Edinburgh Residents Still Homeless After Flat Fire One Year Later

The fire tore through a flat on an upper floor. Luckily, nobody got hurt, though two firefighters got treatment at the scene. Lawrence Mearns and Anna live in the building, but they cannot return home yet.

After the evacuation, they stayed in hotels and got £10 a day for food each. They now have rented housing. Lawrence thinks it was a small cooking accident, and the couple planned to wed in Greece.

Their paperwork and passports stayed in the flat, and for a while, they worried about postponing their wedding. Council tax payments will restart soon, as the residents had a year-long exemption.

Lawrence doesn’t know why the work is delayed. At Christmas, they had an update, and another update was to come in March. Some scaffolding went up, and debris removal happened.

Anna said the fire impacted their lives a lot. Early on, they stayed in different hotels and had little access to belongings. They ate with just £10 a day, and Anna has type 1 diabetes, which made her uncertainty hurt her health.

Persimmon is the site’s developer, and they helped the insurance company to fix the fire damage. They also have a plan for general safety that awaits the committee’s approval. They added safety measures, like patrols.

Ageas’ Stephen Linklater spoke about the fire, which badly damaged two blocks. This disrupted 106 flat owners and tenants, and it also affected commercial units. Thirty-four flats remain not liveable.

Ageas gave residents quick support, funding emergency housing and working with the Residents Association. They reimbursed covered expenses, and seriously damaged homes got long-term housing.

The damage and safety issues delayed access. The first debris removal was in September 2024, and structural engineers began assessing the building in mid-November 2024.

Lezley Marion Cameron talked about public safety, saying that the site is secured. The factor and insurers must complete repairs, which are for private homes.