Sunday 12 December 2021

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.

Monday 6 December 2021

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.



Copyright © 2021 The 4th Utility | All Rights Reserved

Friday 26 November 2021

Ben Jonson House - Water Tank Works

From the BEO:
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Ben Jonson House - Water Tank Works

Guardian engineers will be carrying out further works to the water tanks in Ben Jonson House on 2 and 3 December, following recent legionella testing.

There will be no disruptions to residents water supply as operatives carry out this work. There are other works going on to tanks where water supply will be disrupted, residents affected will have received written letters.

Any further questions please contact Steven Murray, the Project Manager, by email or 020 70293915.

Thank you for your cooperation in this regard.

Saturday 20 November 2021

Big trouble with 4thUtility - or how we lost the Internet for a few days

  In August this year 4th Utility took over from VFM as the guardians of the fibre network on the estate.

Last week, from midnight to 04:00 on Tuesday 16th November, 4th Utility undertook some maintenance work.  The time window was planned well in advance, but the maintenance did not go at all as planned; everyone on the estate who uses the 4th Estate fibre service lost their connection to the Internet for a number of days.

What was expected to be a significant but straightforward maintenance task turned into the complete replacement of server room equipment which in turn required the replacement of every router on the estate.  To their credit, 4th Estate quickly realised the magnitude of the issue and asked their Manchester based staff to get on a train to London right away, and to take along replacement server gear and hundreds of new routers.

It turns out that we really do depend on the Internet these days.  Some were unable to watch the film they wanted to see, some were unable to work, some even lost valuable work.  People certainly wanted to get back online as quickly as possible, hundreds of residents queued to get their new router at noon on Wednesday:

At the head of the queue was a desk where 4th Estate staff (Brand Ambassadors!) were handing out new routers and noting which flat got which device.

Over the next day most new routers were connected.  Mostly residents were able to unplug the old and connect the new by themselves, for some a house call from the 4th Estate staff was needed to get things going.  4th Estate staff manned their desk on the highwalk from Wednesday to the following Sunday

The cause of the problem was something like this:  The equipment inherited by 4th Estate has been serving residents for some time and was very much in need of an upgrade.  The maintenance planned for the 16th of November was to keep the current equipment going a little longer while the larger upgrade was rolled out.  The manufacturer of the current equipment felt that the plan, yanking out and replacing some of the equipment, was safe because the service should just fall back to secondary systems ... but what happened instead was the a total failure.

Given the total failure the easiest thing to do would be to install like-for-like replacements of the broken systems, but the nearest were in Dubai!  So, 4th Estate decided to bring forward the larger upgrade and replace the broken kit with brand new server room systems and replace every connected router too.  Quite a task.

Now that the Internet service is restored for most, if not all, 4th Estate customers I'm sure "lessons have been learned" (again).  The biggest for me is to have a fallback plan for our Internet connection (e.g. a mobile hotspot and a data SIM) and of course to make sure all our valuable data is backed up.

Tuesday 16 November 2021

House Group AGM - 2022-01-11 19:15

The Ben Jonson House Group have given notice that the next AGM at 19:15 on 11th Jan 2022 to be held in the Golden Lane Community Centre.

The email address for the house group is ben.jonson.hg@gmail.com

The attachments to the notice attachments are:

The notice from the house group committee:

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Dear All,

Attached please find the minutes of our last committee meeting.

Our next meeting will be the AGM on 11 Jan 2022 at 7.15pm. As the Lilac Room is not available, it will take place in the Golden Lane Community Centre.

We have a line-up of 'celebrities' for you, namely:
  • Chair of the Barbican Residential Committee, Mark Wheatley,
  • Chair of the Residents' Consultation Committee, Christopher Makin
  • Chair of the Barbican Association, Adam Hogg
  • Alderman David Graves
  • Common Councillor Mark Bostock
Please make a note in your diaries, it will be a chance for your to put your questions to some of the people who manage and champion our Estate.

The Committee would like to offer simple hospitality for everyone on the evening; Jane, who is very good at organising these things, will not be available.

Could you help on this occasion? Just drinks and nibbles.

Please get in touch on the above email if you can. It would be much appreciated.

Sunday 14 November 2021

Service Yard Carbon Reduction Works

From the BEO:
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City of London Carbon Reduction Works




We have been informed that the site storage unit is to be delivered 12 November and temporary barriers or ‘traffic’ cones will be placed across the area (shown by dotted lines in the image) where the storage container will be placed. This is to prevent vehicles parking in the space allocated for the storage unit before it is delivered.

The site welfare, storage container and skip locations, once in position will remain in position until the end of the project, which is scheduled to complete March '22.

Please download the newsletter with information regarding the upcoming City of London Carbon reduction Works.

If you are unsure of any activities being undertaken by the team, wish to raise any questions, or report concerns please contact PSDS Helpline: carbonreductionproject@cityoflondon.gov.uk

Water tank work - from 29th Nov

From the BEO:
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Cold Water Storage Tank Works - Ben Jonson House

Smart Managed Solutions working with City of London Corporation will be carrying out urgent works on the cold-water storage tanks over a two-day period, between Monday 29 November - Tuesday 14 December.

Residents affected will be sent a letter with precise dates and times of the disruption.

On day 1 there will be disruptions to properties between 10am - 4pm.

During this time, we will require you to NOT use any of the bathroom and bathroom fed services, this includes washing machines or dish washers ‘fed’ from the bathroom facilities.

On the second day engineers will carry out non-disruptive remedial completion works from 10am to 4pm.

Residents may wish to store a bath full of water for flushing the toilet on the day of disruptions. This will include opening/turning on of any bathroom taps between 10am until 4pm and the flushing of toilets from 10am – 4pm. Due to the nature of the work involved this may overrun, but you will be informed by our operatives.

Mains drinking water will not be affected.

Every effort will be made to keep noise levels to a minimum during the hours of 10am – 4pm

SMART operatives will visit a number of properties once the work is complete to ensure services have resumed as normal.

