All five Caxton Works blocks told to evacuate—but who pays for life elsewhere?

The immediate safety instruction is clear: residents must stay away until further notice. The financial arrangements are not. An initial emergency response has become a longer displacement, with no settled public account of who will fund accommodation, how reimbursement will work or what engineering work will make the buildings safe.

On 24 October 2026, we reported that around 211 households had been evacuated across three buildings, with emergency accommodation and support provided overnight for people who had nowhere else to stay. That account reflected Newham Council’s approximate tally for Centurion Tower, St Vincent Court and Sovereign Tower—not the extent of the evacuation now.⁠15

The change came on Friday evening, 30 October, when residents of Thanet Tower and the building Newham calls Prince Court received instructions to leave. The council’s update dated 31 October confirms that residents had been advised to evacuate following further structural safety concerns. It does not establish that everyone had left. BBC London calls the fifth building Prince Tower; the development itself is also known as Royal Gateway.⁠1⁠3⁠5

BBC London’s 2 November report puts the displacement at at least 250 households. Newham has not published a total for all five buildings. That minimum is neither a count of individual people nor a measure of demand for hotel rooms: households may be staying with relatives, in hotels or elsewhere. It should not be turned into a precise accommodation tally.⁠1⁠15

The first evacuation happened without notice at about 03:00 BST on 23 October, following inspections and structural engineers’ reports. Newham said the London Fire Brigade had alerted it the previous night. By 2 November, posters warning of a “danger to life” were displayed on the towers, while residents collected suitcases, plants and other belongings. Those visits to retrieve possessions were not permission to resume living there.⁠1⁠15

For one father collecting essentials, the flat he shared with his wife and two young children represented his “entire investment”. “I don’t have anywhere else to go,” he told the BBC. His circumstances do not describe every household, but they expose the practical trap: being unable to use the home you pay for does not supply the money for another one.⁠1

The BBC now reports that residents must pay upfront for hotel rooms. The overnight emergency accommodation described in our earlier report was not a guarantee of continuing free rooms. No published arrangement in the available council information establishes reimbursement eligibility, spending limits, booking procedures or payment dates. Nor does the latest reporting establish a universal payment policy covering every resident.⁠1⁠3⁠9

Insurance offers no demonstrated general solution. Hard Hat Report says an insurer declined temporary-housing cover, treating the slab problem as a building defect. That is a reported insurance position, not a technical finding about the cause—and it does not establish that every household’s claim has been rejected. Other residents’ cover will depend on their policies; neither a payout nor reimbursement can be promised.⁠4

Newham says it is trying to help the most vulnerable residents but does not automatically have a duty to house everyone displaced. Its support update identifies Beckton Community Centre, 14 East Ham Manor Way, London E6 5NG, as a rest centre. That dated information is a support location, not confirmation of current opening hours, available hotel rooms or a guaranteed placement.⁠1⁠3

The central concern involves transfer slabs—large supporting concrete slabs beneath the blocks. Building manager Prime Property Management previously said structural engineers had identified an “imminent risk to life” linked to a transfer slab, according to the BBC. Prime had not responded to the broadcaster’s request for comment for its 2 November report.⁠1

Construction Management reported a crack in a concrete slab supporting two towers. Hard Hat Report subsequently described the slabs beneath Thanet Tower and Prince Court as “too small and heavily overstressed”, attributing the finding to engineers. These are reported descriptions, not findings readers can check against a published engineering report. They do not settle the root cause, the necessary repairs or whether precisely the same defect affects every block.⁠7⁠5

No collapse or injuries have been reported in the latest account. That does not diminish the evacuation warning. Equally, the warning alone does not supply a repair programme or a timetable for safe occupation. The underlying engineering report has not been published, and no return date has been announced.⁠1

Galliard Homes built the development about nine years ago; its residents include private tenants and leaseholders. The developer says it is urgently investigating with independent structural engineers and working with the relevant parties on next steps. It recognises residents’ distress and says its aim is a safe solution that enables them to return. Those commitments are not yet a certification of safety or a dated plan.⁠1

The organisations involved have different roles. Newham owns the land and has deployed health and safety inspectors and building experts. Prime manages the buildings and communicates evacuation instructions; the council is working with it to ensure residents understand they must leave. Those responsibilities do not, by themselves, establish who caused a defect or who is legally liable for accommodation and other losses.⁠1⁠3

The closures have also removed workplaces and childcare. An unnamed owner of a ground-floor Japanese restaurant told the BBC that he and his staff had been left without work or income from the business, and without information about when they could resume. He described longstanding employees with families, commitments and mortgages.⁠1

The owner said another 12 businesses connected with the restaurant had suffered. That is his account of the wider impact, not a verified count of additional premises ordered to close. He feared “total shutdown” if he could not obtain an insurance payout; permanent closure is a risk he described, not an established outcome.⁠1

Golden Sparks nursery, which cared for more than 80 babies and pre-school children, has also closed. A representative of affected families told the BBC that some had lost access to both their homes and their nursery. Others faced finding replacement childcare at short notice, potentially taking unpaid leave or paying extra. No alternative nursery site or comprehensive replacement arrangement has been established.⁠1

Speaking in the Commons on 2 November, housing minister Flo Eshalomi said officials were supporting Newham and engaging with the developer and warranty providers to “ensure that they respond to this situation as swiftly as possible”. That intervention does not establish that funding or repairs have been agreed. The answers residents need remain concrete: what work will make their homes safe, what evidence will permit a return, and who will pay for life elsewhere until then.⁠1