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

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)

Noisy Emergency Works by sc64 (the Waitrose end door)

From the BEO

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Dear Residents

Barbican Centre drainage works at street level 

Whitecross Street staircase 64 Ben Jonson House

We have been advised by the Barbican Centre that they have had to arrange some urgent drainage clearance works (jetting) in the sprinkler plant room accessed from Whitecross Street. This room is located at street level at staircase 64 Ben Jonson House adjacent to the resident’s entrance into the block. The contractor will be using a generator and jetting tools both of which will create noise whilst the works are done.

It may be necessary for the contractors to close one end of the walkway (this is the walkway below the ramp, just past the Cote restaurant) whilst keeping one route open to the Ben Jonson s/c 64 street level door allowing residents to still come and go, they will  have signage to direct residents to the other way in/out if necessary.

The contractor will be on site on Friday 4 December morning carrying out the works to clear the drains, they hope that can have the drains completed and the works completed in one day.

If you have any further queries, please do contact me.

Yours Sincerely

Rebecca Bello
House Officer

City of London Barbican Estate Office, 3 Lauderdale Place, London. EC2Y 8EN

Switchboard 020 7029 3902

email barbican.estate@cityoflondon.gov.uk
www.cityoflondon.gov.uk
www.cityoflondon.gov.uk/beo

Podium Antics - who to call

From the chair of the Ben Jonson House Group:

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Activities on the Podium

This notice is to provide you with the appropriate contacts if you notice activities which should not be taking place on the podium.

Barry Ashton (in charge of Security for the BEO)
Email: Barry.Ashton@cityoflondon.gov.uk
Telephone 0207 029 3920

Please give him details of your observation.

If you consider an urgent response is required, the Barbican Arts Centre have provided a 24/7 number through which residents may alert their security staff.

Telephone 0207 382 7308

The Ben Jonson House Group is aware of concern among residents concerning some of the activities taking place on the Podium. You probably know that skateboarding and cycling are actually prohibited and you may feel that the presence of groups practising free-running can be alarming.

If we are to address this matter, it is important to collect evidence for the authorities to justify some form of preventative action. Although plans are being developed for a simple method of reporting incidents, until they are in place we are recommended to use the contacts above.

I hope you will find this information helpful.

Chair, Ben Jonson House Group

Arts centre flooded - pumps in action

Notice from the Barbican Centre - Emergency Tanker Works

Last weekend on Sunday 5 April the Barbican Centre suffered from a critical failure to some of its pump mechanisms that resulted in substantial flooding.

Due to the nature of the failure, and damage caused, the only interim solution was to remove the waste water by use of an emergency tanker. Some Residents will already be aware, since the generator and pumping from the tanker causes not insubstantial noise. We apologise that this happened on a Sunday however this is a serious flood and has to be rectified as soon as possible.

This situation has been brought under control to an extent and a temporary solution is in place whilst we attempt to replace/repair the pumps (and electrics / control panels). The tanker will remain on site but will only be used in an emergency if the measures fail.

We will continue to update regarding further development.

Arts Centre residents meeting Mon 27 Jan

Notes from the meeting by Wendy Spurry:

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The Arts Centre Residents liaison meeting was held on 27th February.

See:

• Agenda for this meeting 
• Minutes of the previous meeting

Attending from Ben Jonson House: Wendy Spurry and Fiona Lean

Matters Arising:

2.1 4B's - the planning application is still in abeyance. It may be re-submitted in February. The residents reminded the the meeting that there were hundreds of objections to the removal of the signage. 

2.2 kitchen fans - A date still needs to be set with environmental health organisation for a base background level reading of the noise around the affected areas, for use in future in case the noise levels rise again. Jane Smith (BA) will write to them to ask them to undertake a baseline measurement. 

2.3 Planters in the Guildhall area: in the new financial year the art centre is still looking for funding to re-do the planters to mirror those in the Lakeside area. 

3. The outdoor cinema in August: consultation meetings are going ahead with Frobisher Crescent. 

6. Service Road: the gate is in place till 6 am, and between 6 and 7 am it is monitored by the security team. It is closed at midnight until 6 am. Traffic calming measures will be in looked at over the spring and summer period and noise levels will be monitored.

Agenda

3. Lakes
The Art Centre gave an update, informing us that the engine room has been rebuilt, and nearly ready to be switched back on. They will be looking to reinstate the fountains, but will need a month or so of testing. The waterfall will be looked at, with the intention of redirecting the water to reduce the noise for the Brandon house residents. A group has been set up for the waterfall revamp, to check both the noise and the aesthetic side of things.

4. GSMD end of term events
The students hold end of term events, principally in the summer and Christmas. The Christmas events this year were quite lively, and the art centre passed on apologies for any disturbance to residents which occurred in December. The next student event will be more closely monitored, and managed to ensure that noise levels are kept down.