Following recent Government advise relating to COVID-19 all engineers will be wearing the correct and necessary PPE. Communal areas that workmen have to access with be sanitised before and after use.

If you require any further information please contact the Project Manager, Steve Hope on 07577 967907, Smarts main office on 01268 206188 or the City Project Manager.

Saturday 16 October 2021

Join the Garden Advisory Group

From the chair of the RCC, with preamble from the chair of the Ben Jonson House Group:

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Barbican Gardens in the news
 


From the Ben Jonson House Group chair:

Dear All,

For many years the Garden Advisor Group has worked with the BEO to maintain our gardens to the highest possible standard.

It's a labour of love and not only brings joy to the residents, but also to the many visitors, who come specially to the Estate, to enjoy the colour and variety of planting.

The gardens get noticed by the press as well, and when I saw a copy of Garden in the dentist's waiting room a few years ago, I forgot all about the impending pain!

The RCC is keen that the GAG continues with this good work and as part of the campaign to Make the Barbican a Better Place, the Chair has asked me to circulate his note below.

Kind regards,
Chair Ben Jonson House Group



From the Residents Consultative Committee (RCC) Chair:

MAKING THE BARBICAN A BETTER PLACE

Click to read the flyer

Dear Neighbour,

Please help create a Better Barbican by volunteering to join the Gardens Advisory Group (GAG) that works with the City Gardens team and residents to enhance the presentation and future development of the Barbican's hard and soft landscaping. This includes the Speed and Thomas More private gardens, plus the planted podium raised beds and planters.

Membership is for three years and residents with specialist knowledge and experience are particularly welcome.

The GAG's work covers six key areas:
  1. Strategic – including details of any future plans for the landscape in the Estate including making recommendations for changes to the Residents' Consultation Committee (RCC)
  2. Quality – contribute to establishing standards for new projects and the on-going maintenance of the current gardens
  3. Operational – see that the agreed quality outcomes are delivered day-to-day and oversee active contribution from residents and other volunteers.
  4. Encouragement – encourage residents to 'green' their personal space on balconies and patios by use of troughs and pots as well as involving them in the communal areas by, for example, resident planting days.
  5. Links – provide a means for links with organisations with a common interest in managing, developing and promoting the Barbican landscape.
  6. Communications – ensure that information about the development of the Barbican landscape is communicated to all residents, that details of how residents can contact the GAG are published in appropriate places and prepare quarterly reports to RCC.

If you would like to know more, or would like to volunteer, please email chairspeedhouse@outlook.com by Friday 5 November stating:
  • Your name
  • The skills/knowledge you have to offer
  • The areas of the working party's activities to which you aim to contribute
  • That you will take the Minutes on a rotational basis
  • If you are a current/prior member of this or another Barbican Working Party
Current and prior members of the GAG are welcome to apply as their valuable knowledge will complement the fresh perspectives brought by new members. Decisions on membership will be made by residents delegated by the Barbican Residents' Consultation Committee.

Thanks for helping to create a Better Barbican.

Chair Residents' Consultation Committee http://democracy.cityoflondon.gov.uk/mgCommitteeDetails.aspx?ID=188


Barbican Podium Phase 2 - Oct Newsletter

 It seems that we are to have newsletters for the Phase 2 podium resurfacing works:

Click to read the newsletter

On the bright side, the newsletter confirms that the Yellow Shed is still in the crosshairs.

And drainage gets a mention too, but only to say that there will be a survey as part of the phase 2 works vs. not even starting the tile replacement until the drains are fixed.


The future of the CPAs - meeting 21st Oct 19:30

The City of London is going through another round of using their accounting model for the car parks to justify cutting Car Park Attendant (CPA) services.

Below is an update from Mark Wheatley in 3 parts:
  • A covering letter
  • A call to a meeting:  Frobisher Suite, level 4, Barbican Arts Centre Thu 21 Oct - 19.30 to 21.00
  • A BRC resolution on the matter
Location of the Frobisher Suite




The Covering Letter

Dear All,

Again, thank you for corresponding with me to share your concerns about the two consultations over the car park attendants and future service models for that area (with regard to the 'concierge +' aspects of the CPA work).

As before, this email is sent on a personal basis rather than 'for' the Corporation of London or the Barbican Residential Committee (BRC). It has three parts and is quite long (apologies). After this introduction, I share the notification which Corporation colleagues are sending through formal channels and then attach the resolution submitted to the BRC.

As I believe you will be aware a resident-led task and finish (T&F) group has now led deliberations and presented a resolution to the Barbican Residential Committee (BRC) which I chair.

I am pleased to say that proposal - copied below this email - was accepted by the BRC last Friday.

So, we can now invite you to join the public meeting which was promised some weeks ago. The meeting will be jointly chaired by me and Adam Hogg of the Barbican Association.

This meeting is to enable us to listen to your views before decisions are taken on the resolution copied below (presented by the Residential Consultative Committee to the Barbican Residential Committee of the City of London Corporation).

The meeting will not be filmed/live-streamed but - per below - we will capture comments made in person and will be happy to take your thoughts into consideration if you prefer to email them to me.

We do also intend to hold formal resident consultation on final proposals before any implementation, so this will not be your only opportunity to shape the future service model.

We very much welcome your input. I hope that you have a lovely weekend.

Very best regards,

Mark


The call to a meeting


BARBICAN RESIDENTS' MEETING
Frobisher Suite, level 4, Barbican Arts Centre
Thursday 21 October 2021 - 7.30pm to 9.00pm

The Chair and Deputy Chair of the Barbican Residential Committee (BRC), Mark Wheatley and Michael Hudson, cordially invite residents of the Barbican Estate to join them for an open 'public' meeting. The meeting will be co-chaired with Adam Hogg of the Barbican Association.

