April Cripplegate Newsletter

The April Cripplegate newsletter is out.  In it there is a story about the work being done to Great Arthur house, plus the usual contact details for all members of the ward.  Newsletters for all wards are available from the City of London website here.

Read all about it.  Click here.

2016 Building Insurance

The estate office have sent me a copy of the building insurance cover document for 2016:

Click to read the document

Katie and the Drains

The highwalk drains around Ben Jonson House handled Katie much better than they handled Imogen.  Only three drains were blocked plus a smattering of 'gravity errors'.  Gravity errors are puddles caused by humps and bumps on the podium where water runs to a low point where there is no drain.

While it looks like the Ben Jonson drains are mostly OK, Breton has a whopper of a lake on their north-west highwalk.  Just thought I'd mention that.

Here are our three blocked drains:

Katie takes a tree

Storm Katie has blown down a small tree beside Ben Jonson House:

Small tree, great loss

Wall Cracks

There are a number of cracks in the internal corridor walls of Ben Jonson House which have been around for some time now, some worse than others, for example:

Made worse by a water accident

Here is the latest from a BEO engineer:

I’m currently dealing with various internal cracks at Ben Johnson in all floors with a Structural Engineer and a Specialist Contractor. The Engineer has produced a survey report for the cracks. We met this morning discussing the various options in the report on remedying the problems in order to put together costs. The two flat cracks have been covered by the report and would be part of the works. Although it is internal the works may involve Planners as it is a listed building. My next action is to lead the project team to meet with Planners asap to discuss way forward.

Community Centre for NW City

There are proposals afoot for a residents community centre for people living in the north west of the City, and there will be a meeting about this on 30th March @ 19:00 in the St. Giles church.

Click for more detail

Crossrail Ticket Hall Plans

From the BEO:
____

Dear Residents

Crossrail is preparing its plans for improving the public realm in the areas around the new ticket halls at Moorgate and Farringdon, which will be submitted to the City of London for consent under Schedule 7 of the Crossrail Act.

The proposals will be available for public viewing at a display outside the Barbican Library, Level 2, Barbican Centre, Silk Street, EC2Y 8DS from 4 – 22 April.

Masters of the yard

The attempt to clear up who is responsible for the yard has revealed how unclear it all is.

A Google-eye view of the yard

Our house officer has been kindly looking into this for us and has found the following:

Hello Bruce with regard to the yard adjacent to Cotes. I have been advised by GSMD [Guildhall School of Music and Drama] that the Prior Weston School are responsible for the car parking bays. However the lady from the GSMD said that the Barbican Centre manage the remainder and they employ a security company (Shield) who controls the shutting of the gate to this area. 

Security lock and unlock the gates at the prescribed times, however the School caretaker has keys and unlocks for the school as necessary outside of the Centre Hours. The area is used by Cotes, The Centre for the Cinemas and Café and the School. 

I have been told by the person at the Exhibition Halls that since there are no events in EX Hall One now, the area is managed by the Barbican Centre Customer Experience Managers led by Zed Major. I did email Zed a few months ago and asked if there was a dedicated number for Shield, but he did not answer. 

I still believe the BC [Barbican arts Centre] are responsible and there is a dedicated 24 hour security line in the event of any issues which is - 020 7382 7074

UBS Furniture Moving

This is just to note something which has already happened.  A notice was put up on the notice boards to tell us that UBS would be doing some office moves on the evening of Thursday 24th March.  It's nice to get notice of such things, and I didn't hear anything even though our flat looks right over the UBS building.

What I find a bit odd about this notice is that there has been a great deal of UBS removals traffic over the weekends for that last few months, which I think it must be related to the new UBS building near Liverpool St. station, but we've had no notice about that.

Anyway, just for the record, here is the notice for the work last night:

Click to read the whole notice

Barbican Estate Office Spring Bulletin 2016

The Estate Office have a spiffy new format for their newsletters.  Here is the spring 2016 edition with information about BEO leavers and joiners, short term holiday lets (don't do it), home improvement guidelines and lots of contact information:

Click image to read the newsletter

Building Insurance from 2012

A resident has sent me a copy of a 2012 letter from the BEO about our building insurance and a copy of what we think is the current cover.   I'll check with the BEO whether there is a more recent policy document.

