West End Pong - Garchey

Our house officer tells us that the recent smell around staircase 61 was caused by an overflowing Garchey pit which was dealt with on the same day by Metwin our on site contractors. 

There are Garchey pits all over the estate and unfortunately, all it takes is for someone to place a plastic bag, baby wipes or some other unsuitable item into the Garchey and this causes the blockage. 

According to Mr Iffland, Garchey Manager, the smell was quite bad, so apologies for this. Also, sometimes when the garchey tanker emptying the pits, (the garchey tanker parks in garchey bay in the Beech St tunnel), it can cause smells to rise up onto the podium.

Healthwatch City of London AGM

Healthwatch City of London

would like to invite you to

our

Annual Conference & AGM

to celebrate the first year of

Healthwatch City of London

Date: Wednesday 29 October 2014

Time: 10.30 am to 4pm

Venue: The Dutch Centre, 7 Austin Friars, London EC2N 2HA

10.30 am: Registration

10.45 am: AGM followed by review of the year

   The afternoon conference will focus on mental health with speakers from East London NHS Foundation Trust to include Arts in Mental Health     

Please contact Janine Aldridge at healthwatchcityoflondon@ageuklondon.org.uk or call 020 7820 6787 to register your attendance. Lunch and refreshments will be provided.

We look forward to seeing you there.

Residents Survey: The Police

From the City of London police:

Residents Survey
Are you a Resident of the City of London? Please help us to improve your City … The City of London Police and City of London Corporation are continuously looking for ways to improve the experience of living in the City. As a result, we are asking Residents to complete a short questionnaire. It will take a maximum of 15 minutes to complete and will be an opportunity to provide important feedback on your views, concerns and suggestions about safety and security in the City of London. Please click here to access the questionnaire. Many thanks for your help with this On behalf of the City of London Police and City of London Corporation Please contact us at support@mclarensolutions.com if you are having any difficulty accessing or completing the survey.
City of London 2014

PS John Zuber

Residential Team

Community Policing

City Of London Police

External Redecorations: Week 10

Week 10 (w/c Mon Sept 29th):  Work is moving east.  I even saw a workman doing some actual decorating near staircase 63 last week.

We also have a new newsletter from K&M.  One thing to note in particular:  the work is due to run well into November when the weather will be much cooler and wetter.  Will this affect the quality of the finish as some fear?

West end pong

A resident of Ben Jonson House reports a nasty smell at the western end of Ben Jonson House at podium level beside staircase 61, and have has asked the BEO to investigate.   The smell is described as being that of sewage.

Sewage pong here.

Flooding cuts us off!

This lake lay for about 3 days and cut off entrance to and exit from s/c 61.  Until the drains are fixed, we'll keep having problems like this.

Impassable

Puddles & Floods - an update

An update from Steve Murray:

I’m afraid I’m not in a position to share good news as I hoped to be, the worst of the blocked drains we are working on at podium level also run through the exhibition hall below – I am in contact with the Barbican centre to gain the access I need to work on these sections but the holdup I’m having is that there are exams taking place in the hall so co-ordinating the works required with this and to ensure I do not disrupt them is a little tricky, will do all I can to keep things moving mind.

External Redecorations: Week 9

For week 9 (w/c Mon Sept 22th) we have an update from Steve Murray and a letter!

From Steve:

1st phase of works nearing completion on Ben Jonson between SC61 & SC62 – scaffold will start being taken down from the north elevation from next Monday the 29th from this section to move along to start works between SC62 & SC63, in addition to this the first of works has started on Breton Hse also – a newsletter has gone out to both Ben Jonson (to the affected residents of the next phase) & Breton from K&M McLoughlin with key dates on etc….. A letter is also to follow from Sheila and myself to 1 - invite residents to meet with us to go through any concerns regarding the 1st phase on Ben Jonson (and of course positive comments equally as welcome) or to simply contact us via other means to let us have any comments and 2 – an overall up-date for the rest of residents on both blocks.

And the letter:

Also from Steve

21 Moorfields Public exhibition 8th & 9th Oct

21 Moorfields is a building project which will occupy the space between the Barbican and the Moorgate station.  Land Securities will be holding exhibition sessions on the 8th and 9th October, between 16:30 and 19:30 on each day.

From the BEO:

Dear resident,
Please find information about a public exhibition for the 21 Moorfields proposed redevelopment. This information will be shortly displayed on all noticeboards across the Estate as well.

Silver Sunday 5th October

Free events for the "older generation":

Beech Gardens Q&A meeting 1st Oct 19:00

From the BEO:

Dear Resident,

Please be aware that the next resident Q&A meeting regarding Beech Gardens will be held on Wednesday 1 October at 7pm in the Residents' Meeting Room, Barbican Estate Office.

