Saturday 30 September 2017

City Corporate Plan - feedback invited

The City are working on yet another framing document, and they are inviting feedback.  This is presented as plan which covers the City Corporation as a whole.  It's all very high level and aspirational, but Kate Smith (who is putting the document together) said this is the intent.

The first bit of feedback would be:  If you are going to spend money creating framing documents and asking for people to take the time to think about them and comment, don't subsequently ignore that document in practice (which is what happened with the current Local Plan with respect to Bernard Morgan House).

Other comments:  There is little to no mention of the City as our local authority, nor that the City is home to us residents. 

Send your comments to Kate and her team at: corporate.plan@cityoflondon.gov.uk

Here is the current draft:


316 Storage Units for the car parks?

A planning application has been received by the City for the installation of storage units in Breton and Bunyan car parks.

The reference number of the application is 17/00909/FULL and can be viewed via the arcane City planning portal.  You have 21 days from 25th September to lodge your "observations".

Here is the notice:

Click to read the whole notice
Here is the proposed layout of storage units in the Breton (/ Ben Jonson) car park:

Click to enlarge.



Electricity Supply Long Term Agreement

The City intends to enter into a new agreement for the supply of electricity for the common parts of the estate.  This includes the underfloor heating in our flats.

Here is the notice:

Click to read the whole notice

Friday 29 September 2017

Parcel Storage Overflow - HELP!

There are a significant number of uncollected parcels down in the Breton car park.  The CPAs have run out of space in the parcel room and parcels are piling up just outside the CPA office.  The 'parcels' seem to include bits of kitchen and bags of compost along with the usual boxes of wine etc.

Parcels in the parcel room are secure, but the pile outside the office is unattended when the CPAs are on patrol.  So, if you have had have a large valuable thing delivered, don't delay.

But no matter what's in your delivery, please do pick up your parcels as soon as you can.

Overflowing - Please collect yours
If it's like this now, heaven only knows what it'll be like in the run-up to Christmas!

Saturday 23 September 2017

"Defective BMH Demolition Statement"

A post on the Open Golden Lane blog goes through the Taylor Wimpey demolition statement for Bernard Morgan House and, well, demolishes it.

Click to read the article

Parker McMillan II license granted

The application by The Brewery to operate a licensed club on the site of the old Parker McMillan has been approved by the Islington council.

Click to read the letter sent by the Islington council
... and as a reminder of where Parker McMillan was, and where the new club will be:

Courtesy of Google Street View (click to enlarge)

Friday 22 September 2017

UBS: Planned Works Sat 7th Oct

From UBS:
___

We are planning on undertaking a building UPS shutdown at 1 Golden Lane on Saturday, 7th October. The reason for this is that we have electrical work planned to install new equipment.

Following at IT shutdown on 7th October, the electrical work will  begin at 10am with testing currently scheduled for between the hours of 5 and 6pm. To fully test the completed installation it will be necessary to bring the generators online for a short period. This will most likely only be for a few minutes but it is outside of the prescribed hours of the City of London's noise regulations. The reason we cannot do this during the working week is that the work requires an IT shutdown.  The electrical work will not be completed before the deadline of 2pm on Saturday to allow the generator testing to take place within the prescribed hours. 

If you have any questions about this, or any other activity at 1 Golden Lane, please do not hesitate to contact me. 

Paul Prendergast 
Energy and Environmental Manager
UBS AG 
Group COO
ISS on behalf of Group Corporate Services
2nd Floor, 3 Finsbury Avenue,
London, EC2M 2PA

Mobile +44 78 5231 6813
paul-james.prendergast@ubs.com
www.ubs.com

Thursday 21 September 2017

Graffiti magnet?

Banksy opened the door ...

 ... and someone "tagged" our door.
This graffiti on our door has been mostly cleaned off now.

Wednesday 20 September 2017

City of London's position on the Banksy pieces

From the BEO:
___

A City of London Corporation spokesperson said:

We can confirm that two new pieces by Banksy have appeared near the Barbican Centre and coincide with Basquiat: Boom for Real, the widely-anticipated major exhibition of the artist's work, which opens at Barbican Art Gallery on Thursday. Banksy's graffiti is in Culture Mile, the north-west corner of the Square Mile that is being developed into a major destination for culture and creativity. We plan to discuss the pieces with City Corporation colleagues and Barbican residents over the next few weeks."

