Bury St Edmunds ‘flagship’ Post Office flats lose heating and hot water for more than three days

Residents in a luxury town centre block of flats were left frustrated after their heating broke down for more than three days.

All 12 apartments in the multi-million pound Post Office development at 17-18 Cornhill, Bury St Edmunds, lost heating and hot water after the system failed on Wednesday, last week.

Solicitor Jonathan Howe, who lives on the first floor, says heating issues have plagued some of the apartments since they were occupied in early summer this year.

Mr Howe said: “Right from the start, I noticed the heating didn’t seem to be doing much, and the towel rail didn’t work.

“Other tenants, on the first floor, I know of, suspected their heating wasn’t working properly either. We noticed it particularly during the cold snap with temperatures only reaching 14 degrees inside, and barely lukewarm water.

“Then, last Wednesday, I called out the engineers because my heating and hot water wasn’t working at all. It turned out all 12 apartments had lost it, too. We were offered a heater to get by, but it still meant we had to boil kettles for hot water if we wanted to wash up or have a bath.

“For what were sold as modern, state-of-the-art, luxury apartments, in a flagship development, it was actually more Dickensian.”

The 12 flats, over three floors, were created as part of a West Suffolk Council’s redevelopment the 19th century building, which was vacated by the Post Office in 2016. Barnes Construction began work in September 2020.

The flats are a mix of one, two and three bedrooms, costing between £184,950 and £750,000.

The heating system is a low-carbon air source heat pump which regenerates heat from outside the building.

The project retained the Victorian Cornhill frontage, widened the Market Thoroughfare and included two ground floor commercial units, which remain vacant.

Mr Howe said there had also been a number of other ‘unresolved snagging issues’, including stains on the carpet in the main entrance hallway, condensation, faulty ventilation and extraction fans.

A spokesperson for West Suffolk Council said: “There was an issue that caused the heating system to fail last Wednesday. The managing agents arranged for a contractor to come out that same day.

“It became apparent that a part needed replacing. That part was then installed on Saturday.”