but he was pronounced dead at the scene 20 minutes later.
Police and Health & Safety officials are still at the four-storey structure which has been cordoned off.
Scotland Yard has confirmed that the man, in his 30s, was working on the site when the wall collapsed.
An investigation is under way by police and the Health & Safety Executive to find out what caused the wall collapse.
The Anchor & Hope has been in Millwall since 1787, now sitting at the edge of an expanding Canary Wharf business district in an area undergoing massive construction as part of the Isle of Dogs regeneration.
