Camden Council agreed a contract with Rydon Construction – the same firm that oversaw the refurbishment of Grenfell Tower – to refurbish the Chalcots Estate in May 2006 at a cost of £66m.

 

Friday night’s announcement came as theMetropolitan Police said the Grenfell Tower fire started in a fridge-freezer, and outside cladding and insulation failed safety tests.

 

Teacher Kim Price, who lives in Blashford tower with her 14-year-old son, said: “At 4pm today they said it would be okay and that all the checks were fine.

 

“And now all of a sudden the news is saying we should get out.

 

“We’ve had two letters in two days saying ‘you’re not safe’ then ‘you’re safe’. I don’t really know what to do.”

 

Edward Strange, who lives in an 11th floor flat with his wife and young daughter, said the evacuation was a “complete overreaction”.

 

He told the BBC there had been two previous fires in the block which were easily contained.

 

“I’ve got a young daughter, a wife and a cat, I’ve also got a job. They said it’d take four to six weeks. If the council says four to six weeks it’ll take four to six months.”

 

Another resident, Roger Evans, also said he thought the council action was “excessive”.

 

Ahmed Mohamed, 19, who lives in Taplow tower with his parents and two sisters, said they were alerted by a neighbour at 20:15 that they needed to leave.

 

“We only had five minutes to get our stuff,” he said.

 

Hamza Usman, 21, who lives in Burnham, said: “I found out that we have to evacuate through BBC News.

 

“I called my mum and she said she had heard nothing either.”

 

‘Temporarily decanted’

 

Camden’s leader, Georgia Gould, said London Fire Brigade had completed a joint inspection of the blocks with Camden Council technical experts.

 

It was decided the flats needed to be “temporarily decanted…so that residents can be fully assured of their safety”.

 

Ms Gould said the work is expected to take three to four weeks.

 

A rest centre had been set up and residents were being found hotels and other accommodation, she said.

 

national operation to identify buildings with cladding similar to that used in Grenfell Tower has seen local authorities send samples for independent tests.

 

The Department for Communities and Local Government said 14 residential high-rise buildings in nine local authority areas have now been found with cladding that raises safety concerns.

 

A DCLG spokesman said: “Camden Council and the Fire and Rescue Service are rightly working together to implement their responsibilities under the Emergency Fire Safety Review that we sent them…

 

“The government, through London Resilience, is offering every assistance in getting this done as swiftly and safely as possible.”

 

 

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