Tree Hacking - The Denizen wins again

The tree at the corner of Brackley St and Golden Lane is being chopped up.  It's a 'rebalancing' apparently.  Needed because branches had to be removed for the new Denizen building.

I understand that Open Spaces didn't realize how close the proposed Denizen was to the tree during the planning process but they now see the need to dramatically hack the tree back.

The tree early in the hacking.  Hacking van on street.

Post hacking

Denizen construction halted

From Taylor-Wimpey:

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THE DENIZEN- CONSTRUCTION UPDATE

Due to the current pandemic of COVID-19 and the health risk it presents to all people- The Denizen construction site will be stopping operations from today Thursday 26th March until further notice.

The construction site has followed company shut down procedures, there will be 24-hour on-site security present, with members of the McAleer & Rushe site management team also visiting site each day.

Contact details for the site remain as the below-

• Site Manager- Gary Cullen 07767161006 - gary.cullen@mcaleer-rushe.co.uk
• Project Manager- Eoin Gormley 07843955249 - eoin.gormley@mcaleer-rushe.co.uk

In these difficult uncertain times, we thank you for your continuing support, we hope that by taking these measures, we can help all stay safe and return to work when possible

Golden Lane - Denizen heating works

The Denizen block of flats will be provided with a combined heat and power (CHP) feed.  The feed will travel through the Ben Jonson House car park from the western end and connect up with a trench running up Golden Lane to the Denizen block. The trench is currently being (noisily) cut and the pipes laid.   When the trenching works reached Brackley St. access was largely maintained using metal plates over the trench which allowed Taylor Wimpey to keep moving vehicles to their Denizen site; nice for them.  Now the trench has reached the exit ramp from the Ben Jonson House car park access is completely blocked.  No metal plates which would allow us to keep using the exit ramp over weekend and evenings, oh no, instead we get several layers of fencing just to make sure the exit ramp can't be used.

No attempt to minimise the impact for residents

It is true that residents can use the entrance ramp for both getting in and getting out of the car park, but this diminishes safety in and around the car park and is of course inconvenient for residents and the CPAs.  But note that Taylor Wimpey could have accessed their Denizen site via Fann St. ... but it was altogether more convenient for them to use the metal plates to retain access when possible.  Clearly inconvenience counts less for residents.  Thanks City (who licensed the work).  Thanks Taylor Wimpey (a considerate contractor?).

Here is a notice from the BEO which appeared in the 2019-11-22 Estatewide News Bulletin.  Note the email address at the end which is for a bloke who had nothing to do with the licensing or decision making and is probably just there to take/deflect the heat from those who are inconvenienced.

From the BEO:
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Citigen Works in Ben Jonson Car Park

Citigen’s works on Golden Lane are progressing well, and should be cleared by the second week of December. The next phase of works are due to start week commencing 25/11/19 and will take place within the Ben Jonson House basement car park. They will be installing a short length of new heating pipework to serve the Denizen development in Golden Lane, these works are expected to last around nine weeks. To facilitate the works it will be necessary to relocate one of the lockers to a new position and form two new holes in a wall.

Every effort will be made to avoid inconvenience and disturbance to residents. The works are being carried out under the terms of a licence issued by the City of London which includes strict conditions for working hours, noise, deliveries, etc. In the event of a complaint about these works or for further information please contact Graham Humphreys at graham.humphreys@eonenergy.com.

BMH - Wide Load on 1st April - no joke

From Taylor Wimpey
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Wide Load Delivery
Please note that a wide load delivery is planned for 07.00 on Monday 1st April. The vehicle will be parked in the loading bay on Brackley Street and will be unloaded after 8am. The delivery time is such because wide load vehicles are not authorised to travel on the roads between 07.00 and 19.00.

Taylor Wimpey meeting 25th March

From Taylor Wimpey:
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Bernard Morgan House

Neighbourhood Construction Meeting Reminder

This is a reminder of the next neighbourhood construction meeting taking place on Monday 25th March 2019 at 18:30 in the dining hall at Tudor Rose Court, 35 Fann Street, EC2Y 8DY.

Members of the team will be in attendance to give an update on the ongoing works and answer any questions you may have.

If you would like to attend please RSVP to construction@cascadepr.co.uk or call our Freephone number 08081 686 677.

Taylor Wimpey Central London All rights reserved.
Our mailing address is:
construction@cascadepr.co.uk

BMH - Wide Load Delivery on Thu 14th

From Taylor Wimpey:
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WIDE LOAD DELIVERY

Note that a wide load delivery to the BMH site is due to take place on Thursday 14th February at 7am. The loading bay will be in Brackley Street in the road closure and works will not commence until 8am according to consented standard working hours. The reason for the early delivery is because wide load trucks have to be off the road from 7am to 7pm.

BMH: Noisy Marketing Suite?