5. Google Maps and location of Barbican Centre 

The maps on Google show incorrect pointers for the Art Centre, the theatre and the Barbican centre itself. The art centre have contacted Google and are reclaiming these pointers to try and put them into the correct places. However this is a generic problem with Google.
The signage towards the Barbican Centre has been altered, and now shows Barbican only. The residents felt that this was leading to additional confusion when visitors are trying to find specific parts of the Barbican.

6. GSMD skip
The skip that was put in place in December, But was quickly filled by rubbish from staff and students. This remained in place until the 20th of January, and was a bit of an eyesore. The Art Centre management pointed out that actually it had been cleared away and replaced after Christmas, but it was quickly refilled! The system is - the skip comes in, the skip is filled up, the skip is taken away. Management will keep an eye on this to ensure that full skips do not hang around and Are cleared away as soon as possible.

7. GSMD light pollution
The lights for Milton Court will be reprogrammed to take down the lighting when the building is not in use. This covers the front of house lighting and lighting in the stairwells. This should reduce the amount of light spilling over towards speed house. 

8. Cladding on the front of Milton Court
High winds brought down a piece of the cladding on the front of Milton Court recently. No one was hurt by this. The landlords have made this safe, and are looking to make some re-designs in order that this should not happen again.

9. Residence reception
The 'estate at 50' events were very successful, and the residents felt that it had added greatly to the prestige of the estate. There is a movement towards having a committee looking at the next 50 years within the Barbican. It's important to look at the estate as a whole unit, and mesh together the upkeep of both the centre and the residents blocks. A workshop may be put together for a review of developments coming up in the future.
The Art Centre Are looking to host a resident reception in 2020, possibly in the summer.It is likely that there will be a reception to give residents a chance to find out what is happening in the centre and showcase what is coming up in the near future.
It was suggested that the resident reception be held in term time and the students of the GSMD and Girls school be invited to perform their work as a central feature of the Reception.

Arts Centre / Barbican Association meeting

House group representatives attended the regular  Arts Centre meeting between the centre and residents (c.f minutes of the previous meeting and the agenda for this meeting). Here are the notes from our representatives:
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Matter arising from last minutes

The death of Robert Barker: all sorry to see him gone as he was very active on many committees. (note: there was no representative of Lauderdale House in attendance to take Rob's place).

The Four B's - new application has been made based on a new proposal for the repositioning of these signs to Lakeside and Level G near Cafe. This was opposed by many of the attendees, and the new application should be opposed by all residents to ensure that these are not removed to the new positions. (I will send around the new application for residents to read and submit any comments to the City of London planning team).

Kitchen fans - a baseline measurement of the noise emitted by these fans is still awaited by the Gilbert House residents.

Lake revamp - due to the flooding of the engine room this has been delayed. However, the Barbican Centre hope to be back on track by the growing season next year (Spring). Then the fountains will come back on. All the pipes and units rebuilt and holes filled around the lake. Part 3 of the Lakeside refurbishment plan can then be started up - to remove all the mud and ensure plants and wildlife are secure. (This should take up to 2 years to complete).

2. Outdoor Programming for 2020

• Open Fest 30/31 may 2020
• Dance Event 25/26 July 2020
• Outdoor cinema - Frobisher court - 30/31 August 2010

All events will have residents consultation meetings to ensure that they have residents interest in mind

3. Barbican at 50

There will be another screening of the Mixtape Resident Film on 24th November at 11 am in Cinema 1. Details will be in the next Podium newsletter. No charge but booking is essential.

4. Management Plans.

The Guildhall management plan is complete. The Barbican Centre plan is still pending as Residents Committee has not signed off. Jane Smith expects this to be done by the end of the month.

5. Beech Street and Silk Street Deliveries

These are still being made prior to 8am. The centre have mead efforts to stop this, but there are still some occurrences. They will look to stop this happening.

6. Bicycling on Lakeside Terrace

Students are cycling around the estate - particularly on the Terrace. Barbican Centre will contact the student union and ask for this to stop.

7. Redirecting public away from Cromwell Tower Lobby

The security staff there are constantly asked about barbican Centre - the signage needs to be improved. This is being addressed by the legible London signage committee. The Barbican Centre will look to see if another sign can be added to direct the pubic to the correct entrance.

There were no matters on AOB.

Culture Mile meeting - 19:00, 26th June

From our common councilors:

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At the recent  Ward Mote meeting it was agreed that there should be a further Ward meeting specifically to discuss the Culture Mile. 

We have been fortunate in that Peter Lisley (Culture Mile Director) and Tim Jones (Culture Mile Manager) have both agreed to speak to us on 26 June at 7pm in the Frobisher Rooms.

Click to read the whole flyer

Culture Mile - Arts Centre Summer Events

The City in the form of the arts centre is kicking of a series of events across the City under the brand "Culture Mile".   The events start from the 16th of this month.

The launch even will be Sound Unbound: "Music will burst from the concert hall and out across Culture Mile’s architectural gems".  This is a sub-series of events over the weekend of 16th and 17th May.

Details of all events are on the Culture Mile web site https://www.culturemile.london/.

Visit the website for details