Saturday 31 August 2013

POSTPONED - Beech Gardens Project Residents Meetings

The next planned meeting about the Beech Gardens moonscape work has been delayed.

From the BEO:


Dear Residents
POSTPONED - Beech Gardens Project Residents Meetings on 4 September at 12.30 and 7.00pm Please be aware that the next update meetings regarding the Beech Gardens Project on Wednesday 4th September at 12.30 and 7.00pm have been postponed.

A re-scheduled date will be arranged and emailed to all residents as soon as possible.
 With regards

Barbican Estate Office

Removing white lines - with a bang!

Well, with several bangs.

At 08:30 this morning we heard what sounded like fireworks going off, but this was just the white line removal lance popping and stuttering into life.  Once running it made a sound like a jet engine.  It was loud; ~85dB where I was standing to take this photo.

It was quite loud in our flat too (peaks of ~60dB) so it must have been awful for the people in the Golden Lane Estate.  Also, the smell and smoke were pretty bad.


Wednesday 28 August 2013

Wet paint

It looks like the area around level 02 of lift 62 has been repainted.  This must have been to cover up the rust coloured marks which were on the walls there.

Update:  It seems that this area was redecorated by mistake.  The intention was to redecorate the areas of SC61 damaged in the great flood of 27th July.

Monday 19 August 2013

Beech Gardens meeting 4th September

From the BEO:

Dear Residents
Please be aware that the next update meetings regarding the Beech Gardens project will be held on:-
Wednesday 4th September at 12.30 and 7.00pm.
The meetings will be held in the Residents’ Meeting room at the Barbican Estate Office.There will be an update on the appointed contractor and anticipated programme. Christopher Bate, Building Surveyor and Karen Tarbox, Head of Property Services will be in attendance to answer your queries.
With regards
Barbican Estate Office
Please do not reply to this email as it is automatically generated and your reply will not reach us. (If you want to unsubscribe from this service, please email your request to barbican.estate@cityoflondon.gov.uk)Link to website http://www.cityoflondon.gov.uk/services/housing-and-council-tax/barbican-estate/Pages/default.aspx

Concrete survey in the car parks

From 27th August Property Services will be surveying the concrete.  See the notice for details.

Sunday 18 August 2013

The Yellow Shed

The yellow shed was not part of the Barbican as built by Chamberlin, Powell and Bon, it was added later for the convenience of the arts centre.  It is rarely used.  I've seen it used once or twice for the purpose for which it was built (people walking from the arts centre to exhibition halls 1 and 2), and once or twice for the storage of chairs.  Otherwise it just sits there, blocking the highwalk and looking very out of place and yellow:

Unwanted
One can but hope that a long term plan will include demolishing the yellow shed.

Panic Button by lift 64 Level 02

It seems that a panic button has been installed in the lift lobby on level 02 of lift 64 (the Waitrose end lift).  It looks like it is connected to the new CCTV system:

Push me - but only in an emergency

The text of the message tied onto the button is:
EMERGENCY
CALL POINT
IF PRESSED AUDIBLE
ALARM WILL SOUND
AND ASSISTANCE
WILL BE CONTACTED
I have asked the BEO to let us have details of how this will work.  For example, who will be contacted, who will respond and how quickly will there be a response.

BEO Team Changes

There are a few temporary changes within the estate team, but our house officer and Leasehold services officer remains Sheila Delaney on 0207 029 3911.

See the full notice for details across the Barbican.

Window cleaning schedule up to Jan 2014

Here is the window cleaning schedule for the Barbican to the end of the year and into early 2014.  Ben Jonson Windows will be cleaned on:
  • 30th August - 5th September
  • 11th - 17th October
  • 22nd - 28th November
  • 10th - 16th January
I suspect this appeared on notice boards some weeks ago.  I didn't spot it as it was hidden beneath other notices.

Farewell to the Minotaur ...

... and goodbye to St. Alphage highwalk.

The Minotaur currently on the St. Alphage highwalk will be moved as part of the preparations for the demolition of St. Alphage house and the highwalk.


Caged, for now.
Closing 16th September 2013, forever.

Saturday 17 August 2013

CCTV Survey Results

Following on from the unannounced installation of a CCTV camera the BEO decided to run a Survey Monkey on-line survey to see if residents would like to have the camera activated.  The results are:
Would you like to see the camera at staircase 64, street level, be put into operation or removed?
Operative - 83.6% Removed - 16.4%
So the camera will be switched on.  Barry Ashton of the BEO has prepared a letter which includes the results and also answers to questions put by residents.  This will be posted on BJH notice boards.

The BEO tell me that they looked into listed building consent, and they didn't need it for this.  Also that they would be painting the ducting which is currently just bare metal, and also that the BEO would send out information about the panic button (at least that's what it looks like) which has been installed alongside the door as part of the CCTV system.


Block Inspection

Ben Jonson House is inspected regularly for cleanliness.  A BEO house officer and a member of the Ben Jonson House Group walk the whole building noting any issues.

Here is the 9th August 2013 block inspection report.

London Wall Place: St. Alphage highwalks to close

In their London Wall Place August 2013 newsletter Brookfield Multiplex tell us that the St. Alphage highwalk will be closed from Monday 16th September 2013.


Streetworks and events management

Street works, road closures and events are announced by the City in a number of ways, all of which are accessible from the Streetworks and events management web page.

From that page you can subscribe to a weekly email update which reports all activity for the coming week, you can see the "Streets Ahead" news letter, and view various maps, for example:


Silver Lime gets a trim

The silver line tree in front of the old Cripplegate library (the UBS building) gets some tree doctoring.  It had been damaged by passing vans.