It seems that Taylor Wimpey wanted to have a marketing suite for The Denizen which would be powered for the next two years by a site generator.  Taylor Wimpey claimed this would not cause a nuisance put people were worried about noise and air pollution.

It now seems the City has agreed with Taylor Wimpey to get mains power laid on for their marketing suite.

But to be sure you may wish the let the City know your views.  Remember that to make your view count you must call it an "objection".

The planning application is 18/00237/FULL

Write to: PLNComments@cityoflondon.gov.uk

BMH - Diesel Generator for marketing suite

From the chair of the Breton House Group:

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Taylor Wimpey which is planning to build its 99-flat monstrosity, aka The Denizen, has applied for planning permission to build a two-storey marketing suite at the corner of Viscount Street and Brackley Street. 

Although the suite will still be there in the next decade, the applicant intends to use a diesel generator for electricity, instead of connecting to the mains supply. When asked at the last Construction Liaison Group meeting if it would use a mains supply instead, the answer was a blunt "no".

City Corporation's Environmental Health Officer, Hazel Austin, raised no concern with the generator polluting the air. But she was concerned with noise pollution, requiring the use of the generator to be limited to 10.00 to 18.00, although, according to Taylor Wimpey, the weekend use will be 10.00 to 16.00.

I raised the air pollution concerns with Hazel and she replied:

"Having confirmed with the site, there currently is no mains power available. I have however been informed, once mains power is available, the generator will be removed from site. At this time there is no timescales for this."

Details of the planning application are here. Please object by demanding the suite is connected to mains electricity before it is used for the first time. Not only will mains connection avoid pollution, it will also eliminate the noise from the generator.

Click to read the whole notice

Court case dropped - Denizen to go ahead

The Save Golden Lane Consortium have dropped the court case to block Taylor Wimpey from building the Denizen.  Construction may now proceed.

The case was not, in the end, judged on it's merits.  It simply came down to money.  The City and developer had deeper pockets.


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Update on Save Golden Lane

Dear Friends and Neighbours and everyone who has so generously supported our campaign,

OPEN (Golden Lane)'s application to the High Court, for a judicial review of the City's grant of planning permission to Taylor Wimpey to build The Denizen, will not be proceeding any further.

We have received further legal advice, including advice from a second independent and highly experienced specialist QC, that the strengths of the legal claim are outweighed by the real risk of losing the claim and being liable for potentially substantial legal costs.

We have very reluctantly accepted that advice and, to avoid further expense, reached an agreement with the City and Taylor Wimpey to discontinue our claim without any payment of costs.

We have got this far by generous public donations. Even if we were to convince a Court at this stage that our claims are at least arguable, the further public donations which would be needed to proceed to a full trial would be put at risk.

The legal advice which we have received is based solely upon analysis of the processes adopted by the City when granting the planning permission. It has nothing to do with the merit or quality of Taylor Wimpey's dreadful scheme because, however bad it is, the Court has no power to intervene on that ground. Planning Committees have a very wide discretion when granting planning permission and they are, in summary, "entitled to foul it up provided they do so properly" as they have done here.

We are deeply unhappy to have had to discontinue our claim. Nevertheless our campaign has successes to celebrate.

• The City was forced to agree that, once sales of the new flats commence, the schemes financial viability will be reviewed with Taylor Wimpey's affordable housing contribution potentially increasing to over £11million;
• the designation of two new Conservation Areas is now progressing;
• the community across the Golden Lane and Barbican estates has been united in a common purpose and has a stronger voice which the City can no longer ignore;
• we have raised awareness and attracted widespread support which has recognised the importance of the issues we have raised and the uniqueness of our locality;
• we have started to expose the conflicts of financial interests which exist within the City, and to learn who we can and cannot trust;
• we have acquired new skills which we will use for greater community benefit;

We will continue to campaign against those who promote and allow schemes like the Denizen which damage homes and families, which damage the natural and historic environment and which fail to provide the benefits which the public need and are entitled to.

Sincere thanks and best wishes to you all

from us all at

OPEN (Golden Lane) Ltd and the Save Golden Lane Consortium
@savebmh
opengoldenlane.blogspot.co.uk


Note: OPEN Golden Lane is a not-for-profit company [Organisation for Promotion of Environmental Needs (Golden Lane) Ltd.] which campaigns for excellence in the quality of the local built environment, public space, public services and public amenities. It takes action to ensure that changes to these have proper regard to the needs of local residents and businesses and the maintenance of a sustainable residential and business community. Its members include representatives of local organisations which share OPEN Golden Lane's objectives

Bernard Morgan House meeting 20th Feb 2018

A Ben Jonson House committee member took notes at the Feb 20th meeting about what was the site of Bernard Morgan House, and is now the building site for the proposed Denizen block of flats:
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Here are brief notes of this meeting for residents with the construction company for the Denizen.