The purpose of the meeting is essentially to give residents the opportunity to raise and discuss any areas of concern they may have with the City of London Corporation's (the Corporation) management of the Barbican Estate especially, in light of the recent proposals put forward for the future management of the Barbican Car Parks. We will also update attendees on the current situation and plans for moving forward.

We are particularly keen to hear your ideas on how we can work together collaboratively to bring about real improvements to the condition and future management of the Barbican Estate whilst, at the same time, identifying opportunities for both achieving the cost savings required by the Corporation and, addressing the significant annual losses incurred by the Corporation in managing and maintaining the much underused Barbican car parks.

In order to allow everyone to attend safely and not arrive all at once, doors to the Frobisher Suite will open from 7pm, for a prompt 7:30pm start.

The venue holds a maximum of 160 people and in order to keep a track on numbers, anyone wishing to attend, please

RSVP the Barbican Estate office using this link

Maps are attached above showing the main entrance where people would usually enter, and directional signage will also be displayed around the Barbican Centre to get people to level 4 where the meeting rooms are located.

For anyone not able to attend, we will be capturing comments and these will be shared with everyone after the event.

We very much hope you can join us for what we hope will be a useful, open and useful discussion.

Mark Wheatley, Chair of the BRC
Michael Hudson, Deputy Chair of the BRC



The BRC Resolution

The Resolution:

RESOLVED, that –The Barbican Residents' Consultation Committee are asked to note that the terrace block representatives on the Barbican Residents' Consultation Committee (RCC) have voted in favour of retaining the current number of Estate Concierges.

'We will support the City of London Corporation in levying a one-off surcharge on terrace block leaseholders, to cover the pro-rata share (for the remainder of the 2021/2022 financial year) of the direct costs of employment of the 6 Estate Concierge roles scheduled to be removed, pending more detailed negotiations between service charge payers and the City Corporation. These costs were estimated by the Barbican Estate Office to be approximately £232,000 per year.

This is being offered as a matter of goodwill and is not an acceptance that the City Corporation would be entitled to reduce services in this way, or of the calculation of the terrace block car park inputs and outputs used to arrive at service charges. If an agreement is reached with the City Corporation, service charge payers will ask for a commitment (from the City Corporation) to that agreement in writing.

In consideration of accepting the one-off surcharge, service charge payers would ask City Officers to work flexibly and imaginatively with the RCC to find a longer term solution to this issue, within the structure of the current lease and freehold transfers, and to assist the RCC Service Charge Working Party in finding ways to significantly reduce service charges, without materially affecting the level or quality of front line services offered by the Barbican Estate Office'.

The representatives from Cromwell, Shakespeare and Lauderdale Towers asked for their abstentions to be recorded.

Thursday 30 September 2021

Removal and delivery of transformer to Barbican Exhibition Halls

From the City:
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We are writing to inform you of the removal and delivery of transformers to the Barbican Exhibition Halls. This work will require large lorries parking at 86 Golden Lane.
  • The removal of the existing transformer will take place on 6 October 2021
  • The delivery of the new transformer will take place on 25 October.
Road closures will take place for both of these deliveries but will only be in place for a couple of hours.

If you have any questions about the works, please do get in touch with info@barbicanprojects.co.uk or call 0800 772 0475.

With best wishes

Barbican Projects Hub

Friday 10 September 2021

Friday 27 August 2021

Barbican Podium Phase Two - what drainage problem?

The City have produced a summary of the feedback they received in their consultation, and there is no mention at all of the matter of FIXING THE DRAINS before they press ahead with their sexy big budget project despite earlier explicitly acknowledging the matter

Click to read the whole document


Beech Street Zero Emission Scheme - reversed for now

A recent letter from the City explains that due to the combination of administration mistakes and a legal challenge the current 'experimental' Zero Emission Zone scheme will revert to allowing all traffic:
"The experiment (which can only last a maximum of 18 months) will conclude on 18 September. Beech Street will then reopen to general traffic and the closures at the junctions with Golden Lane and Bridgewater Street will be removed."
Here is the full text of the letter:
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Dear Occupier

As you may know, the experimental traffic order (ETO) for the Beech Street zero emission scheme has been the subject of two legal challenges. The first, a statutory challenge of the validity of the ETO, was heard in October 2020. 

The judge found that while the ETO was valid and could continue, the City Corporation could not follow the usual “truncated” process for making an ETO permanent due to non-compliance with two procedural regulations. The first was that the ETO documents were not available for public inspection at Guildhall between 23 March and 22 April 2020 (during the first Covid-19 lockdown). The second was that the City Corporation did not provide an adequate statement of reasons to explain why the ETO was being introduced. The consultation carried out in respect of the ETO was found to be compliant with legal requirements. 

As a result of this finding, if it was decided to promote a permanent traffic order with the same effect as the experimental zero emission scheme, it would be necessary to follow a separate process to introduce a new traffic order. 

The second legal challenge was a judicial review of the decision by the Streets & Walkways SubCommittee in February 2021 to continue the experimental zero emission scheme. This was heard on 29 and 30 June 2021. The judgement, issued on 10 August, concludes that the experiment remains valid and dismisses the claim. 

An interim order issued when the judicial review was granted permission to proceed, prevented us from undertaking any further work on a permanent scheme that replicates the current experiment. As a result, planned public consultation on a potential permanent scheme for Beech Street was put on hold. The recent judgement means that we can resume work on a potential permanent scheme. 

The experiment (which can only last a maximum of 18 months) will conclude on 18 September. Beech Street will then reopen to general traffic and the closures at the junctions with Golden Lane and Bridgewater Street will be removed. 

Islington Council will be reviewing the ETO in relation to Fortune Street and will write to its residents both in Fortune Street and the surrounding area to advise whether the restriction on Fortune Street will also be removed on the 18 September. 

We will continue to monitor the Beech Street experiment between now and the 18 September. Despite the impacts of Covid-19, the experiment has enabled us to collect useful data on traffic and air quality and to understand the impact of the scheme on resident access and deliveries.

