The pre-school classroom roof of an east London nursery collapsed on Thursday evening just hours after children had left for the day.
The roof of the Crossharbour Montessori Day Nursery caved in at around 8.40pm. Nobody was injured or in the building at the time.
Kendra, a mother who sends her two children to the nursery, told the Standard: “I was at dinner when I found out and I burst into tears because of the shock of ‘What if it had happened earlier?’
“My husband picked them up three hours earlier, and I was thinking, ‘What if it had happened earlier, I could’ve lost my entire family.’”
She added: “All the parents are now in limbo: do we get another nursery, do we get a nanny, we’re all asking these questions all while we were struggling to sleep last night.”
Another mother said: “I don’t want to think about if there was any children. It’s horrible to imagine.”
Harp Lakhan, the director of the nursery, told the Standard: “I’m a little bit in shock, we have limited information. We’ve sent out a briefing to parents to say we’ve closed but once I’ve gathered some more information, I’ll be relaying that further to them.
“Fortunately nobody was injured, that’s the good news.”
He said the nursery was working closely with the authorities to support staff and parents and to understand what had gone wrong with the third-floor roof of the building, which the nursery leases.
“We’ve immediately told all the staff and obviously we’ll make sure they’re OK in terms of not to come in today and we’ll pay them, and we’ll also make sure parents and nobody else comes in,” he said.
“We just want to make sure all the processes are complete and absolutely everything is safe before we allow them back in.”
Structural engineers are due to visit the site to understand the cause.
Andrew Wood, a former councillor who runs a Facebook forum for the area, said: “It was one of the classroom areas, but fortunately the building was empty.
“There would have been serious injuries to staff and children if it had happened earlier in the day.”
Councillors have now called on Tower Hamlets council to reassure residents who live close to the nursery in the wake of the roof collapse.
Peter Golds, a councillor in the Isle of Dogs, said it was “fortunate” that the collapse had not happened during the daytime when the building was in use.
He added: “What concerns me though is that this took place within a residential block. They must be worried so the council must look at their safety. The residents need to be absolutely secure in their homes.”
The nursery, which has around 40 children up to age four, is situated close to Crossharbour DLR station.
A Tower Hamlets Council spokesperson said the council was “shocked” and that a Dangerous Structure Notice would be issued ovr the roof.
“We are expecting the building freeholder to arrange for a Structural Engineer to investigate the cause of the collapse and advise us of their conclusions and plan for remedial works to be undertaken,” said the spokesperson.
“The council’s Early Education team will work with the nursery to support parents and carers who need to seek alternative childcare, whilst the nursery is closed.”