Thursday 15 August 2013

"Democracy" on the City web site

The city of London website has a page http://democracy.cityoflondon.gov.uk, described as "relating to the City of London Corporation's decision making processes, find out about forthcoming meetings and decisions and obtain details for your local elected representatives."

The City committees are listed along with their activities, members, calendars and minutes.

The site supports RSS so you can be notified of any new documents posted for a committee as soon as they appear, 



Monday 12 August 2013

What the City says about noise from licensed premises

A Barbican resident with extensive experience dealing the City let me have a couple of documents about licensing policy and good practice. He said:
Please start with the "Statement of Licensing Policy", pp. 2, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 44 - 48.
Then the "Code of Good Practice", pp. 19-23.
Here are links to the documents:
Of particular note, from the Statement of Licensing Policy:
Residents have a reasonable expectation that their  sleep will not be unduly disturbed between the hours of 23.00 and 07:00.

CCTV Code of Practice

The BBC reports that a new code of practice for CCTVs has come into force.

Will this apply to the CCTV cameras recently installed in Ben Jonson House?

Sunday 11 August 2013

Crossrail: Residents meeting 24th Sept & a survey

The Barbican Association have set up meeting with Crossrail for all residents at 18:30 on 24th September at the City of London School for Girls.  You can see the flyer here.

In addition, Crossrail are running a survey to "speak with local people to find out how they can improve how they work".  The notice for the survey is here.


City wide 20MPH speed limit?

The City's Planning and Transportation Committee have published a paper in favour of a City-wide 20MPH speed limit here.

Update:  Another paper, this one from the Transport and Environmental Analysis Group Centre for Transport Studies Imperial College London: An evaluation of the estimated impacts on vehicle emissions of a 20mph speed restriction in central London.

There is already a 20MPH speed limit on at least a part of Golden Lane:


The new scaffold

Scaffold has appeared on the outside of Ben Jonson House:


In the image on the left we have podium-standing scaffold against the north side of the eastern part of Ben Jonson House and on the right we have scaffolding standing on the fifth floor of the north side of the western part of the building.

If the BEO authorise such installations it would be good if they could let the house group know in advance.

Our namesake ...

Ben Jonson House is named after the "Jacobean playwright, poet, and literary critic, of the seventeenth century, whose artistry exerted a lasting impact upon English poetry and stage comedy".

The above quote and the following image are taken from the Wikipedia Ben Jonson page.


Wednesday 7 August 2013

Yet more flooding

Yet more flooding is spotted on the highwalk by Ben Jonson House:


This was reported to the BEO today.

Regarding the heavy flooding into Ben Jonson House on 27th July, I wrote to the BEO and they have responded on 2nd Aug:

... this downpour was far greater than we are normally used too.  However on the night in question our out of hours resident engineer did attend what was an impossible task to manage. 
The engineer did attempt to block the passage of water using sandbags and also noted all drains not coping with the amount of water flowing.  Were these drains blocked or just not able to cope? Good question, we have taken a pragmatic approach and had them all rodded.  Was the water just too much? probably.  My apologies if this email appears to be flippant as this is not my intention I am just being honest. 
Our drains are part of a drain clearance programme which of course can be de-railed by a carrier bag blown in by the wind.  I am however bringing this to the attention of the Property Services Management team for debate and hopefully some innovative solutions. ...

To which I responded on 4th Aug:
Regarding the immediate response to the flooding, I'm thankful to the resident engineer for his intervention.  Could you please tell me who the resident engineer was that evening as I would like to thank them directly.
It is hard to think how the response to the issue on the ground could have been better, but clearly there is room for improvement on the planning and communication front.  Evidently more needs to be done to prevent similar flooding events in the future, beyond the reaction of rodding blocked drains after a flood.  I don't know anything about the drain clearance programme, could you provide more information about that? 
Could you please also tell me what damage resulted from the flooding.  I saw myself that there is water damage to ceilings in the stairwell, but the water must have ended up somewhere below the resident accessible areas.
I heard back that the engineer who battled the flood water that night was Ray Sibson, so thanks to him for his efforts.

Film School events up to 24:00?

The Barbican Association planning team hear that the proposed new home for the London Film School, beneath Ben Jonson and Breton houses, would like to be able to run events late into the evening:

London Film School, on Golden Lane, under Ben Jonson House and under Breton House.(This institution wants to be able to hold receptions up to 24.00 !)

To remind you of two current premises licenses;

COTE (by the new cinemas) - last orders at 22.30, closed to the public at 23.00
NEW CINEMAS - alcohol sales up to 22.30, plays, music, dance etc up to 23.00, showing of films up to 23.15, closed to the public at 23.15.


Saturday 3 August 2013

Recycling Advisors Visit

The City has appointed "Recycling Advisors" to visit residents (see notice).

It seems the advisors will be buzzing flats between 10am and 8pm from 29th July to 25th August seeking to meet residents face-to-face to explain the recycling service run by the City.

If you don't wish to be visited let the Recycling Team know by calling 020 7606 3110 or send an email to recycling@cityoflondon.gov.uk.

This notice is dated 22th (sic) July, but was first seen on a notice board today (3rd Aug).  We have asked the BEO to send all notices to the house group as a PDF file before posting them on notice boards, but so far they have declined to do so.

Friday 2 August 2013

Replacing the cold water tanks

We have received notice (PDF version here) today that our landlord (the City) intends to replace the cold water tanks in the roof plant rooms of Ben Jonson House.

No date has been given for when the work will happen.