We are investigating whether it will be possible to retain the new central reservation gaps (for Lauderdale Place and Shakespeare/Defoe car park) on Beech Street. This will be subject to an independent road safety audit. 

Infrastructure changes made for the experiment, such as the new cameras and signage, will be left in place but disabled, so that these can easily be reused if a decision is taken to proceed with a similar permanent scheme in the future. 

The project team and your elected members remain committed to improving air quality on Beech Street and in the wider area. We plan to launch a consultation on options for Beech Street before the end of the year. Some of these options could be relatively quick to implement. At the same time, we plan to begin engagement to understand aspirations for wider changes to improve air quality and the experience of walking, cycling and spending time in the Barbican and Golden Lane area. 

In the meantime, we are continuing to progress separate improvements to the zebra crossing on Golden Lane and the Fann Street and Brackley Street junctions with Golden Lane. 

Please do not hesitate to contact the project team if you have any questions at beech.street@cityoflondon.gov.uk 

Many thanks 
Ian Hughes 
Deputy Director, Transportation and Public Realm

Thursday 19 August 2021

Farewell Vision Fibre Media (VFM)

Here is the farewell email from the Vision Fibre Media (VFM) people:

___

Good afternoon Barbican Estate residents,

We wanted to get in touch to let you know that we are handing over all communications regarding your broadband, TV infrastructure and telephone services to 4th Utility today.

4th Utility now have full control of the network and will cover all support queries with their 24-7-365 UK based Customer Care team.

From today we will be closing the support@visionfibremedia.com inbox as all support emails will be dealt with via 4thUtility. Any outstanding tickets logged prior to today are already on the system and will be addressed. Please save support@4thu.co.uk on your email safe list.

What do I do next?

4th Utility have been sending out emails in batches to VFM customers from the email address barbican@4thu.co.uk with a URL / link unique to you showing your account details on their website www.4thutility.co.uk.

Customers need to be migrated from the VFM legacy billing platform on to 4th Utility billing platform, and it needs to be done manually due to GDPR. Once customers click on the link they have been sent in the email, they can check their package is correct and input their payment details.

Billing will not commence until your September invoice so please do not cancel any existing payments as this will be done for you after the last payment in August automatically.

If you have any further questions, not received your link or would like any more information, please do not hesitate to get in touch using the information below.

24/7/365 dedicated support team:
Tel: 0800 102 6223

Email: support@4thu.co.uk
barbican@4thu.co.uk

Kind Regards



Sunday 15 August 2021

Fortune Street Park Survey

Fortune Street Park Survey

The London Borough of Islington wants to hear your views about Fortune Street Park! Please take a few moments to complete their survey at www.islington.gov.uk/ fortunestreetpark and help inform concept designs for improvements.

The survey closes on 13 September.

Looking South West

Looking North East

 




Reporting Podium Lights on the Estate

From the BEO:
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Reporting Podium Lights on the Estate

As some of you may be aware all Podium light issues are the responsibility of our colleagues in the Highways Department of the Built Environment.

In order to improve upon the present working methods, a dedicated email address was created to report these lighting issues on the Barbican Estate.

May we ask residents to continue to please help us with reporting and use the following email address dbebarbicanlighting@cityoflondon.gov.uk for this purpose and contact the team directly, if any light concerns are seen on the Podium.

Please can we ask that you also copy in your House Officer, so that they may track and follow up on the repairs on your behalf.

This inbox is monitored on a daily basis via the electrical group which in turn allows them to address problems as soon as possible, whilst also providing direct feedback.

We hope you will continue to assist us in this way of working, which allows us to manage things more proactively.

Noisy Work Hours

The rules for noisy works (e.g. using power tools) have been updated.  In particular there is no longer a defined quiet period from 12:00 to 14:00 for resident/private contractor work.

I understand the quiet period was dropped because it was deemed to be unenforceable.  If you are being disturbed by works and/or need some quiet time to work (e.g. for a meeting) the recommendation now is that you knock on the door of the flat which is the source of the noise and ask for some quiet time, or that you ask the BEO or your house officer to contact the flat for you.

From the BEO
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Noisy Work Hours

Barbican Contractors: 9am – 5pm

Works carried out by our contractors (Metwin etc). They will try to not start before 10am but certain works need a full day to complete and may have to start from 9am. Emergency Works may have to take place outside of these hours.

Residents Private Contractors: 10am-4pm

Alterations in Leaseholder's flats (please note there is no quiet period). If there are complaints of noisy work starting before 10am or after 4pm please contact the House Officer for your block.

City: 

8am – 6pm eg road works, gas, electric water repairs & work not controlled by the Barbican Estate Office.
(Quiet times of 10-12 and 2-4 stipulated)

Eyebolt testing - Aug 16th & 17th

From the BEO:
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Eyebolt Testing 2021

Ben Jonson House and Shakespeare Tower

Eyebolt testing for abseiling will start as below, on the following blocks:

Week 3
  • August 16 - 17 Ben Jonson House
  • August 18 - 20 Shakespeare Tower

The eyebolts are tested to ensure that they are safe and fit for use for abseil, during the window cleaning process.

Please DO NOT REMOVE any tags on the eyebolts as these denote the test date. Please download the six month schedule from the website here, in the residents' information pack under the cleaning and recycling tab.

Saturday 31 July 2021

Barbican Prohibition Signs

From the BEO:
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Barbican Prohibition Signs



The new Barbican Prohibition Signs finally received planning consent on the 6 July and have been ordered. There are enamel, colourful measuring 300mm x 600mm approx. 1 foot high x 2 feet in width and scheduled to arrive by the end of August.

The new signs will be sited in approved locations in the main 'problem areas' of the estate where skateboarding, parkour, cycling and other forms of anti-social incidents have occurred most frequently. Wherever possible they will be sited nearby to the existing byelaw signs.

They will be erected in the agreed locations across the estate in early September.

