Podium Phase 2 Update (drains still not taken seriously)

The City bureaucrats are pressing ahead with their plans for "Podium Phase 2" despite the fact that Podium Phase 1 (Beech gardens) is not finished yet.  The aim of these projects is to address issues caused by water and yet Nuffield, with premises beneath Beech Gardens, are still suffering from leaks as were Virgin before them.

There are surely many factors contributing to the leaks, but one must be that surface water on the highwalk does not drain away.  Here are two photos of the Beech Gardens area, one week apart:

... and that puddle was still there yesterday.  At the center of the puddle is, of course, a drain grate which sits above a blocked drain.  Why won't the City fix the drains?   Too boring, perhaps?

The Phase 1 Beech Gardens fiasco goes on because a) the drains have not been fixed and b) the waterproof membrane does not work (just ask Nuffield and Virgin).  Phase 1 is not complete by any reasonable measure given the original driver of tacking water penetration.

And yet, here are the City getting ready to leap into Phase 2 at the eastern end of the highwalk.  Ben Jonson Highwalk, here they come:

Flashy stuff.  No mention of the drains.

 
Here is the latest update via the BEO:

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Update from the Barbican Projects Hub Team - Podium Phase 2

Consultation is still open for Phase 2 of the Barbican Podium. Details are available on www.barbicanprojects.co.uk or please visit the exhibition on the Yellow Link Building. Please also view the flyer here.

For further information you can call 0800 772 0475 or email info@barbicanprojects.co.uk.

Those duplicate service charge invoices

If you have received service charge invoices which make no sense the BEO would like to explain why this happened:

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Duplicate Invoices - Apologies and

Explanation

Some residents may also have received duplicate copy invoices covering the period dated 28 May 2021 through to 29 September 2021. Our invoices are now fully automated and are despatched by an external printing company which would explain why you may have received copies on different days. The financial information contained in these copies are correct.

Measures have been put in place to prevent this from happening again, this is regrettable. Please accept our apologies for the inconvenience caused.

A refund, if needed can be processed or alternatively carried forward to the December 2021 quarter which will be produced next week.

Please direct any enquiries to Chbincome@cityoflondon.gov.uk

UBS building re-development

1 Golden Lane, previously known as the Cripplegate Institute and more recently as an office for UBS, is being redeveloped.

There was to be a consultation meeting next week, but with the recent restrictions it will now be a Zoom session:

From the BEO:

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Consultation for the refurbishment of 1 Golden Lane

Castleforge has recently launched a public consultation for their proposals to sensitively refurbish 1 Golden Lane. The proposal presents an opportunity to modernise the building, secure its long-term success and enhance the local area.

Please click here to visit their consultation website which includes further details, and the opportunity to leave your feedback.

Please note: A planned in-person exhibition on Tuesday 14 December from 3pm – 7:30pm has been postponed due to changing Government advice around Covid-19.

An online webinar will instead take place on Tuesday 14 December at 6pm - please click here to register for the webinar.

Buzzing Up Strangers

From the BEO:

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Buzzing Up Strangers

In these busy times of Christmas deliveries, can we remind residents not to 'buzz in' strangers to the block. Only allow entry if the delivery is intended for you.

Otherwise, always check ID and credentials of workers accessing your homes. All authorised City contractors should be carrying ID and have with them a letter of the work they will be conducting.


Tailgating & Security Reminder for both Residential Blocks & Private Garden Areas

We are taking this opportunity to remind residents to be vigilant about tailgating. This is one of the biggest security threats to the estate and possibly the easiest to solve.

It seems prudent to remind residents not to hold the door/garden gates open for anyone without a residents estate key, but also to be mindful that the doors/garden gates close properly behind you.

If you are not comfortable closing the door on someone and there is someone behaving in a suspicious manner, then please wait until you are in a safe place and call either 101 (the Police non-emergency crime reporting number) or your nearest Concierge or Lobby Porter.

Click here for the list of numbers for the Concierge & Lobby Porters.

1 Golden Lane redevelopment consultation - to 7th Jan

From the Ben Jonson House Group
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The refurbishing of 1 Golden Lane is a project that may impact on many of you.

