London property collapses from 'roof to basement' mid-renovation

This collapsed Victorian home has left a gaping hole in a smart north London street

It was the kind of property crash nobody was expecting but when firefighters were called to a collapsed terraced house on Monday (12 February, 2018) they arrived to scenes of complete devastation. One side of the double fronted, six-bedroom two-storey house on Sumatra Road, in affluent West Hampstead, appears to have completely caved in, reducing a portion of the property to rubble.

Picture: @LFB

There were no reports of injuries, but ten people from surrounding houses were evacuated. Ten firefighters from West Hampstead and Battersea fire stations worked with a structural engineer to make the scene safe, with London Fire Brigade describing the collapse as being from 'roof to basement'.

Picture: @LFB

Local residents report the property had been boarded up for around two years, with eyewitnesses saying builders were working inside shortly before the incident. It appears the home had been completely gutted prior to the collapse with pictures clearly revealing the devastation to the front door, upper floor and a staircase. The roof has remained intact but is precariously unsupported. 

Picture: @LFB

Exclusive address

NW6 is one of London’s most expensive postcodes with one three-bedroom home on Sumatra Road selling for £1,590,000 in June 2017. Houses on the street are typically historic and late Victorian, dating from the 1880s and 1890s and the leafy suburb is a favourite celebrity haunt with notable locals including the actress Emma Thompson, comic Robert Webb and actor Bill Nighy. 

Picture: @LFB

Renovation in progress

The house was last sold for £640,000 in 2006, but was listed for sale again during 2013 as a six-bedroom home. Pictures of that listing on Zoopla show some original features including fireplaces and picture railings. The current owners seemed to have big plans for the house however. Planning permission to excavate the basement of the property was approved by Camden Council in April 2014. A later application to convert the house into four flats was rejected in August 2017 and, most recently, in October 2017 an appeal brought against Camden Council was dismissed.