New L7 Ladder Cages

There are ladders on the roof of Ben Jonson House which give access to plant rooms on the 7th floor.  New cages have been added to the upper parts of these ladders for health and safety reasons.  Here is how they look:

Harder to fall off?

Gnewt car park plans on hold

From the BEO, an update on the plans for Gnewt to run a distribution centre from the Breton/Ben Jonson car park.  Plans on hold until February:

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Gnewt Cargo Consolidation Centre pilot – Breton House Car Park

Thank you to all those residents that attended the pre-planning application meeting earlier in October, and provided comments with regard to the proposals for the Gnewt Cargo Consolidation Centre pilot at Breton House Car Park.

The planning application, pilot and updated information are all currently on hold whilst Gnewt Cargo review their business plans. We anticipate further discussions with Gnewt Cargo regarding their plans in February 2017, when we should be in a position to update you.

School Floodlights Circular

A resident has posted a two page circular to the flats which could be directly affected by the proposed Prior Weston floodlights.

The circular ends by pointing out that the deadline for objections is the 27th October (this Thursday), so if you want to comment on the application be quick (follow the link above to see how to comment).

Click to read the whole circular

Suggestion Box

The house group committee has decided to try having a suggestion box.  The box is silver and located directly in front of the CPAs office.  There are blank forms behind the box.

Suggestions welcome

City Councillor Elections 2017

The City of London election of common councillors will be held in March next year.  The City has set up a web page with information of how to register, and even how to stand if you would like to be a common councillor.

Click to read the saved City page

Asbestos inspections

The common area will be checked for asbestos on 20th October:

Click to read the notice

Hole dug into carpark roof

A hole has been made in the roof of the car park beneath Ben Jonson House by the people doing road works directly above the car park on Beech Street.

Structural engineers will be assessing the damage next week.

There's a hole in my car park

Building Insurance

The City have sent out notice that they are planning to use Royal Sun Alliance (RSA Insurance Group PLC) for buildings insurance from the Barbican for three years from 25th December 2016 with an option to extend for two more years.

The proposed expenditure for Ben Jonson House flats is between £46.10 and £92.20.

We may make written "observations" which must be sent to the City within 35 days of the date of the letter.  The deadline for observations is 22th November.  See the letter below for the address.

Click to read the whole letter

Wake up call - an emergency?

Our 07:25 wake up call this morning came from Riney.  The people installing the temporary tarmac ramp said they had been told to start at 07:30 and that it was OK because this was an emergency.  It was an emergency because pedestrians needed a ramp while water works in the tunnel were happening.

They could not explain why it was an emergency at 07:25 this morning rather than over the last few days during which the state of the works has remained unchanged.

An "emergency" ramp being installed.

Balcony Fire Escape Inspections

Our balconies are fire escapes  We get to enjoy them when there is no fire, but if there ever is a fire it's really important that people are able escape, so every year the BEO check the escape routes ...

It really is important

Primary School Registrations

To register a child for primary school next year contact fyi@cityoflondon.gov.uk or call +44 207 332 1750 before 15th January ...

Time flies.  Apply now.

School Floodlight Objections

If you feel you may be affected by the addition of floodlights on the Prior Weston school play area (see location here) the deadline for letting Islington council know is 27th October.

For a list of valid reasons to object to planning applications see here.

To submit an objection to this application visit the Islington Planning Portal. Click here for details of how to do this.

The Barbican Association, Ben Jonson House Group and Breton House Group will be raising objections, but it is important that individuals submit their own objections.  If there are only a few objections Islington officers may approve the application using delegated powers rather than allowing the application to go before the planning committee.

Clearly is this important to people, which explains why colour notices have popped up in the lifts.  If you do wish to post a notice then please link to this blog (and this article) as there is much more more information here.

Please remember to add a link to the blog

... and if you have a colour printer and wish to look after the notice boards please do let me know.  Your help with that would be most welcome.

Waste in corridors: Avoid

The BEO have sent out a notice asking that residents avoid placing bags of rubbish in the corridors.  Please try to use your service cupboard for rubbish if you can.

Click to read the whole letter

FAQ about the Waitrose refurbishment

Waitrose sent a FAQ of sorts about the closure and refurbishment to the BA which the BEO sent out by email:

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Waitrose refurbishment

Following concern from some residents about the imminent refurbishment of the local Waitrose, the BA spoke to the manager and project manager to find out more and seek some reassurances. They said the following:

1. Both residents and office workers are important customers to them and they intend to continue to cater for both groups (and any other category of customer).
2. Waitrose currently sell 23,000 lines and the refurbishment will not lower this number of lines stocked;"the number of lines stocked will increase following the refurbishment. Customers will still be able to complete a full shop, as they did before the refurbishment."
3. They do plan to close the patisserie and the delicatessen counters. This is because these counters are used by a very small proportion of their customers and produce relatively few sales (less than it costs them to run the counters).
4. Most of the items currently sold on those counters will continue to be sold in packs of varying sizes, as they are currently.
5. They are enlarging their stocks of breads and cakes, even though they are shutting the patisserie counter.
6. They are introducing a service counter selling prepared foods (not just sushi).
7. They are building a customer toilet, following customer feedback since opening.
8. The Barbican Waitrose is the first store to offer a number of new concepts from Waitrose, which will be rolled out throughout the UK.
9. They are making the changes because people's shopping habits – and what they want – have changed. They also pointed out that the store has not had any refurbishment since Waitrose took it over 10 years ago, and it needs bringing up to date.
10. The opening hours will remain the same; the prices will stay in line with other Waitrose stores across the country, and will not change because of the refurbishment.
11. The manager apologises for the disruption caused by the closures and hopes to welcome his regular customers back on 17 November. There is always a duty manager in the store for customers to talk to if they have questions or issues.