Barbican Estate Office

Dezeen Article on the Barbican

From the article:

Brutalism: described by Queen Elizabeth as "one of the modern wonders of the world", the Barbican Estate in London is one of the largest examples of the Brutalist style and represents a utopian ideal for inner-city living.

External Redecorations: Week 8

No specific news at the end of week 8 (w/c Mon Sept 15th).   I did see a decorator on the south landing of staircase 63 one morning, so it looks like the preparation works are moving east.

If you have some news or stories, just post a comment on this item or send in a message using the email form at the bottom of the page.

Give and Take day - Today, 20th Sept

There is a "Give and Take" event today at the Golden Lane Community Centre. Details are available on the City's Give and Take web page, but in summary:

Give and Take events are an opportunity for City residents to have a clear-out and make sure that unwanted items are reused, recycled or disposed of responsibly whilst also supporting the local community.

Next Give and Take Day will be held on Saturday 20 September in Golden Lane Community Centre, Golden Lane Estate, Fann Street.

Drop off items 10am - 12pm

Pick up items 1pm - 3pm

Please note, City Residents will be given priority access at 1pm before opening to the public at 1.20pm. Please bring proof of address with you.

I've asked the BEO to let me have flyers they put on the notice boards as PDFs so I can post them here, but they have declined.

Learn to play the violin ...

... in three hours, it says here. On Saturday 4th October from 12.30 Fun Palaces are running a workshop where you can:

Learn to play the violin with Musicing’s Luke Crookes. Create your own music and perform pieces from Prokofiev’s ‘Romeo and Juliet’ in just 3 hours! All instruments are provided and no experience whatsoever is needed - plus you get to take away a CD recording of your performance! Open to adults and children Aged 12+ and it’s free! Places are limited so book ahead to secure a spot.

Details here:

External Redecorations: Week 7

Here is an update from Steve Murray about the work as at the end of week 7 (w/c Mon Sept 8th):

With the re-decs, works to the first stage of works from the main scaffold are on target and due to be complete for the end of next week, we will also be writing to residents to let me have any comments on this phase of works they would like to pass on as well as an up-date on the rest of the program.

If you do have any feedback for Steve, please comment on this post or send us a message using the form below, or just contact Steve at the BEO directly.

UBS Wake Up Call

UBS decided they would like to clean the outside of their building and hired a jet-wash team to do the job.  Clearly they didn't want this work to disturb their business, so they scheduled the work for this Saturday morning.

The team started work before 8am, but really kicked off right on 8am. Their equipments makes ~90dBA of noise.  I measured it.  They said they had no idea anyone lived nearby.   It seems UBS told the workers that doing this work at this time would be fine.  Thanks UBS.

90dBA wake up call

Update:  A call to environmental services (020 7606 3030) resulted in an officer visiting.  The workers were told they really should have waited until 09:00 to start their noisy work, but as they'd started and only needed another 20 minutes to finish they could carry on.  I'm sure, that taught them a lesson ... and the lesson would appear to be that you can flaunt the rules with impunity.

Noise from people walking on the Highwalks

The Barbican Association is investigating the degree to which residents are disturbed by pedestrian users of the highwalks.

This question came up with respect to people living in flats beneath the podiums, but all house groups were asked to put the question to people living in their blocks.

The information would be used to understand if there are estate wide issues, and help inform discussions on potential remediation.

If you are disturbed by noises from pedestrians (excluding skateboarders etc.) please let us know by either commenting on this post or using the email form below.

LFS - Sound Test on the 19th

The film school and the City will be running sound tests on the 19th of this month (a week on Friday).   We think they will be happening in the morning but we don't know exactly when.

When reading "The Film School has agreed to abide by the same sound restrictions as those imposed on the Barbican Cinemas at Exhibition Hall 1" do recall that the arts centre wriggled out of the condition which was agreed in the planning meeting for the cinemas and implemented a system which measures only the sound *inside* the cinemas.

I'm sure the London Film School will be a great neighbour who will enrich the area ... but if we're going to have a sound monitoring system, let's have one that does something useful.  For everyone.

Here is the text of the letter:

All residents

Breton House
Ben Jonson House

Dear Residents,

Acoustic Survey
London Film School at Exhibition Hall 1 

As you may be aware, the London Film School are currently finalising terms with the Barbican Centre and City of London to take the remaining space within Exhibition Hall 1.  This will transform the vacant space into a state of the art contemporary film school. (To find out more about the School please visit www.lfs.org.uk).