Click to read the document

Bus route 153

TfL have decided to permanently change the 153 route.  The route used to go down Silk St past the entrance to the arts centre but was 'temporarily' rerouted along Chiswell St while the Heron Tower was being built and associated road works carried out.  During planning for the tower and road layout changes the City and TfL assured people that the route change would be temporary and the new road layout would comfortably accommodate the 153 busses.  In the end it seems that turns were too tight for the busses, just as residents has said they thought they would be, and so now we have a permanent change which looks like this:

Permanent after all

Here is the letter from TfL which came via the BA. 

____

Dear Sir or Madam

Between June and August 2015 we consulted on proposals to make the routeing via Chiswell Street for route 153 permanent. Thank you for your patience in waiting for our response.

We received 59 responses to the consultation. 57 responses were from members of the public and 2 were from stakeholders. The majority of responses supported our proposals.

We have carefully considered all of the responses and have decided to proceed with our proposal.

For more details including a full consultation report and our responses to issues raised, please go to tfl.gov.uk/buses/route-153

Yours faithfully

Keith Elliott
Consultation Team
Transport for London

London Wall Place March Newsletter

The latest from Brookfield Multiplex on London Wall Place:

Click to read the newsletter

BMH on Barbican Talk: please write to the City

In an article on BarbicanTalk today marcic20 talks more about the Bernard Morgan House project and urges people to write in to the City officers working on the case:

____

...

Some of you have probably already written letters but if not could you write to the Chief Planning Officer and Development Director: Annie Hampson, cc'd to Rob Chipperfield, who is the City planner dealing with BMH and James Garland, the communications consultant for Taylor Wimpey Central London

annie.hampson@cityoflondon.gov.uk
rob.chipperfield@cityoflondon.gov.uk
james.garland@westbournecoms.com

Please can as many people as possible write a letter expressing their own views. It might make a difference.

...

More Notes on BMH

Members of the Breton and Ben Jonson house group committees attended a meeting with the architects for the Taylor Wimpey Bernard Morgan House.  Here are some notes from the meeting:
____

The meeting on Wednesday [9th March] took place at BMH, standing round the snooker table, with house group and BA members putting forward the residents' viewpoints and James Garland, Ben Edwards and Louis Kent representing the developers. Beyond some plans, which we could not keep, showing the revised footprint of the newbuild, ie in line with the existing building on Golden Lane, we were shown nothing and it was clear that we were there principally in order for the developers to gather as full a picture of our concerns as possible.

We made it clear throughout that our particular concern was about the way the mass and height of the new building would affect views from and overshadowing to Breton House, Golden Lane School Campus and Fortune Park to the East of it and Golden Lane Estate to the North.  We were told that the revised plans would be stepped in 3 stages, from 10 storeys (plus the lower ground) down to just above the height of the current building, to minimize this. The amendments made so far were in response to the initial consultation.  However, this proposal had not been finalised.  The amendments made so far were in response to the initial consultation.  We made a request for the total square and cubic footage, but they were not able to give us this information at that point, although they took a note of our request.

Apparently, although UBS and the Cobalt building will both be affected by loss of light, and have been informed about the development, there has been no response from either of these interested parties. 

We drew the developers' attention to
a) the guidelines relating to the Grade 2* Listing of Barbican gardens, which relate to views from as well as, views of them
b) the listing guidelines for the Golden Lane Estate which aim to protect views from the estate
c) the 1962 Finsbury directives applied to the building of Bernard Morgan House in its relation to the Golden Lane Estate

There was also the Publica Barbican Area Plan, which is official policy, to be considered. Is this development in keeping?

We were assured that there would be another public consultation in April/May with full plans and a 3D model before any plans were submitted to the Planning Committee.  We said we understood that Bob Chipperfield in the Planning Department was very interested in receiving any relevant information before recommendations are made.  The developers' aim is to adjust their plans so that they stand the best chance of being approved by the Planning officers.  The City of London will also consult with the public.

We expressed concern about ecological aspects such as the preservation of mature trees (apparently an attempt was made earlier in the week to cut down the Silver Birch until a resident managed to get it stopped) and bat corridors.  We were told an ecological survey would be part of the submission.

