Council destroys creaking building

Kings House, King Street left in danger of total collapse after the roof fell in, following the removal of the floors of the building.

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A DANGEROUS building which creaked for days before it collapsed in the town centre is now demolished.

The roof of the King's House building on King Street collapsed at around 11am on Friday prompting Oldham Council to demolish it the same day - it was declared unsafe to use just a day before the incident.

Emergency services arrived at around 11.30am and quickly evacuated the area, the block was cordoned off and King Street was closed to traffic and pedestrians for the day, there were no casualties.

The privately owned building which was having work carried out on it was reported to Oldham Council a day before by a nearby business who feared it was unsafe - it was declared off limits as a result.

Shanaz Khan, manager of Fulbridge Social Care next to the building, described how she had heard creaking days before the collapse.

She said: "We have known for a couple of days now that this building has become unsafe.

"I was sat in the office interviewing somebody and I heard the creaks.

"The candidate asked if we were safe and I said 'we should be because we would have been told to evacuate otherwise' and I had heard the creaks for days before.

"The whole building shook and we ran, we knew it must be coming down."

Two fire trucks, an ambulance and police attended as they secured the area.

The building was destroyed at 5pm on the Friday.

Councillor Abdul Jabbar, deputy leader of Oldham Council, praised the response of the authorities who controlled the situation and prevented harm to anyone.

He said: "I would like to thank our building control team and our partners from Greater Manchester Fire and Police for their rapid and professional response to this incident. Their actions have probably saved lives or prevented serious injury."