UPDATE AND VIDEO: Builder captures dramatic moment unstable house collapses in Lee

Lewisham Central Safer Neighbourhood Team tweeted a picture of the leaning property in Lampmead Road yesterday, which neighbours said was undergoing a refurbishment.

At around 11am, police said immediate neighbours had been evacuated and builders were on the scene.

But minutes later the end-of-terrace property collapsed, with dramatic pictures showing the external wall at the front of the house hanging off.

Jimmy, a 32-year-old builder working on a nearby property, said the building began to sag at around 9pm on Tuesday but neighbours heard a terrifying creak more than 12 hours earlier. 

He said: "We were just standing there and a cherry picker was coming down the road, they were going to try and take the roof down so it didn't collapse but as soon as they tried to go up the whole thing collapsed. 

Before and after: Pictures (c.) Ted Aston and Lewisham Central SNT.

"One guy was a bit close, he had to run away. 

"I've worked on building sites for 17 years but I have never seen a house collapse like that - it's crazy. 

"Luckily, no-one was inside, it was just an empty property." 

Jimmy blamed the collapse on "dodgy builders" who he said had been removing beams and rafters while the roof was still on the property. 

He said: "There was no sign to say who the builder was. 

"It was definitely dodgy builders - you can't bloody start taking rafters down before you take the roof off. 

"It's ridiculous." 

Becky Boyton, 56, lives four doors down and was alerted that something was going on when she heard a loud bang at 6am.

She said: “One neighbour thought somebody had just put their bin lid down loudly.

“But we realised after that the bang was the windows popping because of the weight.

“They had just put new windows in.”

The aftermath of the damage in Lampmead Road

Ms Boyton spoke to the owners of the house, a couple in their thirties who had bought it with a view to renovating and starting a family there.

She said: “They were very calm, but that might be the calm after the storm.

“They did tell me the one reason they didn’t go upstairs when they came to look around the house last Saturday was that there weren’t any stairs.

"If they had gone upstairs, who knows what would have happened.

“What if they had children, what if that was the baby’s room? Maybe it was in the back of their minds.

“Just think what could have been.”

She added the previous family who owned the property had lived there for four generations.

Meanwhile, 94-year-old Thelma Williams, who lives directly next door to the house that collapsed, has now been allowed to return to her home.

Ms Boyton said: “These are 100-year-old houses that withstood two world wars.

“But I spoke to one of the builders and he said, ‘hey, it isn’t so bad, we will soon fix it’.”

The property was undergoing a renovation at the time.

Passerby Ted Aston, a local architect, was walking past the road on his normal route to work when he spotted the police cordon.

He noticed the leaning house, which at this point was still in one piece.

The 55-year-old told News Shopper: "The area was cordoned off and police were there, that sort of thing.

"Then obviously I saw the house on the corner leaning forwards at the top and the roof was caved in."

Mr Aston said he was told by the police officer at the scene that the internal walls had been removed from the property.

Stephen Kelly, 53, lives opposite the house and says the owners had put up a sign on a tree saying they were building a loft extension the very morning of the collapse.

He told News Shopper: “We just heard a creaking sound and then saw it looking like it was at an angle.

“The fire services came and tried to get the builders back to find out what was going on – they’d gone because it was around 4 or 5pm.

“The builders are just working on making everything safe now.

“If it was my house, I would have been panic stricken.”

Did you see what happened? Call the newsroom on 01689 885721, or email jessica.bell@london.newsquest.co.uk.