BMH: Taylor Wimpey newsletter 4

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Graffiti Vandalism s/c 62 L02

Since the arrival of the Banksys there has been some notable examples of graffiti vandalism around Ben Jonson House.   This morning a post to Fix My Street reported this on our door out from staircase 62 to Golden Lane:

Click to see the report on Fix My Street

This follows extensive graffiti vandalism which showed up at podium level beneath Ben Jonson and Breton houses (and was later loudly cleaned off):

Click to enlarge

It seems that the Banksy graffiti is being taken as an open invitation by graffiti vandals.  This is being discussed on Barbican Talk.

BMH Work Schedule w/c Mon 18th Dec

BMH demolition continues, and still no news on the high court action.

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Monday 18th to Friday 22nd December

• Core drilling and breaking holes to floors and walls to secure cladding with straps.
• Scaffold striking to reduce the scaffold as the demolition progresses through the building.
• High level demolition to main tower.
• Processing of demolition arisings.
• Removal of demolition arising via Brackley Street.
• Deliveries and collections as per Construction Traffic Management Plan.

The consented standard working hours are:
Monday to Friday 08.00 to 18.00

Saturday 09.00 to 14.00

No Sunday work

Consented quiet times are

Monday to Friday 10.00 to 12.00

Monday to Friday 14.00 to 16.00

Site Manager, Gary Telford on +44 797 615 0854.

Salvage Store

From the BEO:
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Salvage Stores

The Salvage Store is a resident-run service and operates by prior arrangement. Please contact them to be sure that the store is open and happy to take the items in.

Please email barbicansalvage@gmail.com if you wish to have items from your property up-cycled or reused.

Please be reminded that items dumped outside the Salvage Store will not be accepted into the store.

The picture below shows items that have either been dumped by residents or their contractors following private works. This is in essence fly tipping and is costly to clear up. If the items can be directly traced to a property the Long Leaseholder may be recharged for the cost of clearing these items away.

Please take the time to ensure your contractors are aware of the above as you are responsible for their actions.

How not to do it

Very Noisy Graffiti Removal

Well before 08:00 this morning (some say at ~07:00) a couple of blokes turned up to clean graffiti from the podium-level concrete on Breton and Ben Jonson houses. They used high pressure water to do the job, driven by a mighty and very loud compressor in (of course) a white van.

They said the City (in the form of the Estate Office) had commissioned the work ... but how could they ever have been given the impression that doing such noisy work early on a Sunday morning was a good idea?

If you are disturbed by noise, call the Environmental Health officers on 0207 332 3630.  The more people who call the more seriously a matter will be taken.  For a call to "count" you will need to let the officers have contact details ... anonymous calls don't count.  This morning I spoke to the duty officer, Claire Callenday(sp?), who took my details and said that an environmental health officer would call me back during the coming week (when it would be more convenient for them).

High pressure cleaning

Powered by a man with a pump in a van

I had a quick look at the sites where I had previously seen graffiti and it seems to me that a good job has been done removing it.  I'll also note that the two blokes were very friendly and apologetic.

Minutes of the 2017 House Group AGM

Minutes of the 2017 House Group AGM

Here are the minutes from the AGM meeting. The PDF version is here. The text of the minutes is below.

