Contractor blames storm damage for partial collapse on Dominion housing scheme

A building under construction by Leadbitter in Oxford has partly collapsed.

The collapse happened in the early hours of Tuesday morning. Nobody was injured in the incident, which occurred on a refurbishment project for Dominion Housing Group.

Ian Batchelor, construction manager with the contractor, said: “We believe [the accident] was as a consequence of storm damage during the exceptional weather experienced in Oxford last night.”

Leadbitter's structural engineers have since visited the site and declared the building to be safe.

The firm is now working with Dominion Housing Group, the police, Oxford city council and UK Building Control to address the situation and to clear debris from the site.