Families ‘harmed avoidably’ and children hospitalised in tower block evacuation - as mum says council treated residents ‘like nothing’

Hundreds of people living in Barton House were told to leave and the council declared a major incident after the discovery of “major structural faults” which meant the building would have been unsafe in the event of a fire.

After “a fuller analysis of the building's structure” and works carried out, residents of were allowed to return from February 2024, almost three months after they left.

But the evacuation, and what followed, has since been called a “mass-traumatizing event”.

An independent report commissioned by the council has now found evacuating the building was the right thing to do but “at the time of the decision the extent of the social, welfare and practical impacts on tenants was not fully understood”.

According to the report, residents suffered from severe mental health problems and disease spread in temporary accommodation.

An NHS doctor has told LBC there were also “multiple children who ended up with such severe diarrhoea and vomiting and gastroenteritis that they ended up in hospital”.

The report also describes the evacuation as a “period of chaos” which many found out about “through social media, media reports, or other residents” rather than the council.

Bristol City Council say they “accept the report's findings and recommendations in full”.

Recalling the evacuation, resident Fadumo Farah told LBC, “some of the people, they've been told that the building might collapse, the building's not safe, you have to get out, you're not allowed to stay”.

She claims the council had done so little planning prior to residents being moved that housing officers had no forms or notebooks and were “writing names on cardboard”.

Following the evacuation many residents of the tower block were moved into a hotel in the city, but Ms Farah told LBC: “they didn't have any emergency plan whatsoever…it was just like we were like nothing.

“I don't think they treated us like people who actually have rights… it was the way they were speaking to us, it was very loud. Because some of us didn't speak English or we've got an accent, the way they spoke to us, it was like we were deaf, very loud, you know, it was sharp, there was no sorry, please, or sympathy…and they were delivering really horrendous things in front of the children. No one acknowledged the children.”

Comparing Barton House to Grenfell Tower, Fadumo Farah claimed “if there was an emergency similar to what happened in London, I don't think any of us would survive because the lack of preparation. They haven't prepared…there was no leadership”.

The independent report into the evacuation of Barton House said: “Each resident we spoke to could recall in detail their experience, and that of their family on being told they needed to leave the building.

“Residents talked about a range of health impacts at different phases of the evacuation and after the return to the building. Residents staying in the hotel reported outbreaks of illness and infectious disease. Many residents spoke about the impact on sleep, including months of unsettled sleep for some children staying in the hotel and difficulties in sleeping on the return to Barton House due to concerns about the building’s safety. Residents consistently spoke of severe mental health problems since the evacuation, and many attributed this to uncertainty about their safety and the future of the building.

“We have not seen evidence of direct discrimination or unfairness in the decision- making about the evacuation. However, we did find that certain groups were more negatively affected than others, including those who stayed at the hotel, residents with limited English, pregnant and post-natal women, families with children with special educational needs and disabilities, and those with large families.”

NHS doctor Francis Bennett campaigns against health injustice with the charity Medact. They released a report in 2025 which said: “The impact of the evacuation and life in Barton House has had profoundly negative effects on the adults and children, and for many, returning to Barton House continues to cost them their health and wellbeing. Through our work it has become abundantly clear that the evacuation was a mass-traumatising event”.

'Shocking'

Dr Bennett, a child and adolescent psychiatrist in CAMHS services, told LBC: “Some of the stories we heard about the effects that the evacuation had, both in the immediate term but also in the longer term, were just absolutely heartbreaking and really kind of quite shocking”

“There was one child who was autistic but had become toilet trained, but as a result of the evacuation and the terror that he'd experienced, just not understanding what was going on and why he'd had to move from this environment that he understood and was able to function in, into a hotel room, living just a completely different life.

"And as a result, he ended up back in diapers. And that's a really, really severe regression in the child's development. That's not something that I see very often in my work anyway.

“So things like that, I mean, things like children becoming so malnourished because of the poor quality of food within the hotels. Not only just malnourishment because of the poor quality of food, but also the spread of infectious diseases. There were multiple children who ended up with such severe diarrhoea and vomiting and gastroenteritis that they ended up in hospital.”

The independent report into the Barton House evacuation appears to corroborate those claims, saying “as residents were staying at the hotel during winter months, there was a heightened risk of infectious disease.

Residents who stayed at the hotel reported outbreaks of illness including diarrhoea, vomiting and chickenpox.

Several residents spoke about taking their children to hospital because of dehydration. At the time BCC advised individuals who were unwell to isolate and for hotel staff to deliver food to their rooms”.

It goes on to say: “The impact of the evacuation on trust has been severe with many residents still not confident that the building is safe and that an evacuation would not happen again. Many residents remain extremely uncertain about the future of the building. Several residents discussed seeking rehousing following the evacuation”.

'Harmed avoidably'

Councillor Barry Parsons, Chair of the Homes and Housing Delivery Committee, told LBC: “Residents were harmed avoidably by the evacuation, the way that it was conducted. I have to apologise on behalf of the council for that”.

“I think what the report says is that there wasn't direct discrimination against anybody. But really, where the council failed, where the council fell down, is that it really didn't understand what people's needs were and what people's vulnerabilities were.

"And the sheer level of impact that this evacuation had on people for all sorts of reasons, because of disability, because of not having English as their first language, because of having families with young children, health needs.

"And especially at the start, there wasn't nearly enough account taken of that. And so the council wasn't doing the things that it needed to, to support people.

"And that in itself means that people suffered inequity because of it.

"So we've got a lot to do to improve things there. One of the big things I'd point to is that we're taking a whole new approach to how we work with residents. And what we're trying to do is to put the voices of residents at the heart of how we provide services.”