Please let me know if you see any errors or omissions in the minutes.

~~~~

The Ben Jonson House Group 

AGM 

19:00 on Wednesday 13th December 2017 

The residents meeting room (Lilac Room) 

Minutes of the meeting 

Opening and Welcome
We are a Recognised Tenants Association (RTA) under the Landlord and Tenant act 1988 (as amended). This is the AGM we’re obliged to have each year.
We have 118 members as at 13th Dec. To be quorate we need 15% of members present, which is 17 people. 19 residents attended so we were quorate. (More people turned up after the formal part of the AGM was finished. A total of 27 signed in by the end of the evening.)

Apologies/Absent (committee members only):

• Helen Hulson 
• John Dilger 
• Kevin Bond 

Minutes of the previous general meeting
http://bjhg-blog.blogspot.co.uk/2016/12/minutes-of-2016-house-group-agm.html
Acceptance of the minutes proposed by Fiona Lean and seconded by Wendy Spurry
The meeting accepted the previous minutes

Treasurer’s report The treasurer report was read from the house group rolling agenda and minutes. The only expenditure has been on Staff Christmas presents for 2016. Balance last reported was £1,483.90.

The meeting agreed to ask the house group to once again dispense Christmas Cheer to the staff who give such excellent support to residents throughout the year.

House Officer’s Report
Following the formal part of the AGM our house officer provided insights and details regarding the current matters on the house group committee rolling agenda. Any actions arising appear in the rolling agenda.

Election of the committee & seeking new committee members
The following committee members agreed to stand again:

• Helen Hulson 
• Fiona Lean 
• Wendy Spurry 
• John Murch 
• Dave King 
• Kevin Bond 
• Bruce Badger 

The following residents agreed to stand this year:

• Stephen Chapman 

The meeting accepted all those standing as committee members

Any Other Business
One Item: Thanks from the meeting to the committee. Gratefully received.
There was no other business for the formal part of the AGM.  The meeting was closed.

Barbican on Airbnb?

At the AGM this evening the topic of Airbnb (and similar services) came up.

If you spot a Barbican flat, especially a Ben Jonson House flat, on such a site, please let the BEO know. Just send an email to the estate office at barbican.estate@cityoflondon.gov.uk.

AGM This Wednesday - Please be a member

The 2017 Ben Jonson House Group AGM will be held this Wednesday:

13th December 2017 at 19:00 in the Lilac Room

The formal bit of the meeting should be quick and painless, but we need to have:

• Enough members ... we must have 50% of long leaseholders.  There are 204 flats in Ben Jonson House, so we need 102 long leaseholders (owners of flats) to be members.
• Enough people at the meeting ... we must have 15% of members present.

See the house group constitution and rules for details, but as usual it's touch and go at the moment on the membership.  Please encourage your neighbours to sign up.  And please do come along to the AGM.

Once the formal bit is out of the way we can relax and enjoy some wine and mince pies, and discuss some current issues:

• Fire Safety
• Building Security
• Lease Enforcement

You can always read what the house group is working on in the rolling agenda and minutes.

Beech St. Tunnel - Immersive Audio Visual Space

The City, in the form of the Barbican Arts Centre, have applied to, er, the City, for a license to convert the Beech St Tunnel into an "Immersive Audio Visual Space" in which they plan have lighting systems and a PA system too.

The performance/event will happen on Fri 16th - Sun 18th March 2018, but I think this excludes the time needed to set up and tear down the installation.

You can make representations to the City regarding this license application up to the 24th December. Send your comments to licensing@cityoflondon.gov.uk​​​​​.
Here is how the event is described in the license application:

Click to read the whole license application

... and here is a plan of the installation ...

Click to open the plan document

Ventilation - BEO grille cleaning service

From the BEO:
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Residents who wish to have the window ventilation grilles cleaned and/or the kitchen ventilation checked and cleaned, should call the Repairs Reporting Contact Centre to request this service.
Repairs Reporting Contact Centre 020 7029 3909

BMH Work Schedule w/c Mon 11th Dec

It looks like some actual demolition is about to start. Still no news on the high court action.
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Monday 11th to Friday 15th December

• Core drilling and breaking holes to floors and walls to secure cladding with straps.
• Scaffold erection for demolition fans on Fann Street and Brackley Street.
• High level demolition to main tower.
• Processing of demolition arising at basement level.
• CCTV cameras set up around the hoarding boundary.
• Time-lapse camera will be set up.
• Deliveries and collections as per Construction Traffic Management Plan.

House Group - Please be a member

Please sign up as a member of the house group.  Without enough members the house group can not continue as an RTA.  All residents are welcome, but we need at least 50% of long leaseholders (owners of flats) to be members to qualify.

There is no cost for membership, other than the time it takes you take to sign up.

Please either use the new membership system (https://membermojo.co.uk/bjhg) as explained here.  Or, if you prefer paper you can use the same form we used the last time here.

Also, please do come along to the AGM each year.

Click here to go to the membership system

2018 addendum:  Please see the GDPR background and GDPR policy posts for information about how the house group membership system meets the requirements of the GDPR rules.

AGM Topic - Fire Safety

A member of the house group committee has a particular interest in fire safely in Ben Jonson House, and is also an architect with specific experience in fire safety in residential blocks ...

... and has prepared for discussion at our AGM:

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