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.

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.

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

EV Charging Questionnaire

The Barbican Residential Consultation Committee (RCC) have launched an EV Charging questionnaire

It's here

If the questionnaire does not get a good response the City will think that residents don't care.

There have been only 89 responses so far.

Notice from the RCC:
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Electric Vehicle Charging Questionnaire for ALL residents

The Barbican Residential Consultation Committee has set up a Working Party to investigate Electric Vehicle Charging on the Estate. The Working Party is trying to determine residents' level of satisfaction with current provision and to determine future demand.

Following this, the Working Party will investigate potential technical solutions and the financial and legal constraints surrounding them.

The experience and opinions of all Barbican residents, not just car owners, are essential in formulating these plans.

You can find the survey here.

Please help by completing it. It shouldn’t take more than 15 minutes.

Parcels - collect them promptly

We are reaching that critical time of year again for our CPA elves.

From the BEO:
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Reminder: Parcel Collection & Perishable Items





To help with the ever-increasing demands on our parcel rooms, especially with Christmas around the corner, would you please wherever possible, collect your parcel on the day of delivery.

Food deliveries should not be stored in the Concierge's Parcel Rooms as they do not have facilities to store perishable items.

In addition to this could you please have the following items delivered when you are home to receive them:

• Perishable Items
• Household Furniture
• Large Appliances
• Flat Pack Furniture
• Oversize Boxes
• Large consignments of Beers, Wines and Spirits.

These good neighbourly acts will ensure that all the residents will get a good and fair use of the Parcel acceptance service at the Barbican Estate.

Pink Cards, no more

From the BEO:
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Reminder: Pink Card System

Please ensure your local car park box or lobby porter has your contact details so they can contact you to collect a perishable item or an uncollected parcel.

This is because the cleaning team are no longer delivering the pink slips to notify you of parcels. The future of this system is on the agenda for the next Service Level Agreement Working Party meeting later this month.

We will keep you updated of the outcome.

Shopping Trolleys

From the BEO:

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Shopping Trolleys

Please be reminded that shopping trolleys are not to be left on the Estate. If you are able to push a loaded one to your flat, you should be able to return an empty one with ease.

Trolley park?

We do appreciate your cooperation in this regard.

The evolving CPA service

From the BEO:

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Barbican Estate Concierge Service


Car Park Concierge and the Lobbies

• The 3 tower Lobbies will remain open. This will be 7 days a week, 24 hours a day.
• Speed Car Park Box will remain closed for the foreseeable future.
• As of 26 March, Defoe Car Park Box will be closed for the foreseeable future. Services such as parcel delivery and key holding will be moved to Shakespeare Tower.
• As of 26 March, the remaining Car Park Boxes will operate between the hours of 7am and 7pm only.
• Thomas More House
• Breton
• Bunyan
• Andrewes
• Willoughby
• Thomas More House and Breton will have a member of staff on duty between 7pm and 7am but they will be covering the remaining 5 boxes as well.
• We will no longer be issuing pink cards for deliveries. Most services send an email or text anyway

We have received a number of comments, suggestions, and questions regarding the changes to our Estate Concierges Service Provision, which we thank you for. Unfortunately, we do not have the resources to respond to each and everyone. Therefore, we have produced a FAQ which we hope to update regularly.