Although the developers were open to including affordable housing on the site, CoL were not interested and planned to use any associated funding on alternative sites.  The property would be marketed in the UK and overseas, with a view to attracting families as residents, so we were told.

UBS: The Bells!

Alarm bells have sounded several times during the evenings over the last couple of weeks at times between 20:00 and 21:30.  The sounds seemed to be coming from the UBS building so I popped in to ask and, yes, the bells were theirs.

It turns out that there is a maintenance programme running until mid-summer to check/test/fix the sprinkler systems in the building.  The alarm is triggered by changes in pressure in the system as this work is carried out.

The very helpful chap on reception put me through to the UBS control room which is located at their main building near Liverpool St. station.  The number is 0207 567 5040.  I spoke to Terry at the control room and he was very surprised to hear that the alarm was sounding, and said that it should not (except in an emergency, of course).

After talking to me Terry had a chat by phone with another chap who had arrived at the reception desk.  Following this chat I was told that in future the alarm will be disengaged for the brief time when the water in the sprinkler system is disrupted by the maintenance work.

There you go.  So there will be maintenance work in the UBS building until mid summer, but there should be no more work-related alarm bells in the evening.  If you are disturbed by UBS bells, the number to call is 0207 567 5040 and ask for Terry, Mo or Rashid.

BMH March Update from Taylor Wimpey

Taylor Wimpey have updated their project web site for March.  I've grabbed a copy of the text for the archive which you can read by clicking the image.   The site is heavy on snazzy graphics and does not print nicely, but all the text is there:

Click to read March update text

Breton House Spring Newsletter

For your reading pleasure, and for a different perspective on issues in our area, here is the spring edition of the Breton House newsletter:

Click image to read the newsletter

BMH News from the Ward Mote

Here are some notes made by a Breton House Group committee member from the Ward Mote last Friday:
____

At the Cripplegate Ward Mote [on Friday 11th Mar], David Bradshaw agreed to act as coordinator for the various residents and residents groups so that we can act , and can be seen to be acting, as one.

It seems that James Garland and TW met Vivienne Littlechild, a common councillor, yesterday - at their invitation after she had missed the public exhibition - spending an hour with the latest plans. It seems TW are now planning on 115 flats but Vivienne said the plans were too small to show anything much although TW confirmed the block would rise up in two stages towards Cripplegate House from Fann Street from the north and Golden Lane from the east.

I raised the inaccuracies in the Alison Brooks Architects "Background to Development of Bernard Morgan House". Whilst both Alderman David Graves and John Tomlinson, another common councillor, denied any knowledge of the contents both said they would look into it. One or two residents suggested the City Corporation could be responsible for any misleading information given to TW.

John Tomlinson said he had also recently met James Garland and TW and stressed the need to inform residents as to progress and showed them the Blake's Tower newsletter. Apparently TW were surprised to see the detail in the newsletter. I asked John why he went to the meeting. He said it was in his capacity as a Ward councillor and as a result of the residents' reaction at the public exhibition.

Bernard Morgan House - Early Architect Report

Prior to the sale of Bernard Morgan house, the City commissioned a report from Alison Brooks Architects.  This paper predates, and presumably contributed to, the sales brochure produced by the city (which you can see here).

This report was not made public, but a copy has been obtained by the chair of Breton House via a FOI request.  The document itself is copyright, so the Breton House chair has produced a precis which you can read below:

Click to read the whole thing

Water Supply Temparature

At the last house group committee meeting I was handed a report on the temperature of cold water supplies for Ben Jonson House.  I understand that this is checked annually for health & safety reasons.

I'm posting this here in case this information ever becomes important:

Click to read all three pages

2014/15 Overspend Update

The 2014/15 repairs charge was 85% over estimate, with much of this overspend related to water penetration of various kinds. Inevitably residents asked how we could have been charged so much given that the 2003 roof works were supposed to resolve these kinds of problems and came backed with a guarantee.

After a few months we have now managed to get hold of the roofs guarantee documents, and the matter has been raised to the RCC (Residents Consultative Committee). It seems that this issue affects a number of houses on the Barbican Estate.

