The fire service have said they found 'no significant issues' at a city building where the developer stripped 160 units of furnishings.
Developer Elliot Lawless, who bought the Paramount building in November 2019, recently told the ECHO that he oversaw the removal of furniture and fittings from 160 rooms because the fixtures were a fire hazard. Mr Lawless also said that there was no sprinkler system and that the cladding had been condemned following the Grenfell disaster.
Last week Merseyside Fire and Rescue released a statement on the building. A spokesperson said: "Merseyside Fire & Rescue Service carried out a Fire Safety Audit of the Paramount building in 2019, under the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005, with no significant issues identified.
READ MORE: Questions over 'stripped out apartments' inside Elliot Lawless building
"The premises are due to be audited again soon as part of our re-inspection programme. We will continue to work with those responsible for the premises so that they continue to meet their duty to ensure the safety of persons living in the building.”
A spokesman for Mr Lawless, who bought the Paramount in 2019, said: "The investor mattresses lacked the required official fire certification label and could not therefore be passed as compliant.
"The mattresses were therefore removed as a precaution from the building on the assumption that they were fire hazards.
"The strip-out was also necessary to support installation of the sprinkler system, deemed necessary to ensure the building’s fire safety compliance.
"Eighty per cent of the fixtures, fittings and furnishing were required to be replaced due to water damage and all furniture had been damaged beyond repair.
"A new sprinkler system had to installed in the building
"The original bedroom doors were not considered to be of the required standard and these were recommended by fire safety consultants to be upgraded. This work is now complete.
"Fire safety consultants commissioned by Mr Lawless found the existing cladding did not meet current fire and building regulations
"Liverpool City Council’s building management team now have passed The Exchange as fully compliant with current building regulations."
The spokesman added: "My client inherited the building’s design, construction and safety flaws on acquisition and, in following the advice of a raft of expert consultants, has invested millions of pounds of his own money at risk to remedy the problems for his benefit and that of the original investors."
Earlier this week the Elliot Group said the building, renamed The Exchange, had been sold to Legacie Developments for an undisclosed fee.
The original Paramount scheme was set to turn the former Odeon cinema site on London Road into a 488-bed student accommodation block. But the scheme ran into trouble and stalled in 2015.
Developers Pinnacle Student Developments Ltd (PSDL) later collapsed with massive liabilities. The site then stalled and passed into the hands of administrators.
PSDL is now about to be dissolved by liquidators Quantuma Advisory Ltd. Their latest report has revealed that PSDL owes tens of millions of pounds to creditors.
The report reveals that the company owes £25,066,757.55 to HMRC and £13,505,055.74 to Pinnacle Student Buyers, a company which represents investors in the property scheme.
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