Asbestos Remedial Works - Ben Jonson

From the BEO:
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Asbestos Remedial Works - Ben Jonson Lift Lobbies

Asbestos remedial works are required in the following lift lobbies and staircases during the below dates – works are within EDA cupboards and residents will not be able to enter or exit the block via these lift lobbies / staircases while the works are carried out and will need to use an alternative entrance / exit for the block.
  • 9 August - Staircase 61 – Landing between Podium and 02 Level
  • 10 August - Staircase 62 – Landing between Podium and 02 Level
  • 11 August - Staircase 63 – Landing between Podium and 02 Level
  • 12 August - Staircase 64 – Main lift lobby at 02 level.
Please note, lifts will not stop on the floor where the works are being carried out on each day, no more than one area will be worked on at the one time to minimise disruption to residents. Works will be carried out between 9am and 4pm.

Eton Environmental will be carrying out the works on behalf of the Barbican Estate.

If you have any questions ahead of these works, please do not hesitate to contact the Project Manager via steven.murray@cityoflondon.gov.uk or 020 7029 3915.

VFM Support -> 4th Utility Support

VFM have been taken over by an outfit called 4th Utility.

The contact details for support have changed.  There are reports that the VFM contact numbers / email addresses are already defunct, so use the 4th Utility numbers / email addresses from now on ...
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We have been made aware of some Barbican customers unsuccessfully trying to contact VFM to report problems.

We are happy to help with any queries you may have regarding your broadband, Freesat, Freeview or SKY TV and have set up new dedicated contact methods for Barbican residents.

Please, discard any existing contact information you have and use our new freephone 0800 102 6223 and email address barbican@4thu.co.uk

Please be aware we are currently in a transition phase and do not have full access to the network. In some cases, we are still reliant for support for issue resolutions from the previous provider. We are working towards getting full control as soon as possible, so that Barbican residents can experience an improved service.

It is our intention to maintain current pricing levels, but offer a wider range of broadband service offerings, from which customers can choose to upgrade if they so wish.






Tuesday 13 July 2021

Barbican Podium Phase Two & The Drains - the city responds!

I sent an email message to the Barbican Projects Team regarding their plans to start work on tackling Beech Gardens MkII (resurfacing the eastern part of the north highwalks).  In particular I asked for an assurance that the drains would be fixed before any work starts on the big budget membrane installation project.  I also asked if they would be removing the Yellow Shed too.

I got a response, and it seems very positive, including a link to a webinar due to be held on 20th July:
___  

Thank you for getting in touch and I hope this email finds you well. This project will cover the public realm in the vicinity of Ben Jonson Place, Breton and Cromwell High Walk.

Replacing the existing waterproofing membrane is a priority as the existing membrane has deteriorated and is no longer able to protect the concrete structure or the occupied spaces beneath it from water ingress.

To confirm, improvement work will be undertaken to the existing drainage infrastructure. Remedial improvement to the drainage infrastructure is an essential part of the project as we have identified disruption to the drainage system, which can cause ponding and deterioration to the surface finishes. The sequence of the works is under careful consideration be our appointed design team

I also confirm that we are removing the yellow link building, located between Ben Jonson House and Frobisher Crescent. This is necessary to effectively undertake waterproofing and drainage work at the podium level. Its removal will provide an opportunity to improve access, legibility and circulation across the podium and to introduce additional areas of greening.

Letters are being distributed this week, informing residents that a webinar will be taking place next week (20 July) relating to the podium project.

To sign-up for the webinar, please visit our website: https://www.barbicanprojects.co.uk

Best wishes

Saturday 10 July 2021

Beech Gardens MkII ... will the drains be fixed first?

 In a recent letter the City tell us that their "Barbican Projects Team" will be launching a couple of projects.  One is to fix up the electrical gubbins in the exhibition halls, the other is to resurface the eastern part of the north highwalk; Beech Gardens Mk II.

The resurfacing of the western end of the north highwalk, around Beech Gardens, failed to prevent flooding ... because the City failed to fix the drains before starting on the project (or subsequently).  Even if the new hi-tech Beech Gardens membrane worked perfectly (which it does not) it would merely contain the surface water which does not drain away (instead it mostly evaporates), and indeed we can all observe the long lived puddles and lakes after any reasonably heavy rainfall.

Before starting any sexy new resurfacing projects the City really must fix the drains.

... and once the drains are fixed, and surface water no longer lingers, I suspect most of the 'leaks' the resurfacing works are supposed to fix will simply disappear.

The "Barbican Projects Team" can be contacted on info@barbicanprojects.co.uk.  I'll write to ask if they will commit to fixing the drains before moving on to the ( bureaucrat resume boosting) big resurfacing works.

Here is the bit of the letter regarding the resurfacing:

Click to read the whole letter


Anti-social behaviour stats across the estate

The Barbican Association (BA) recently launched their Anti-Social Behaviour Reporter website which, as the name suggests, can be used to report anti-social behaviour incidents.

The chair of the BA has published a letter showing incidents reported so far.

As reported in the BEO newsletter ...
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Security Matters – July 2021

The Barbican Estate Security Committee and I are pleased to have been able to launch the Anti-Social Behaviour Reporter last month and we are also encouraged to see that a number of residents from various houses across the estate have already started to use this bespoke website to record ASB incidents.

Between the 19 and 30 June a total of 44 ASB incidents were reported. Totals by house and their % of the total were as follows:
  • Ben Jonson 18 incidents (40.9%)
  • Gilbert 7 (15.9%)
  • Defoe 4 (9.1%)
  • Bunyan Court 4 (9.1%)
  • The Postern 3 (6.8%)
  • Andrewes 3 (6.8%)
  • John Trundle Court 2 (4.5%)
  • Seddon 1 (2.3%)
  • Breton 1 (2.3%)
  • Willoughby 1 (2.3%)
In terms of the number of incidents and type of ASB activity reported, the results were as follows:
  • Skateboarding 13 (29.5%)
  • Rowdy Behaviour 8 (18.2%)
  • Parkour 7 (15.9%)
  • Cycling 7 (15.9%)
  • Loud Music/ 1 noisy moped 7 (15.9%)
  • Roller Skating 1 (2.3%)
  • Intimidating Behaviour 1 (2.3%).
A summary report detailing the above is available to view on the Barbican Association’s website , when loaded, click on first report to view the details reported.

