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Defiant squatters are ordered to leave Brick by Brick’s offices

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While security guards peered from the windows of the empty Croydon Park Hotel on Altyre Road,  squatters and their supporters were erecting banners in the forecourt of Croydon County Court this morning.

Protest: banners were placed on display outside Croydon County Court this morning

The group of squatters calling themselves Reclaim Croydon were due at the court to be served with an Interim Possession Order for their occupation of the empty Brick by Brick offices at 62 George Street.

One of the Reclaim Croydon group went into the court room for the formal proceedings.

The IPO was issued, and the eviction date set for Monday, September 18.

“We are occupying this property as a protest against Croydon Council, corrupt property developers, and the conditions they have created for the families, working-class people and homeless people in Croydon,” Reclaim Croydon said in a statement issued earlier this week.

Brick by Brick was the council-owned housing company that in five indulgent years managed to borrow £200million from the Town Hall and in all that time built only three council flats, with most of its other developments going for private sale or unaffordable “shared” ownership.

By September 2020, BxB had failed to repay a penny of its loans and had never managed to make a profit, dragging the council into bankruptcy, and inflicting potentially a decade (at least) of misery on the whole borough.

Luxury: the refurbed, often empty BxB sales room, for a company which hardly had any properties for sale

Brick by Brick’s offices on George Street are owned by the Whitgift Foundation, the biggest landowners in the borough.

The building’s five floors (including a basement) were refurbished at a cost of £670,000  when Brick by Brick moved in on what was supposed to be a 10-year lease.

There was an often empty “showroom” on the ground floor and offices above, for which they paid £427,000. At one point, the building accommodated 43 Brick by Brick staff and workers from its associated architects’ firm, with a payroll of more £2.5million per year.

The premises have been vacant for around six months, after what’s left of BxB’s staff were moved back into the council offices at Fisher’s Folly. The company had used barely half of its lease period.

Seems reasonable: the squatters want to be housed by Croydon Council

Stiles Harold Williams, estate agents for the Whitgift Foundation, were originally offering the vacated BxB building for £42,000 annual rent earlier this year. Clearly, they’ve had no takers…

Reclaim Croydon are asking for support on Monday from 8am – it’s the earlier the better for bailiffs and evictions.

The squatters ask that supporters gather either outside the front of the premises on George Street, or at the back entrance on Park Street. They have stated that anyone wishing to stay at the squat the night before the eviction can contact them on  ReclaimCroydon@Proton.me.

A spokesperson for the squatters said today, “It is better to leave us there. It will cost them more to move us.

“We will only go on squatting further Brick by Brick buildings until they meet our demands.”

Read more: BxB’s collapse was predictable. Why did no one else notice?
Read more: Brick by Brick CEO says company has sold 6 houses. Or is it 5?
Read more: Brick by Brick faces ‘disaster’ as it misses sales targets by 83%


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