Residents living in a Victoria Centre flats in Nottingham city centre have been left without heating and hot water for weeks.
Nottingham City Council says 14 flats above the Victoria Centre have been affected by the problem, which was caused by a corroded pipe.
Some residents first reported the outages between 3 August and 5 August, and council tenants have been offered hotel accommodation as a result.
Marie Mullan described the problem as a “nightmare”, while Jacqui Barton added: “I’m still without hot water until at least the 19 August.”
Residents have also criticised the six lifts across the block of flats, which continue to break down.
The Victoria Centre flats are served by Nottingham’s district heating network.
It is the oldest and largest in the country and is currently powered by the burning of 186,000 tonnes of household waste at the Eastcroft Incinerator.
High-pressure steam produced by the burning of the waste is then turned into electricity and hot water at the London Road Heat Station, which sends it out to 5,000 homes and more than 100 businesses via 90 km of pipes under the city.
However, the network dates back to the 1970s and requires constant maintenance and significant investment to keep it running.
A council spokesperson said: “This situation is affecting 14 flats at Victoria Centre, and we appreciate the inconvenience this is causing the residents who are affected by the leak in the system.
“The leak has been identified as a result of corrosion to district heating pipework that serves the 14 flats.
“Due to the complexity of the repair and its location, specialist contractor welders are needed for the work to be done.
“They will be on site on Wednesday 19 August to fix the leak after being unable to access one of the flats needed to complete the repair on Monday 10 August.
“In the meantime, we’re offering affected households the opportunity to be moved into a hotel from today until the repair work has been completed.”
The flats, which are home to almost 500 residents, were completed in 1972.
They are leased to the council, and many apartments are managed by the authority’s housing services.
In 2022, residents were told millions of pounds would be spent refurbishing the block, including replacing the windows, renovating the corridors and providing new emergency lighting and fire doors.
However, the plans were cancelled a year later due to ballooning costs.
Then, in April last year, the council confirmed the first 100 council flats above the shopping centre had finally had their windows refurbished.
By Joe Locker, Local Democracy Reporter