A noise too early

This morning we had another cleaning team in action.  This work was nowhere near as noisy at the recent UBS pavement cleaning, but they started much earlier than they should have.

This crew started work at 07:55 and were done shortly after 08:15.  They claimed to have obtained permission to do the work from the City but said they had not been told that they should start after 09:00.

Not so noisy, but far too early.

Digging up a bit of Beech Street

The noise from 08:00 this morning came from Riney workers digging up the road at the junction of Beech St and Golden Lane.  I don't know what they are working on, but it is very noisy:

Wake up call

Waitrose refurbishment flyer

Waitrose was closed for two days earlier this week and will be closed again from 29th October to 16th November.  The store will reopen on the 17th November.

Here is a flyer explaining what the newly refurbished store will look like:

Click to read the flyer

Water off this evening?

I saw a notice stuck to a notice board in the lifts.  It says:

WATER.  I have spoken to the men sorting the water on Beech Street.  The water will go off at midnight & come on in the am, no time given.

It could be true!

School floodlighting planning application is in

The Prior Weston school has submitted a planning application for their proposed floodlights. The application is now validated and visible on the Islington planning portal (search for P2016/1803/FUL).

The school clearly decided they didn't want to discuss this further with residents nor run a test installation to give residents an idea of how what they had in mind would look in practice before submitting the application.

Copies of the documents which form part of the application are here.

According to the planning application details on the Islington site (copy here), comments may be made until 27th October.  You may wish to review the valid reasons for objections, but the main considerations here are likely to be light pollution and the possibility of noise later in a floodlit evening.  The school tell us that the reason for the lighting is to allow the use of outdoor spaces in the winter, with no extension in usage beyond the times we experience in the summer.  Planning conditions need to be in place to ensure this, so do write in if this will affect you.

It looks like comments must be submitted via the Islington planning portal:

Click to visit the portal. Search for P2016/1803/FUL

Here is a snip of the light spillage document in the application (copy here):

Click to zoom in.  Use links above to view original documents.

Draft 2017 Licensing Policy

The City have been working on a new licensing policy document which would come into effect in 2017.  Policy documents like these frame the work of the respective committee, so this document guides the licensing committee when they are considering a license application.

The consultation period for this document ended on Thursday which surprised me because I didn't even know it had started.  I understand that they will still accept comments, I have no idea for how long.

Click to read the whole draft policy

Waitrose Closing ... for a little while

Waitrose Barbican will be closing twice for refurbishment.  The first closure will just be for two days on the 11th and 12th of October.  The second closure is for almost three weeks from Saturday 29th of October to Thursday 17th of November.

The dates are on the house group calendar.

Here is the letter from Waitrose:

Click to read the whole letter

An example Barbican flat lease

The City of London owns the Barbican Estate and all the flats within it.  For many years these flats were rented out directly by the City as council flats, but the 1980 Housing act changed all that by introducing the right to buy.  While some flats, a very small number, are still are rented directly from the City, most barbican flats have been 'bought'.

... BUT what has been bought is not the flat itself but rather a lease.  This is why the 'owners' of Barbican flats are formally referred to as long leaseholders.  The few remaining council tenants are short leaseholders.

The lease is the deal between the 'owner' and the City, and it defines all kinds of obligations upon both parties; quiet hours, cleaning rules, floor coverings, television services ... the lease is long.  In theory, if a long leaseholder breaches the terms of the lease they can lose their flat (though I've never heard of this actually happening, and the estate office warns if it thinks rules are being broken), so it's worth knowing what the lease actually says:

Click to read the whole example lease

Banging the drums - noise from the school

A number of residents in Ben Jonson House and in Breton House are being disturbed by what seems to be a new outdoor music play and teaching area at the Prior Weston school on the Golden Lane Campus.  This has been discussed on Barbican Talk.

Here are the words of one resident.

Persistent Percussion Problems from Prior Weston 

The noises emanating from Prior Weston School over the last few weeks might have led BJH residents to conclude that the new 'Centre for Music' was already up and running. 

In fact, the recurrent (some would say constant!) percussion sounds are not attributable to the LSO but to very young children who are being given access to drums, chimes, bells, tambourines, and cymbals in the out-of-doors covered play area at street level.   

Unsurprisingly, the instruments have been beaten with considerable gusto between 9 am and mid afternoon ever since the first day of the new school year on 8 September. 

For at least some residents in earshot who are at home during the day, the loud noises have been distracting, distressing and even maddening, judging from comments on Barbican Talk. The crashing cymbals are especially nerve-shattering, but the rhythmic drum beats and jangling bells are equally hard to ignore. 

Contact was made with the School by a couple of residents early on, but to no avail. Islington Council was also alerted, and the result was a 'noise diary' kept over two weeks at the request of the Council which (along with some recordings) provided evidence of how frequent and disruptive the percussion sounds can be.  

A meeting between the School, BJH and Breton reps, the chair of the Barbican Association, and affected residents will take place on Tuesday 4 October, and the need to keep musical instruments indoors and out of the hearing range of local residents will be emphasised.

The 4th October meeting mentioned above will be held at the school and will be attended by representatives of the school, representatives of the house groups and a number of directly affected residents.  There is one remaining slot for a resident affected by this noise in Ben Jonson House.  Let me know (ben.jonson.hg at gmail.com) if you would like to attend.