Residents living opposite a building deemed unsafe claim the property has posed a risk to pedestrians and motorists on the road for months. People living in flats above shops in Pontmorlais, Merthyr Tydfil, were stunned on Friday, March 11, when they received a knock on the door from council officers telling them to pack quickly and leave their homes.
Kerry Keightley and her husband Marek Ksiazek are two of a handful of people who live above the shops and they said they thought construction workers hadn’t realised they were there while working on the old YMCA building on the day. You can recap the situation here.
Work had just started on the building which has been earmarked for offices for years but those working on the building realised the top section of the structure posed a risk to people below and decided an urgent road closure was required. The road was closed at 1.30pm and emergency services including fire and rescue and the police were called while those in the immediate area were told to leave.
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Kerry said she was fortunate she had no plans on Friday evening and wasn’t too put out to have to spend it in the hotel. She was able to return to her home on Saturday.
“The council came around in the morning and said there were concerns over the large bay window which was looking like a problem,” she explained, referring to the window at the top centre of the YMCA building. “We weren’t aware of anything. They’d informed the shops but I think they hadn’t realised there were people in the flats. I had not long stuck my head out the window to make it clear I was there and ask what was going on. Council officials then knocked on my door at 4pm saying we needed to move out quickly."
Engineers worked overnight to remove sections of the building before making a decision on the building’s structural integrity, Kerry said. Locals have expressed concern over the safety of the Grade-II listed building for some time, WalesOnline was told.
“Pieces of masonry have been falling down towards people walking past the front,” Kerry said. “They put a stronger fence around it a couple of months ago so walkers wouldn’t be in as much danger.
“Year on year it looks in worse and worse shape. I just hope something is done about it because it’s a beautiful building and a reminder of Merthyr’s heritage. It’s not the only building in the area that’s now looking in a precarious state.”
Kerry added that she was surprised how sudden the evacuation had been. “I am surprised because I thought there would be more awareness of the condition of the building,” she said.
A statement from Merthyr council confirmed work to transform the building will go ahead. It said: "Prior to works commencing a structural survey identified that a small area at the front of the building needed to be made more secure. An emergency road closure was put in place to enable the urgent structural repair work to be undertaken.
"The emergency works were carried out on Friday evening (March 11) and following completion of the work one lane of the road was re-opened with a three-way road management system in place." A structural survey of the work and the remainder of the urgent works was completed on March 14 and the road fully re-opened later the same day.
Merthyr council was contacted for further comment but did not respond.
