12th Feb Meeting - Beech St Zero Emissions

The following is from the chair of the house group, along with the observation that "We also need to be aware that this proposal is closely connected with the development of Beech Street as part of the Culture Mile which will have a different kind of impact on us, positive I hope."
___

Meeting for City residents
Beech Street: Proposals for a Zero Emissions Street

Come along and hear from the City Transportation Team what is planned for Beech Street, why, and how it will affect nearby residents

12 February 7pm, Main Hall, City of London School for Girls

Entrance on St. Giles' Terrace (off corner of Wood Street and Fore Street), Barbican, London EC2Y 8BB

Presentation from the City of London Transportation Team:

• Leah Coburn, Group Manager for Major Projects, City Transportation
• Kristian Turner, Project Manager

... Followed by your comments and questions

(The Transportation Team is also running question and answer sessions on 18, 24, 27 February in Exhibition Hall 1, Golden Lane, at 12-2pm and 6-8pm)

Organised by the Barbican Association www.barbicanassociation.com

Arts Centre residents meeting Mon 27 Jan

Notes from the meeting by Wendy Spurry:

___

The Arts Centre Residents liaison meeting was held on 27th February.

See:

• Agenda for this meeting 
• Minutes of the previous meeting

Attending from Ben Jonson House: Wendy Spurry and Fiona Lean

Matters Arising:

2.1 4B's - the planning application is still in abeyance. It may be re-submitted in February. The residents reminded the the meeting that there were hundreds of objections to the removal of the signage. 

2.2 kitchen fans - A date still needs to be set with environmental health organisation for a base background level reading of the noise around the affected areas, for use in future in case the noise levels rise again. Jane Smith (BA) will write to them to ask them to undertake a baseline measurement. 

2.3 Planters in the Guildhall area: in the new financial year the art centre is still looking for funding to re-do the planters to mirror those in the Lakeside area. 

3. The outdoor cinema in August: consultation meetings are going ahead with Frobisher Crescent. 

6. Service Road: the gate is in place till 6 am, and between 6 and 7 am it is monitored by the security team. It is closed at midnight until 6 am. Traffic calming measures will be in looked at over the spring and summer period and noise levels will be monitored.

Agenda

3. Lakes
The Art Centre gave an update, informing us that the engine room has been rebuilt, and nearly ready to be switched back on. They will be looking to reinstate the fountains, but will need a month or so of testing. The waterfall will be looked at, with the intention of redirecting the water to reduce the noise for the Brandon house residents. A group has been set up for the waterfall revamp, to check both the noise and the aesthetic side of things.

4. GSMD end of term events
The students hold end of term events, principally in the summer and Christmas. The Christmas events this year were quite lively, and the art centre passed on apologies for any disturbance to residents which occurred in December. The next student event will be more closely monitored, and managed to ensure that noise levels are kept down.

5. Google Maps and location of Barbican Centre 

The maps on Google show incorrect pointers for the Art Centre, the theatre and the Barbican centre itself. The art centre have contacted Google and are reclaiming these pointers to try and put them into the correct places. However this is a generic problem with Google.
The signage towards the Barbican Centre has been altered, and now shows Barbican only. The residents felt that this was leading to additional confusion when visitors are trying to find specific parts of the Barbican.

6. GSMD skip
The skip that was put in place in December, But was quickly filled by rubbish from staff and students. This remained in place until the 20th of January, and was a bit of an eyesore. The Art Centre management pointed out that actually it had been cleared away and replaced after Christmas, but it was quickly refilled! The system is - the skip comes in, the skip is filled up, the skip is taken away. Management will keep an eye on this to ensure that full skips do not hang around and Are cleared away as soon as possible.

7. GSMD light pollution
The lights for Milton Court will be reprogrammed to take down the lighting when the building is not in use. This covers the front of house lighting and lighting in the stairwells. This should reduce the amount of light spilling over towards speed house. 

8. Cladding on the front of Milton Court
High winds brought down a piece of the cladding on the front of Milton Court recently. No one was hurt by this. The landlords have made this safe, and are looking to make some re-designs in order that this should not happen again.

9. Residence reception
The 'estate at 50' events were very successful, and the residents felt that it had added greatly to the prestige of the estate. There is a movement towards having a committee looking at the next 50 years within the Barbican. It's important to look at the estate as a whole unit, and mesh together the upkeep of both the centre and the residents blocks. A workshop may be put together for a review of developments coming up in the future.
The Art Centre Are looking to host a resident reception in 2020, possibly in the summer.It is likely that there will be a reception to give residents a chance to find out what is happening in the centre and showcase what is coming up in the near future.
It was suggested that the resident reception be held in term time and the students of the GSMD and Girls school be invited to perform their work as a central feature of the Reception.