Going forward, please continue to use the website link shown below to record any anti- social behaviour activity you may witness across the estate. Please remember, at this stage, the Anti-Social Behaviour Reporter will purely record incidents.

If you witness an ASB incident, please use the website to record the event but if immediate action is also required then you should follow normal procedure i.e. call City of London Police on 101 (or 999 but only if urgent), Barbican Estate Office on 020 7029 3958, City Noise Team on 020 7606 3030.

Any non computer-savvy person should report ASB incidents via their Concierge (CPA or Lobby Porter), who will then feed the information to our website.

Chair, Barbican Estate security Committee

Wednesday 30 June 2021

New charges for parking and storage

From the City/BEO:
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Store & Car Parking Charges


I write to inform you that the Barbican Residential Committee has approved the following, subject to review again in 2022:

Car Parking
  • The Barbican car park charge per parking space has been paused at £1,420 per annum.
  • Motorcycle parking licences will increase to £255 per annum.

Stores in residential blocks (that is, stores not constructed in the car parks)
  • Rents for Stores within residential blocks (standard stores) will increase to £358 per annum.

New Stores in the Car Park
  • Rents for the resident new stores in the car parks will increase to:
    • Large Store £916
    • Extra Large Store £1,300
    • Extra Extra Large Store £1,832
  • Resident Stores in the Car Park
    • Rents for Transportable stores (medium) will increase to £672 per annum.
    • Rents for Large stores (Thomas More Car Park & Brandon Mews) will increase to £861per annum.

Other Storage
  • Bicycle Pod licences will increase to £34 per annum, excluding £25 key deposit.
  • Bicycle Locker licences will increase to £96 per annum, excluding £40 key deposit.

I am therefore giving three months’ notice with this letter that as from 29 September 2021 store and car parking charges will be as stated above and your service charge account will be adjusted accordingly.

Saturday 5 June 2021

Builders Yard - unnecessarily noisy and wasteful?

The use of the builders yard established beneath Ben Jonson House seems to be bizarrely inefficient, noisy and polluting. Is it possible the the contractor has no incentive to use the most efficient practice, and perhaps even the reverse (e.g. charging for additional vehicles and work)?

I have written to the City to suggest how the negative impact of the project and the builders yard can be reduced.  I'll not hold my breath for any practical response, but one can hope. 

Here is the body of my letter:
___

Regarding the repaving works currently underway around the new Denizen flats on Golden Lane:
http://bjhg-blog.blogspot.com/2021/05/builders-yard-with-us-until-october.html

Since we'll be stuck with this project until October (or later if/when the project slips) I'd like to suggest some better work practices which will:
  • Improve efficiency
  • Reduce costs
  • Reduce environmental impact
  • Minimise noise impact on residences
The project is to work around the new Denizen flats, replacing the pavement surface. This involves digging up the existing surface, removing the waste material and installing new paving. The work will start at the junction of Golden Lane and Fann Street, proceeding west along Fann Street and follow the path around the Denizen to eventually end up back at the starting point. When viewed from above the project will move anti-clockwise around the Denizen.

The work will proceed by first clearing a few meters of old paving, preparing that area for new paving and then laying the new paving.

The current method in use as I type:
  1. Remove the old paving material and place in a heap on the ground ahead of the current work area
  2. From time to time, shovel the waste into a dumper truck
  3. The noisy dumper truck shuttles back and forth from the work site to the builders yard area beneath Ben Jonson House
  4. … and dumps the waste on the ground
  5. From time to time a noisy truck with a grabber visits the builders yard to scrape up the waste back off the ground and into the back of the truck. The grabber truck waits for some time (engine running) while the dumper noisily makes several top-up trips.
  6. New material is delivered to the builders yard
  7. A noisy forklift shuttles the new material from the builders yard to the work site for installation
Suggested method:
  1. Place a skip ahead of the old paving to be cleared
  2. Remove the old paving material and place it directly in the skip. The skip will be removed from time to time to be replaced with a new skip a little further along.
  3. The materials for the new paving are delivered to an area of pavement (perhaps protected using plywood) behind the current work area.
  4. The cleared area is prepared and new materials installed
  5. Replace any internal combustion powered site vehicles with electric alternatives.
The current method requires all materials to be moved several times:
  • Waste is dug up, dumped on the ground, shovelled into the dumper, noisily shuttled to the builders yard, dumped on the ground again, noisily scraped up again by the grabber and driven away.
  • New material is delivered to the builders yard and shuttled up to the current work site using a noisy fork lift vehicle.
The suggested requires far fewer moves:
  • Waste is dug up and placed in a skip which is removed from time to time
  • New materials are delivered to a point close to where they will be needed
  • ... and any site vehicle still needed (if any) could be electric and thus less polluting
The suggested method saves time and effort for the people on the project and would have a significantly reduced impact on the environment from an air pollution and noise pollution perspective.

Since we’ll have to live with this project until October could we at least minimise the environmental impact and pain caused to residents?

Many thanks

Barbican & Golden Lane - Future Planning

The City has produced a couple of documents regarding their vision for the future of the Barbican and Golden Lane conservation area on which they would like feedback:
See the notice below for details of how the 'consultation' will be run.

