Bourne End (Investments), an estate management company based in Finchley, has been fined £39,514 after a fire devastated warehouses on the Rainbow Industrial Estate in Yiewsley on the 21st March 2011.
The fire raged for 11 hours and required 20 fire engines and over 100 fire fighters to tackle it. Employees and local residents had to be evacuated but luckily no one was injured.
After the blaze the warehouses were demolished and in January 2014 Hillingdon Council approved plans to restore the site by building flats, business space and a care home.
Bourne End (Investments) has been prosecuted for breaching fire safety regulations after the fire brigade safety inspectors had previously found that no fire risk assessment had been undertaken and the fire alarm system had not been properly maintained.
The estate management company pleaded guilty to two offences under the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005. They were fined £10,000 for each offence and legally responsible pay the prosecution’s costs of £19,514 at Isleworth Crown Court on 17 January 2014.
A London Fire Brigade spokesman said: “This was a very serious fire, which not only destroyed a number of businesses, but also disrupted the lives of many people”.
“The fact that the alarm system on the industrial estate was not being properly maintained could also have put people’s lives seriously at risk and it is fortunate that no one was injured.”
All non-domestic, commercial buildings and multi-occupancy premises in England and Wales are legally required to carry out a suitable and sufficient fire risk assessment under the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005.