Noisy tube in the news

On the BBC:

Click to go to the article

Minutes of the 2020-01-15 AGM

The minutes of the 2020-01-15 AGM:

____

Ben Jonson House AGM Meeting Minutes
15th January 2020

Present: Committee Members, Sheila Delaney (House Officer) and Residents of Ben Jonson House (total attendees: 24)

Apologies: John Murch

1. Reports and Minutes

The minutes for the previous AGM were agreed. The current agenda circulated for discussion.
Treasurer’s Report was read out and it was noted that we currently hold £1343.90 in funds.

The Chairman’s Report was read through – summarizing the key events in 2019. (See this post).

The Committee members were asked if they would continue in their posts for another year – all agreed except two: John Murch to step down from the Treasurer’s post and Bruce Badger to step down as Secretary.

Residents were asked if they would like to join the Committee, two people had already put their names forward.

The House Officer read her report.

2. Agenda Discussion·

Membership
We currently have 113 members listed (down from 125 last year), we need 15% long leaseholders to attend the AGM for us to be quorate, we have 24 attendees, so this point is covered. We therefore retain recognition as an RTA (Recognised Tenants’ Association) under the Barbican Association banner.

All residents are encouraged to join the membership listing – and the details of the blog address were distributed to the meeting attendees.

Proxy voting
This might be put in place so that residents can vote on behalf of each other on issues raised at the AGM. However, this must be announced 21 days before an AGM – so we were not in time to do that for this AGM. The meeting attendees were asked if they were interested in this being done in future. Only 6 people showed interest, so this will not be investigated further.

Communications and Good Neighbors scheme
Current communications between residents and the Estate Office are as follows:
Ben Jonson Noticeboards – which will be increased to two locked boards soon for important notices
Blog – for residents to check on current and archived issues around Ben Jonson and the barbican estate. Residents are encouraged to make comments on these, which can be taken forward at bimonthly meetings by the committee.
Estate -wide weekly email from Nabeela/Corporation of London website – what’s happening in the BA, the RCC etc. Giving a lot of info on council and Barbican issues.
Barbican website - for general information on the Barbican estate
Barbican Talk – for general opinions on what is happening around the barbican estate.

The Good Neighbors scheme has been tried in Andrews House and in Thomas More House. However useful this may appear – careful use of these groups is important, as it involves trust of neighbors etc. The model has been looked at, but many residents have been put off by the checks required and responsibilities involved. The meeting attendees didn’t show much support for trying this in Ben Jonson at this time.

Podium issues
If residents see any nuisance activities, such as skateboarders, dog walkers, parkours and bicycles etc. on the Podium they should phone the police, as this is a public problem. The CPAs are not authorized to stop this activity. Residents should also ring the estate office as Barry Ashton (the Security Manager) is keeping a log of these activities to use as evidence of problems faced inside the estate. It’s also advisable to send an email of the event with photos if possible, to the estate office (Sheila Delaney). There are notices of the bylaws dotted around the estate, but these could be larger and more obvious. Sheila will look into this being done and will send a copy of them to Bruce Badger for him to post on the Blog.

Carpet replacement
The blue carpets throughout the Ben Jonson block are now quite old and tired. Quotes for new carpets have been found by Sheila Delaney. However, the timing of the replacement should be given some consideration. We will have the external redecorations in 2021 and the internal redecoration in 2022. The residents voted to postpone the new carpeting until after the internal redecorations had been done.

Security/ blue cages
The car park doors give access to the main building. Only door 64 has a locking blue cage around the base of the staircase. The residents were asked to consider whether they would like to have similar cages put on the other three doors to improve security. The storage units in the car park area will be available to non-residents soon, which will mean increased numbers of people able to see the doors to the main building. However, the number of burglaries in the block (or on the estate) is very low. It’s more likely that the issue of ‘tail-gating’ and buzzing unknown people into the building is more of a security risk than the car park doors. The residents voted against installing new cages in the car park area. (8 out of 24 in favor).