The subject area


Here is the notice from the City via the BEO:
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Barbican and Golden Lane Consultations

The City of London Corporation is consulting on two draft guidance documents which relate to the Barbican and Golden Lane Estates:

• Barbican and Golden Lane Conservation Area Character Summary and Management Strategy
• Barbican Arts Centre Listed Building Management Guidelines

To view the documents and find out more information on the consultation please visit the City Corporation website at: https:// www.cityoflondon.gov.uk/bglconsultation

See below for the dates and registration links for the 2 public meetings for the Barbican and Golden Lane Conservation Area Appraisal public consultation.
12pm on 7 June - Click here for link.
6pm on 24 June - Click here for link

We would appreciate your views on either or both of the documents before the end of the consultation period on Friday 9 July 2021.

After the consultation closes comments will be reported to Barbican and Planning and Transportation committees with a proposal to adopt the documents as Supplementary Planning Documents (SPDs).

The consultation will run from Wednesday 12 May until Friday 9 July 2021. If you wish to make representations, please send your comments to: localplan@cityoflondon.gov.uk.

Or in writing to:

Development Plans Team,
Department of the Built Environment,
City of London Corporation,
P.O. Box 270,
Guildhall, EC2P 2EJ

Bulky Waste - where to dump it

From the BEO:
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Managing the Bulky Waste Areas

Residents can take their bulky household items to any of the collection points around the Barbican Estate at the following Car Parks: Bunyan, Garchey lay-by in Beech Street, Cromwell, Thomas More, Andrewes and Willoughby.

Residents leaving items within the bulky point areas across the estate, are responsible for keeping the area tidy and must ensure the bin area and bins are accessible at all times.

If residents have any bulky rubbish or household items they wish to dispose of, they should contact the City of London Corporation's Cleansing Division. By giving five days' notice items will be removed from outside their flat on Tuesdays and Thursdays. There is a small charge for this service. Further information can be found here.

Residents can also dispose of items at Tower Hamlets waste centre. Please check the recycling page on the City website and the A - Z recycling page for further information.

Monday 31 May 2021

Builders Yard - with us until October

The 28th May newsletter from the BEO has an item about "Public Realm Works" which will upgrade the pavements all the way around the new Denizen flats. The builders yard for this project, and the associated mess and noise, is located beneath Ben Jonson House on Golden Lane.

The project is due to last 21 weeks. So we can expect the builders yard to be around until October this year, or longer.

This is clearly quite a large project.  There will even be regular project update email messages if you sign up (see below).  It's a shame the people running the project didn't engage with residents before deciding to export the static noise and mess of the project from the work location around the Denizen to a builders yard beneath our homes.

Here is the notice from the newsletter:
___

Public Realm Works in Fann, Viscount and Brackley Streets and Golden Lane

The works around the Denizen development at 43 Golden Lane started on Monday 24 May and will be delivered in phases to minimise impact on movement in the area, with one way system operating in Brackley, Viscount and Fann streets to accommodate vehicular access.

The works are contained to the footways around the newly completed development at 43 Golden Lane and to the works on Zebra crossing in Golden Lane. The full duration of these works is approximately 21 weeks.

For more information about the project visit www.cityoflondon.gov.uk/goldenlaneworks or email citypublicrealm@cityoflondon.gov.uk

Download the plan of works, you can also sign up to receive our regular project updates directly to your mailbox.

Wednesday 26 May 2021

Builders Yard beneath Ben Jonson House

A builders yard has been established beneath Ben Jonson House in support of works happening on Fann Street.

The builders yard is shown in the image below which shows Golden Lane from beneath Ben Jonson House up to, and beyond Fann St.

There are temporary huts on the west side of Golden Lane close to the main exhibition hall entrance, on the other side of Golden Lane there is a waste storage area.

Waste is taken from the work site on Fann St to the street beneath Ben Jonson House by a dumper truck (which you can see heading south in the image).  The dumper truck tips the waste on the road.  A waste lorry (parked next to the waste heap in the photo) uses a grabber to scrape up the waste and load into the back of the lorry.  The lorry scrapes up the waste which is there when it arrives and then hangs around, engine running, while the dumper truck makes additional trips until the lorry is full.

The newly blocked junction between Beech St and Golden Lane is clearly a very handy place for 'considerate contractors' to dump their stuff.

Is this a wild-cat builders yard or has the City approved it?  Either way, what was the process by which the area beneath our homes was chosen to host this noisy yard, and why has this come as (yet another) complete surprise?

The yard in action

The project engineer for these works is Simon Roliston (sp?) on  +44 207 332 1588
The on-site person in charge is Bradley on +44 788 257 2461

... and rather than the 08:00 morning serenade of the dumper truck being started, could they perhaps use an electric dumper truck?  Surely that would make sense with the builders yard being right next to the ULEZ of the Beech Street tunnel?
 

Sunday 23 May 2021

Your Service Cupboard, and how to use it

The BEO are reminding us again how to use our service cupboards for refuse:
___

Refuse Collection Cupboards

Please place your rubbish bags in the refuse cupboard at the side of your front door, for collection every Monday to Friday before 8.15am as there is only one rubbish collection per day.

In some blocks resident representatives have agreed a variation to the standard service. Contact your House Group representative or House Officer for details.

If you need to dispose of rubbish at the weekends or Bank Holidays, please take it to your bin compound or see your Car Park Attendant or Lobby Porter for directions.

Please be reminded that the waste collection deposit cupboards were designed to do a job and should be used at all times. Residents should not leave rubbish in the corridors, as this is a fire hazard.

Click here for further information on the website.

Beech St. - central reservation works completed

From the BEO
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Completed Central Reservation Works: Beech Street

Please find images of useful access maps for Beech Street from the graphics team within the Department of the Built Environment. They now reflect the recently completed works to the central reservation on Beech Street which allow vehicles going to Lauderdale Place and the Shakespeare Tower/Defoe House car park to come in from Aldersgate Street and undertake a right hand turn.

Car park access

The signs at each end

Friday 14 May 2021

Barbican Centre - Spring Reopening Plans

Looks like we can walk into and through the centre again from Monday.