Construction firm McAleer and Rushe introduced themselves by showing examples of prestigious and large scale buildings of various kinds for which they had been responsible. Aim was to imply local residents could have confidence in their standards of work. This presentation was curtailed by objections from residents who perceived it as irrelevant to concerns they had. Questions were raised about firm's experience of affordable or social housing, although not planned for Denizen. "Affordable" clarified as 80% of market rent. Strong feelings persist about absence of social or affordable housing on this site.

Discussion proceeded to plans submitted to CoL for access/egress from site during construction expected to take approx. 2 years 3 mths. Residents have been reasonably satisfied with use of Brackley St during demolition period. Construction will generate more traffic including articulated lorries. The plan is for all this traffic to access the site using a one way system via Fann St from Aldersgate St through to the site and exiting onto Golden Lane. The midway gate would be opened as needed to allow site traffic to pass, and closed after it by traffic marshals.

Very strong objections were expressed to this plan on account of danger to the many pedestrians and cyclists who use this route, as well as disruption to the main road access to Golden Lane Estate. Concern was also expressed about vulnerable residents of Tudor Rose Court and the need for ambulance access.

The East end of Fann St. is to be made narrower by an extension of the site hoarding to provide loading/ unloading space and the crane to be installed will operate within the site borders.

Mention was made of possible mitigating plans e.g. a green fence to the upper playground on Golden Lane Campus, improvements to Fortune Park, but nothing definite.

The Hatching Dragons Nursery is to move.

The next meeting is set for 20.3.18

BMH: Taylor Wimpey newsletter 5

Click to read the newsletter

BMH Court hearing 1st March at the Royal Courts of Justice

From OPEN Golden Lane here is an update on the legal fight challenging the City planning approval of the Taylor Wimpey Denizen apartment block on the site of (the now demolished) Bernard Morgan House.  You can read more on the Open Golden Lane blog, but here is the update:
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Update on Save Golden Lane

Click to go to the donations page

Dear Friends and Neighbours

Many thanks for your continuing support.

We now have the Court date for our application for judicial review. The Court hearing is on 1st March at the Royal Courts of Justice in the Strand WC2A 2LL.

The hearing is in public and we will be able to publish the time and the court room number the day before.

Our claim is a challenge to the loss of sunlight to our local school and park's open spaces and to our homes, the lack of on-site affordable housing and the financial contribution to off-site affordable housing being less than 50% of the City's policy requirement and the damage which this gross over-development will cause to a unique area of post-war heritage architecture.

Our claim will be argued by our very experienced and specialist barrister, Matthew Horton QC, who has the reputation as a "Brilliant heavyweight advocate, who has a great presence and thinks outside the box"

However we can't win this case without money! Please help by donating towards our legal costs. This claim is not only about the damage to our local community but has far reaching importance.

A win will be a blow against property speculation and Londoners being priced out - we need social rented accommodation for people not luxury investment apartments left empty.

It will be a blow against those seeking to damage our architectural heritage and steal our sunlight by over-development.

It will be a blow against corporate governments which seek to exploit community assets for their own benefit.

For far too long the Corporation of London has ignored the community's views and needs in preference to the views of developers. This has to change. If we win this battle there will be far reaching consequences for other developments.

Please help support this campaign (donate here) and put a stop to communities being ignored and the development of more unnecessary overdeveloped luxury investment properties. We need affordable homes here not cash boxes in the sky.

Please help to spread the word by forwarding this email or sharing the link with 5 of your friends or post on Facebook or twitter.

Many thanks for your support.

The Golden Lane Consortium

More information can be found here

OPEN (Golden Lane)

BMH: Taylor Wimpey newsletter 4

Click to read the newsletter

BMH Work Schedule w/c Mon 18th Dec

BMH demolition continues, and still no news on the high court action.

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Monday 18th to Friday 22nd December

• Core drilling and breaking holes to floors and walls to secure cladding with straps.
• Scaffold striking to reduce the scaffold as the demolition progresses through the building.
• High level demolition to main tower.
• Processing of demolition arisings.
• Removal of demolition arising via Brackley Street.
• Deliveries and collections as per Construction Traffic Management Plan.

The consented standard working hours are:
Monday to Friday 08.00 to 18.00

Saturday 09.00 to 14.00

No Sunday work

Consented quiet times are

Monday to Friday 10.00 to 12.00

Monday to Friday 14.00 to 16.00

Site Manager, Gary Telford on +44 797 615 0854.

BMH Work Schedule w/c Mon 11th Dec

It looks like some actual demolition is about to start. Still no news on the high court action.
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Monday 11th to Friday 15th December

• Core drilling and breaking holes to floors and walls to secure cladding with straps.
• Scaffold erection for demolition fans on Fann Street and Brackley Street.
• High level demolition to main tower.
• Processing of demolition arising at basement level.
• CCTV cameras set up around the hoarding boundary.
• Time-lapse camera will be set up.
• Deliveries and collections as per Construction Traffic Management Plan.