3. Roundtable/AOB

• Lakes – these are still under repair, the Arts Centre hope that they will be finished, and fountain reinstated, in the late Spring 2020
• Smokers outside door 64 to Waitrose: This is still happening, the estate staff make smokers aware when they are passing, but it is difficult to enforce. Mostly the smokers are from Lloyds bank offices opposite, and the office manager has been informed.
• Air-BnB – short term lettings are against the terms of the lease. Several companies have been canvassing residents by mail for them to join them in renting to short term clients. These have been brought to the attention of Sheila Delaney who then contacts the leaseholders to remind them of the lease conditions. There are sites online with Barbican flats for short term rent, however there have been no ASB – noise issues – as a result of these.
• Barbican Exhibition Hall – currently used for exams and small conferences. There are no plans to make use of it in any other way currently.
• Lighting on the east side of Ben Jonson/Breton is not working – this is a highways issue.
• Lift 64 – has been out of order many times this last year. Are there any plans to replace it as it has more wear and tear than the other lifts (as it leads to Waitrose)? The lifts within Ben Jonson are inspected regularly for insurance purposes and have a KPI of 98% overall, but there are no individual stats for that lift. Sheila Delaney will investigate this and see if a separate report can be run to show the number of outages for it. The lifts are over 20 years old, but replacement is expensive. If a lift is reported as out of order, then the repair team is sent out as soon as possible. The Duty Manager is available 24 hours a day to take such calls. Residents’ thanks to the Committee for their work over the previous year.

House Group Chair's AGM Report

Report presented to the 2020-01-15 Ben Jonson House Group AGM by the chair, Helen Hulson:
___

Chair’s Report BJHG AGM 15.01.2020

It has been a busy and eventful year with a number of encouraging results.

Following a meeting with the manager of Cote restaurant, improvements were made which seem to have solved the problem of odours according to the results of the follow up survey we conducted.

In spite of strong objections, PWS received permission to install floodlighting raising fears of increased noise and intrusive light. It was therefore reassuring when they installed green walls, a sound absorbing surface and more but less penetrating lighting. They are keen to interact positively with the local community and termly meetings are planned

The proposal to install antennae on the Barbican Centre roof was fiercely opposed and eventually dropped

The CLSG expansion proposal shocked us all and engendered huge opposition with a petition reaching more than 3,000 signatures. It was welcome news to hear that the school is rethinking its expansion plans, but we need to remain vigilant.

It has been announced that Beech Street is to be the first 24/7 Zero Emission Scheme in the UK in a bid to improve the dire air quality. The trial will run for 18 months preceded by a consultation period . During the scheme arrangements will be in place for essential access, otherwise only pedestrians, cyclists, 153 bus and passengers, and zero emission vehicles will be permitted.

In June and September we celebrated Barbican at 50 with talks, films and a fete. It was also proposed that we give thought to the next 50 years with an appeal to residents for ideas for improvements to ensure its iconic status is maintained

The Denizen has now reached its full height and has changed the outlook on Golden Lane. We will continue to monitor its progress and impact.

Disenfranchisement remains a bone of contention between the City and the Common Councillors who seek to represent us.

It was very sad to lose Robert Barker, who had worked tirelessly for the BA for more than 20 years representing residents on many questions including the roofs and also accessibility. We were also sad to hear of the passing of John Whitehead who had been Chair of Breton House.

I would like to express great thanks to Bruce Badger, our current secretary and previous Chair, for the valuable contributions he has made to BJHG. As well as running the Blog, which is such a terrific source of information, he has been our representative on the BAGC. He is stepping down from the committee and will be much missed. We wish him well. John Murch, our Treasurer, is also resigning from the committee due to time pressures. Please join me in thanking them both.

Thanks also to Fiona for representing us on RCC and to Wendy for her work on the Garden Advisory Group and liaising with the Barbican Centre, and to all committee members for their support. Please consider joining the Committee – the more people, the lighter the load.

I also wish to thank Sheila Delaney for all her assistance in providing information and liaising with BEO, and inspecting standards of cleaning as well as being the first port of call for any problems residents may have.

Helen Hulson 15th January 2020

Highwalk bylaws

Here they are, if you can read them:

Click to enlarge

I have asked for a PDF version of the text.

One thing of note:  Among the things you can't do, under pain of a £20 fine, is "(3) climb or sit on a balustrade" which would seem to exclude much parkour action.

Lease Extension - "Marriage Value"

The topic of lease extension comes up quite often. The BBC explain why you should not let the remaining time on your lease drop below 80 years:

When the agreement is extended, the leaseholder pays a premium for the extra years, like any rental payment. They will probably also part with a lump sum to pay off the ground rent. And most people try to do this before 80 years are left.

This is because extensions for a flat with fewer than 80 years remaining will attract a third payment, called marriage value.

...

The government's advisory service for leaseholders describes it as the increase in the value of the property once the lease has been extended. The "profit", as it calls it, is then shared between the freeholder and leaseholder, hence the payment. Beyond 80 years, according to the law, the value is zero.