The Film School has agreed to abide by the same sound restrictions as those imposed on the Barbican Cinemas at Exhibition Hall 1. In order to establish the levels of sound proofing required the School needs to undertake an acoustic survey. The City has been assured by the Surveyors (Hoare Lea) that this survey should have minimal impact on residents and is very unlikely to be audible within any of the residential flats. However, if you have any concerns on the day, please contact your House Officer on 020 7029 3911. 

Having considered all occupiers within the Barbican (including residents, the Barbican Centre marketing office and the adjacent cinemas) it has been agreed that the acoustic survey will be completed on the morning of Friday 19 September.

Yours sincerely
Alexandra Bentley
Senior Principal Surveyor
City Surveyor’s Department

Barbican Landscape Guidelines: consultation until 10 October

The draft Barbican Listed Building Management Guidelines Volume 4 (Landscape) are now published, at www.cityoflondon.gov.uk/BarbicanGuidelines . Comments can be sent to localplan@cityoflondon.gov.uk, from today until 10 October.

The City of London Corporation is publishing the following draft Supplementary Planning Document

(SPD) for public consultation and we would like to hear your views on it:

• Barbican Listed Building Management Guidelines Volume 4 - Landscaping, including Part 2 - Good Practice and Part 3 - Green Infrastructure 

SPDs give guidance on planning policies that are set out in the City's Core Strategy. Before SPDs are finalised they are issued in draft so that the public can comment on them.

The draft SPD for the Barbican identifies the special architectural and historic interest of the external spaces and provide guidance on managing change to these areas of architectural significance. Parts 2 and 3 of the draft provide additional information and guidance and will not be adopted as SPD.

You can see the draft SPD here:  www.cityoflondon.gov.uk/BarbicanGuidelines

The draft SPDs may also be seen at Guildhall, Barbican, Shoe Lane and Artizan Street libraries<http://www.cityoflondon.gov.uk/services/libraries-and-archives/lending-libraries/find-a-library/Pages/default.aspx> during their normal opening hours, and at Built Environment<http://www.cityoflondon.gov.uk/services/environment-and-planning/planning/Pages/Planning-Contacts.aspx> enquires desk at Guildhall.

Please send your comments to arrive by 10th October 2014 to:

localplan@cityoflondon.gov.uk<mailto:localplan@cityoflondon.gov.uk> or

Department of the Built Environment
City of London
PO Box 270
Guildhall
London
EC2P 2EJ

Please note that all comments will be made publicly available.

Cinemas Sound Report

When the arts centre wanted to put cinemas beneath Ben Jonson House they were asked to include a sound monitoring system which would measure the impact of sound from the new cinemas upon residents.   The planning committee agreed, but though bureaucratic sleight of hand the arts centre ended up installing sound monitoring inside the auditoria only, which is a bit rubbish because as one person involved put it:  We don't live inside the cinemas.

We did get a commitment from the arts centre to let us have sound data from the monitoring system upon request, and we asked if we could have a sample.  Well, here is the sample we've been given.  It's not the data, just a print out of a screen shot:

Click to make me bigger

We have asked if we can have the raw data, and the arts centre are having a think about that.

In the meantime, we can have a look at this report.

The display shows measures broken down into 5 minute chunks.  The larger numbers on the upper left (LAEq (period), 63Hz Leq (period) ... etc) are for the current period and when that period ends the numbers drop down into the table below, which shows the figures for the last 8 periods.  The new numbers appear on the right and the oldest set is pushed off to the left.

The figures are either LAeq or LZeq, which are, in essence, averages of sound levels over time.  This kind of measure has come in for criticism when used to measure environmental noise nuisance, see here for example.  If I understand this correctly, a massive sound (explosion in a film) surrounded by silence would not register as a problem, because the split second sound would be effectively averaged over the time window of 5 minutes.  If there were sound problems, this would appear to be a pretty poor tool to help resolve it, but perhaps a great tool if you want to 'show' / pretend that there is no problem at all.

Having said all that, it's worth noting that there has not been, to my knowledge, a single complaint about sound leaking from the cinemas and bothering residents.

... but if there ever are problems, I'd rather have good measurement in place.

External Redecorations: Week 6

Last week (w/c Mon Sept 1st) was week 6 of the external redecoration. I've not had an update from the BEO, the decorators nor residents. No news is good news? I hope so.

Work quietly proceeds

External Redecorations: Week 5

Last week (w/c Mon Aug 25th) was week 5 of the external redecoration. I have had no written update from the BEO.

It looks like the scaffolding is complete for the work on the eastern part of the block, and I can only imagine work is zooming along ...

Work goes on behind the green