BMH: Demolotion plan for the week

Here is a schedule of planned works from Taylor Wimpey.

I think the legal appeal is still with the high court.   I don't know if Taylor Wimpey will hold off pending a decision.  I guess we'll see.
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Monday 4th to Friday 8th December

• Wall removal along the boundary of the site with Brackley Street and Viscount Street and additional hoarding erection.
• Scaffolding erection to roof level on Fann Street and Brackley Street frontages.
• Completion of site welfare and accommodation facilities.
• Soft strip of the ground floor.
• Demolition to lower levels of the building.
• Demolition of the main building is expected to commence.

Working Hours
The consented standard working hours are:
Saturday 09.00 to 14.00
No Sunday work
Monday to Friday 08.00 to 18.00

Consented quiet times are
Monday to Friday 10.00 to 12.00
Monday to Friday 14.00 to 16.00

Contact Details
For urgent matters please contact GLD's Site Manager, Gary Telford on 07976 150854.

For all other issues please contact us at:
Email: construction@cascadepr.co.uk
Freephone: 08081 686 677
Website: www.bernardmorganhouseconstruction.co.uk

BMH: Demolition machine has arrived

The machine which will do much of the primary demolition work on Bernard Morgan House was delivered today.

The munching machine

BMH: Sat 2nd Dec heavy plant delivery

Taylor Wimpey find it to me more convenient for them to deliver their heavy equipment over the weekend.  

The machine being delivered is the primary demolition machine; it has a very long arm with powerful hydraulic pincers at the end.  The idea is that the pincers can fairly quietly crush the concrete structure of Bernard Morgan House.  I suspect it will be less quiet when the crushed chunks drop down to ground level, but we'll see.

Also worth noting that the courts have not yet delivered an opinion on the validity of the City's permission for the demolition, so it's possible that the machine delivered on Saturday will have to be simply removed again having done no damage.  We'll see.

Here is the notice from Taylor Wimpey about their noisy work:

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Dear Neighbour

I write to update you that a high reach excavator will be delivered to the site this Saturday (2nd December) between 9am and 2pm. Due to the size of the delivery this will need to be made when the roads are quieter and the arrangements have been agreed with the City of London. Traffic marshalls will be in place to ensure that the delivery is made as safely as possible and reduce any potential disruption for neighbours.

Taylor Wimpey Central London are committed to keeping the local community up to date and will continue to keep you informed as works progress. If you would like any further information please do not hesitate to contact us at construction@cascadepr.co.uk or call our Freephone number 08081 686 677

Kind regards
Chris Rumsey
For and on behalf of Taylor Wimpey Central London

BMH - Heavy equipment arriving tomorrow

From Taylor Wimpey
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Dear Neighbour

As part of our ongoing commitment to keeping residents informed of the works at Bernard Morgan House I write to update you that a delivery of large plant will be made to the site on the afternoon of Tuesday 28th November. This has been agreed with the City of London and the delivery is expected to be made at 12pm. Traffic marshalls will be in place to manage the delivery.

We anticipate that the delivery will be unloaded and the low loader moved away by 1pm. Please note that the timings will be subject to traffic. The contractors will endeavour to ensure that the delivery is made as safely as possible and reduce any disruption for neighbours.

If you would like any further information please do not hesitate to contact us at construction@cascadepr.co.uk or call our Freephone number 08081 686 677.

Kind regards
Chris Rumsey
For and on behalf of Taylor Wimpey Central London

Bernard Morgan House - Demolition Begins?

Taylor Wimpey announce that they will start demolishing Bernard Morgan House from Monday 27th
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The Prior to Commencement (PTC) planning requirements have now been signed off by the City of London. Demolition works on Bernard Morgan House are expected to begin on Monday 27th November.

From now until Monday 27th November, there will be increased activity at Bernard Morgan House as the demolition contractors, GLD, mobilise and undertake preparatory works.

These works will include the demolition of the wall and palisade fence along Brackley Street and Viscount Street to allow for the delivery and set up of the welfare units and installation of the hoarding. This is currently planned for Monday 20th November 2017.

We are committed to continuing to update the community and further details of works due to take place will be provided through the Bernard Morgan House Weekly Updates.

As such please see details below about the neighbourhood drop-in session arranged specifically for these works starting on site.

If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact us on the details below.

Email: construction@cascadepr.co.uk
Freephone: 08081 686 677
Website: www.bernardmorganhouseconstruction.co.uk

Working Hours

The consented standard working hours are:
Saturday 09.00 to 14.00
No Sunday work
Monday to Friday 08.00 to 18.00

Consented quiet times are
Monday to Friday 10.00 to 12.00
Monday to Friday 14.00 to 16.00