Tuesday 19 September 2017

How the BEO tracks issues

The BEO use a spreadsheet to track outstanding issues for Ben Jonson House.  They call the spreadsheet "You said. We did.".  Here is the latest version:

Click to read the whole sheet

Sunday 17 September 2017

BMH Update: Legal challenge and demolition method

The City have granted planning permission to Taylor Wimpey for them to demolish Bernard Morgan House and build the Denizen.

But that may be on hold because a legal challenge (in the form of a pre-action letter and supporting notice) to the planning permission has been submitted to the City.
Click to read the whole pre-action letter

Despite that, Taylor wimpey have sent out their first printed newsletter, and have submitted a Demolition Method Statement.  You have until 1st October if you wish to object to the demolition method statement.  If you wish to object write to the planning office at the City of London.

Click to read issue 1

Banksy at Ben Jonson House

A pair of Banksy works have turned up this morning right outside the L02 door from Ben Jonson House on to Golden Lane:

Click to see a larger image.


Click to see a larger image.

Saturday 16 September 2017

Membership Renewals

Time flies.  Our 'new' membership system is almost a year old, so this means the first people to sign up using the new system will be getting email reminders shortly.  They look like this:

A membership reminder as seen in Gmail

Membership is still free, so if you still live in Ben Jonson House, or own a flat in Ben Jonson House, please click on the link to renew your membership.  This is important because without enough members the house group will have to wind up, so please do click that link.

The House Group AGM is on Wed 13th Dec 2017 from 19:00 in the Lilac Room. To be a valid AGM we need to have 50% of long leaseholders (flat owners) be members, and 15% of members need to turn up to the meeting. Your rewards for coming along: wine and mince pies :-) Please do come along.

Monday 4 September 2017

Rubbish Reminder

From the BEO newsletter:
___

Rubbish Collections & Requests
  • Please store your rubbish in the rubbish lockers.
  • Ensure your rubbish is sealed in the bags provided. If you run out of bags, please contact your Block Cleaner, Estate Concierge or your House Officer.
  • Missed your collection time? Please take your rubbish to the collection points in the nearest Car Park.

Fire Safety FAQ Number 2

The BEO have issued an updated fire safety FAQ.  The new items are printed in red.  There is a link in the document to the current Fire Risk Assessment documents for all Barbican blocks too.

Click to read the FAQ

BMH: Residents meeting 18th Sept

Taylor Wimpey have arranged another residents meeting for 18th September at 18:30 in the Frobisher Room in the arts centre.  Cascade, on behalf of Taylor Wimpey write:
____

Dear Neighbour,

We would like to invite you to attend September's Bernard Morgan House Community Liaison Group taking place on:

Date: Monday 18 September 2017
Time: 18:30
Where: The Frobisher Room 1, The Barbican Centre, Silk Street, London, EC2Y 8DS

If you would like to attend please RSVP by emailing construction@casacdepr.co.uk

The Construction Liaison Group meets monthly and is open to any member of the local community. The Development Team will provide an update on demolition and construction works on Bernard Morgan House and the local community will be able to ask any questions they may have.

An agenda, and minutes from the meeting in August, will be issued ahead of the September meeting.

Please note: the meeting is to be held at the Barbican Centre due to the refurbishment of the Golden Lane Community Association Community Centre. We plan to utilise alternative venues until the refurbishment is complete. If you have any suggestions of venues for future meetings please do get in contact.
Contact Details
Email: construction@cascadepr.co.uk
Freephone: 08081 686 677
Please do not hesitate to contact us.

Copyright © 2017 Cascade Communications, All rights reserved.

Our mailing address is:

Cascade Communications
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Soho
London, W1F 8GY
United Kingdom
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Sunday 3 September 2017

The Brewery: licensing hearing 12th Sept

A public hearing will be held regarding the application for "Parker McMillian II" on 12th September at 18:30 at the Islington town hall.  Here is the notice:

Click to read whole notice

BMH: Planning Permission

The City has now formally granted planning permission for Taylor Wimpey to demolish Bernard Morgan House and to build "The Denizen".  See the document for the full list of conditions:

Click to read the document

BRC Fire Safety Report

The chair of Breton House kindly forwarded this report which briefs members of the Barbican Residential Committee (BRC) on fire safety following the Grenfell Tower fire:

Click to read the report