From the arts centre
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Barbican Centre - Spring Reopening Plans


Following the announcement of the Government's roadmap, the Barbican Centre plan to reopen our doors on Monday 17 May. Before lockdown, 95% of Barbican visitors said they felt safe or very safe here and we’re working to make sure we offer you the safest and most enjoyable visit when we reopen. You can find more information about safety and re- opening information here.

If you don't have a ticket for an event, Residents are still welcome to visit the Barbican Kitchen and Shop, but you will need to check in using the NHS Test and Trace app.

The exact dates / timings of when our catering facilities will be open will be subject to change, depending on current guidance / circumstances, however we'd like to share the following plans for when we hope to open:

w/c 17 May
  • Barbican Kitchen open with at seat ordering service and takeaway (10am to 8.30pm)
  • Cinema Café & Bar open with at seat ordering service and takeaway (10am to 8.45pm)
  • Conservatory pop-up bar with at seat service in conjunction with Conservatory Lates (hours as published)

w/c 24 May
  • Lakeside Picnic Garden open with at seat drinks ordering service (12pm to 8.00pm).
  • Circle Bar open in conjunction with Picnic Garden with some seating in the foyer near the circle bar with at seat drinks ordering.

Mid-June
  • Bonfire open (with limited menu) – exact date TBC
  • Martini Bar open (Thursday to Saturday 5pm-10pm)

Smoke Alarms - check yours

From the BEO
___

Smoke Alarms

Please be aware that leaseholders are responsible for smoke alarms in their flats. City Corporation tenanted flats' detectors are replaced and checked by the Estate Office for electrical safety every five years.

Leaseholders who do not have smoke alarms can ask for a home fire safety visit. This is a service where the London Fire Brigade provide personalised advice about fire safety. It's free, available 24/7, and they can even fit free smoke alarms if people need them.

Please click here for more details.

For more fire security information across the estate please see the website.

Drain surveys continue ...

From the BEO
___

Update from the Barbican Projects Hub: Surveys occurring next week at the Podium above Beech Street

Following last week’s surveys on the Podium, we would like to inform you that further surveys will be undertaken from Monday 17 May until Friday 21 May, between 09:00 and 17:00.

The surveys involve taking small concrete samples from the Podium surface in the vicinity of Ben Jonson Place, Frobisher Crescent, Breton and Cromwell High Walks.

Similar to last week’s surveys, any affected tiling will be carefully reinstated once work is completed.

We expect there to be some noise associated with breaking out small sections of concrete. If you have any questions, you can get in touch with us by emailing info@barbicanprojects.co.uk.

Sunday 9 May 2021

Drain Survey this week?

From the BEO:
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An Update from the Barbican Projects

Hub: Upcoming surveys on the Podium

We hope that residents enjoyed a relaxing, if windy Bank Holiday weekend.

Investigations and surveys for the waterproofing, drainage and landscaping works on the Podium (above Beech Street) are progressing as scheduled.

These surveys, in the vicinity of Ben Jonson Place, Frobisher Crescent, Breton and Cromwell High Walks are set to commence next week. On the 10, 11 and 12 May, between 09:00 and 17:00, samples will be taken from the Podium surface and any tiles affected will be carefully reinstated.

We expect there to be some noise associated with breaking out small sections of the Podium surface.

If you have any questions you can get in touch with us by emailing info@barbicanprojects.co.uk.

Sunday 2 May 2021

Service Cupboard Asbestos Checks

Every year the BEO check the service cupboard of each flat to make sure that the asbestos in there is safely sealed (i.e. painted over).

The schedule for the checks in Ben Jonson House flats:

  • 13th May - 201-268
  • 14th May - 301-334
  • 17th May - 335-368
  • 18th May - 501-568
  • 19th - 26th May - Communal Areas

The survey working hours will be 09:00 - 17:00 each day.

BEO contacts: Steven Murray (Property Services) or Ella Ashton (House Officer) 

Contractor contacts: R. Mann (Eton Environmental Group) Tel: +44 132 574 4123

Here is the BEO notice:

Click to read the whole notice


 

Feral Pigeons on the Estate

The BEO offer to help with feral Pigeons
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Feral Pigeons on the Estate

We would like to remind you to please contact your House Officer or the Estate Office as soon as possible, should you find feral pigeons nesting on your balcony. Effective management controls will help keep numbers low which in turn keeps maintenance costs down.

To assist in the control of pigeons and seagulls, please do not feed the birds on the highwalks, lawns or in and around the lakes. In particular, please do not feed them on your balconies, as they tend to then roost nearby.

Keeping the balconies clear of twigs and leaves may also help to reduce the chance of any nesting. Contractors visit weekly to control pigeon nesting and use a Harris Hawk to control pigeon numbers.

Please click here for more details in the gardens tab of the Residents Information Pack.

Thank you for your help with this matter.

Saturday 24 April 2021

Beech St. - Works in the tunnel

If you wondered what all that digging and drilling noise was all about ...

From the BEO:
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Beech Street Zero Emission Scheme – central reservation works update

Following feedback from residents we are improving access into properties located on Beech Street. Gaps in the central reservation have been made to allow vehicles to approach from the west (Aldersgate Street), making right hand turns into:
  • Shakespeare and Defoe House car park
  • Lauderdale Place
This will improve access for residents and their guests, delivery drivers and taxis. We are also notifying SatNav companies and Google Maps of the changes to the road layout.

For questions regarding the project email beech.street@cityoflondon.gov.uk

Moving in or out? Don't prop doors

From the BEO:
___

Propping Doors Open and Moving in and Out

Please be aware that propping doors open is a security risk and an inconvenience to other residents.

When planning your move to or out of the Barbican Estate it is advisable to contact the Car Park Attendant or Lobby Porter who can give advice on the following essential details:
  • Parking for your removal van
  • If the van cannot be accommodated in the car park you can apply for special dispensation to park in the street. See contact list (Parking Dispensation).
  • Height restrictions in car parks
  • The times of day during which you can arrange for removals is usually between 8am and sunset.
For further information please check the website here in the Resident Information Pack.