Join the Garden Advisory Group

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

___

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.