The company involved, Castleforge, have put together some basic proposals/designs and some sketches to show the direction they are heading with the refurbishment.

You can view their website at www.1goldenlane.co.uk

They are inviting us to an in-person drop in consultation event at Capel Cymraeg Jewin, 70 Fann Street on Tuesday 14th December from 3pm, where the project team will be on hand to talk through the proposals and answer any questions. The exhibition venue is fully accessible. Please see email below from Castleforge's Account Executive.

Castleforge is not planning to demolish the building, simply refurbish it, but increasing the height has been proposed, which could lead to shading in areas where the Block enjoys sunshine.

Please take some time to look at the proposals; if you're not happy with them, now is the time to make your voice heard.


... from the developer representative ...

Dear Representatives of the Barbican Association, Ben Jonson House Group, and Breton House Group,

Many thanks for taking the time previously to meet with us to discuss emerging proposals for 1 Golden Lane. We are pleased to confirm that today we have a launched a wider community consultation on more detailed proposals.

Your feedback, along with input from other local stakeholders, has helped shape the proposals and we look forward to working with the wider community to further refine them.

A consultation website has gone live this morning which contains more information about the proposals and a survey for interested parties to provide their feedback.

The website is available at the following link: www.1goldenlane.co.uk

The consultation will be live until Friday 7th January 2022.

If you would like a separate meeting to discuss the proposals, we would be delighted to arrange one with the project team. This will give you the opportunity to hear more about the proposals and ask any questions you may have.

If you this is something that would be of interest to you, please do get in touch by emailing me.

Best wishes,
Stephen Gregory
Account Executive
M: 07468 492 708
sgregory@conciliocomms.com
conciliocomms.com

London Office
131 Finsbury Pavement,
London, EC2A 1NT

4th Utility, gesture of goodwill

From 4th Utility:

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Dear 4th Utility Customer,

We would like to apologise to our customers and thank them for their patience during the internet and VoIP outage experienced at the Barbican Estate.

Our immediate focus was concentrated on replacing centralised equipment and routers in customer homes, working around the clock to get them back online as quickly as possible. We're very pleased to say this work is now complete, aside from customers who are away.

We're sorry and want to offer a good will gesture

As a gesture of good will for the inconvenience this has caused, we are going to credit your account 70% of your monthly rental which will appear as a credit in the next 5-10 working days and will see a reduced payment in your December or January invoice.

Given that we had the new central kit providing service to the estate and a significant proportion of customers back online all within 2 working days of the outage, with CPE available on site for all other customers to take up, we believe the above offer is reasonable and exceeds a simple pro-rata refund of your monthly subscription.

In addition, we will be providing a donation to 'The Barbican Centre Trust' of £2000, on behalf of the Barbican residents.

What happened?

After our acquisition of VFM earlier this year, upgrading the infrastructure at the Barbican Estate was always part of our longer-term improvement programme. Our intention was to bring the equipment into line with our own standard build, which offers improved remote diagnostics, speed of upgrades, and advanced support capabilities, ultimately enabling us to provide a better service for customers.

During a recent scheduled maintenance window at the Barbican Estate, an unexpected hardware failure occurred. The 4th Utility team reacted quickly and had new centralised kit and 1,000 routers onsite within 4 hours of the outage. Staff were also deployed to site quickly to answer customer questions, distribute equipment, and assist with installations.

Could this occur again?

This hardware failure means that the migration on to new equipment in line with our improvement programme has been accelerated for the Barbican Estate. The expedited migration also led to a discovery of further possible site and service enhancements that will now be built into our ongoing development plans.

Now that the new infrastructure is in place, we will be able to offer our customers a better, fully supported service and because the build is more modular, future risks are minimised. As a result of this work, we are confident that any future issues will only have a marginal impact and will be straightforward to manage and resolve quickly. Because of the steps we have taken over the last few days, we do not anticipate the same level of disruption happening again.

If you have any questions or would like any further technical information, please contact us via support@4thu.co.uk and one of our technical or executive team will be happy to respond, over the phone or via email. We know how vital broadband connectivity is for all of our customers, and that's why it's important to us that the quality of our products and services is always high. Thank you again for your patience and for sticking with us.



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