In Portsea, Portsmouth, 120 households were forced to leave Sarah Robinson House on 6 September.

Residents were expected to be able to safely reoccupy the building by Monday 18 September, according to Portsmouth City Council and gas company SGN.

Residents will continue to be supported by the council’s housing team, the council said.

Gas readings inside the building indicate that residents cannot yet return home after the gas leak was fixed. “Our engineers are making good progress ventilating Sarah Robinson House,” said SGN spokesperson Katie Lobban.

In spite of the reduced gas readings, more work with our specialist equipment is needed to extract all gas before evacuated residents are able to return safely to their homes.

Our apologies for the inconvenience caused by not being able to return home to affected residents.”

As a result of the gas leak, some residents were taken care of at the nearby John Pounds Centre, while others stayed with family and friends.