The latest from the BEO is this:

[Question raised at the RCC meeting:] Repairs & maintenance works for Andrewes and Ben Jonson House roof/balconies 2014/15 following water ingress – were these not claimable under the guarantees?

All works orders to Ben Jonson House and Andrewes House are currently being investigated. In 2014/15 there were 30 orders relating to Andrewes House (10 flats) and 37 orders relating to Ben Jonson House (21 flats). Many of the orders are for investigation works and in some cases resulted in works not related to the roof works. Where remedial works could be covered under the existing roof guarantee, officers are dealing with the insurance company to reclaim the costs.

In response to supplementary questions, the following matters were raised/noted:

There would be confirmation by the next meeting as to whether the works would be covered under the guarantees and, if so, there would be a credit to the residents of Ben Jonson and Andrewes Houses. Officers advised that the terms of the guarantees often differed between blocks and others were being investigated as part of this work.

Roof Works Guarantee Documents

As part of chasing up the significant maintenance overspend last year (breakdown here) we have been asking for the documents showing how we are covered in the event that the roof repair works fail. The works in question reached "practical completion" in 2003.

We now have a copy of the documents which, I'm told, are the complete set which apply to Ben Jonson House:

Click to read the documents

Thank you to our Alderman, David Graves, for helping to get these.

The next step, which I'm told is in hand, is to see how much (if any) of last year's overspend should have been covered by, and is now recoverable from, the policies described in the above document set.

Beech Street closed - 12 & 19 March

From the BEO:
____

Dear Residents

There is a planned closure of Beech Street, which could potentially impact your operations and the Barbican residents.

The road is scheduled to be fully closed for an annual tunnel maintenance between 9am and 4pm on Saturdays 12 and 19 March 2016.

There will be no access to Beech Street between Golden Lane and Aldersgate Street during the hours stated above. All vehicular traffic will be diverted via Aldersgate Street, London Wall, Moorgate, Finsbury Pavement and Chiswell Street. Access to pedestrians shall be maintained.

Vehicles requiring access to Shakespeare and Defoe car park and to Lauderdale Place will be escorted from / to Golden Lane. From the Mechanical and Electrical team we understand that these arrangements have been used in previous years.

Flood Lighting for the School

Prior Weston school is one of three schools located in the Golden Lane Campus which is the school complex just to the north of Breton House, in Islington.

Prior Weston would like to install flood lighting to one of their outdoor play areas.  The school have given us a brief note explaining what they have in mind:

Click here to read the note

As the note says, we (Breton and Ben Jonson house group reps) met to talk with school and contractor reps, and we look forward to talking again when the plans are firmed up.  We have suggested a residents meeting where people can see the proposed lighting, ideally in action.

The area to be floodlit is shown on this photo of a google maps print-out we were shown:

Click for a slightly larger version.

The Peeping Alarm - the final word?

The arts centre have presented the conclusion from their investigations into the loud peeping alarm which sounded for several days over Christmas:

The Barbican's Director of Buildings would like to pass on the following message to residents: 

Firstly I would like to offer my sincere apologies for the disturbance caused to residents during 19-23 December 2015. We have now undertaken a full investigation into this serious matter. The root of the issue has been found to be a human error, rather than any fault with the equipment or systems which 'worked' in terms of Health and Safety requirements and in preventing possible danger to life of any unprotected maintenance engineers. 

As a direct response to this incident we are undertaking a full audit and review of training, induction procedures, and operational policies that need to be conducted to ensure that the reactions to the systems information and alarms are robust and reliable in the future. I would like to reassure residents that full measures have been taken to prevent such a repeat incident occurring, and again I make a full apology to all those affected.

The arts centre forgot to mention that if the alarm problem, or anything like it, happens again, call the Centre switchboard number: 020 7638 4141.

BEO Email Broadcasts

The BEO have had an email broadcast system for some years.  The system is used to send out interesting or urgent news items from time to time.  The system has been upgraded and the BEO have sent out a new flyer to encourage residents to sign up.

To subscribe you can call the estate office on 0207 029 3958 or send an email containing your name and Barbican address to barbican.estate@cityoflondon.gov.uk.

Click on the image to zoom in