The Car Parks - FAQ on the Changes

1. How many staff have you actually lost through Self-Isolation etc?  We have now lost one-third of this team with further staff losses expected.
2. Why don’t you just get some more people in?  As well as the above losses we have also lost a number of staff from our temporary cover pool. We are however, in contact with the City recruitment agency to attempt to recruit further. We have had discussions with colleagues in other City departments to ascertain whether they can assist. But they are in the same position as we are.
3. Is the closure of Speed & Defoe a permanent or temporary solution?  Temporary whilst we are in this situation.  At the moment by shutting these Car Park Offices and the other Car Parks at night, we believe we can open these remaining 5 Car Park Offices by using these members of staff for the day shifts.  Directional signage has been provided to the nearest open Car Park Office
4. If Speed is shut how do I get into the Car Park?  The gate on Silk Street has been pulled across and residents can still access through the gate via the pedestrian gate within it.  Vehicles can access the Car Park by using the now opened gate (02 level) on the Willoughby ramp off Moor Lane.
5. Will all the Car Park main gates be pulled across and shut at night-time?  No, they cannot be due to the fact residents will still need to drive in & out of the Car Park.
6. In the 5 Car Park Offices that are only open during the day, what time will the staff be onsite?  The concierge staff will be working 7am to 7pm.  Directional signage has been provided to the nearest open Car Park Office.
7. The staff working nights at Thomas More and Breton Car Parks, what will they be covering in the other remaining 5 boxes?  Their focus will be on Security for the Estate, as well as checking the residential doors are shut/secure and if required the removal of unwelcome visitors from the car parks.  They will also be providing residents with assistance with Keys and any emergencies that may occur across the Estate. They will not be receiving parcels for residents within ANY block.
8. What are the contact details for my block?  This all remains the same – The repairs team, your House Officer and your Concierge are all still available on the same landline telephone numbers (the landlines will be diverted to the night staff at 7pm). Please refer to the website for further details.  The only exceptions are that Speed House Residents will need to contact the Willoughby Car Park Concierge (020 7029 3931) during the day, and either Thomas More (020 7029 3934) or Breton (020 7029 3938) at night.  Defoe House residents to the Shakespeare Porter (020 7029 3927).  (These phones are already diverted)
9. I’m really concerned about our security with the reduction of staff.  We have discussed these alterations with the City of London Police, and they have informed us that due to the current national situation, crime rates are low and security breaches are less of a concern.
10. What about my food deliveries?  We advise all residents in the terrace blocks to organise any food deliveries to go via the Podium entry phone. The night staff will not be receiving food deliveries for residents within ANY block – Residents will need to specify delivery via the podium intercom and provide their own telephone numbers when ordering.
11. If my car park box is closed at night, can I collect my parcel?  No, please collect your parcels between 7am – 7pm.
12. I have a Carer at night, and I don’t live in a Tower. How will they access my keys?  Please contact Thomas More (020 7029 3934) or Breton (020 7029 3938) between 7pm and 7am. Our staff will assist you.

We have made considerable effort and concessions to continue to provide this service. We are doing our best and have made considerable efforts given the circumstances.

Thank you
Barbican Estate Office

CPAs: Give them space

From the BEO:
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Barbican Estate - Consideration for your Car Park and Lobby Concierge

As the Government directive is to practise social distancing and remain a safe 2 metres from others, we request residents to NOT enter the Car Park boxes when collecting parcels.

If residents could stand outside the box, a safe distance away and wait until the CPA’s have placed your parcel on the table, before coming forward to pick it up.

We also request that residents stand behind the lines in the Tower lobbies (marked on the floors) when addressing Concierge staff.

We are also currently inundated with parcels and deliveries. Our storage is full in many car parks and lobbies. Please collect your items promptly.

We appreciate your consideration in these difficult times and the health and well-being of everybody, is one of our major concerns.

Thank you

Barbican Estate Office

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.

Car Parking & Storage - Price Rises

The City have announced the latest price rises for parking and using storage within the estate.

Click to read the whole letter

Storage Units - non resident access to car parks

The City views the Barbican car parks as a profit centre for the City rather than as an amenity for residents.  This view leads to various attempts to squeeze money from the car parks which are now expected to generate a profit rather than just cover essential costs (e.g. our valued car park attendants (CPAs)).

One manifestation of this City policy is the recent installation of storage units, touted as being a facility for residents.  But the City installed far more units than residents could have been expected to use, and so we enter the next phase of this project where the City "reluctantly" will start marketing the storage units more widely, to customers who do no reside in the estate.

And so non-residents will be granted access to the car parks, and presumably the long suffering CPAs will expected to manage the secure flow of non-residents into the buildings.

Here is how the City, in the form of the BEO, announce their latest move:

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Storage Units Available in Breton & Bunyan Car Parks
Get Your Stores Before they Will be Opened Out to Non-Residents!

We have managed to lease 50% of the total stores available and more than 130 residents have possession of their stores.

For the size and price list please click here. To arrange a viewing and to register your interest, please contact Lorna from the Car Park & Stores Team.

Comments from Residents Contact: lorna.williams@cityoflondon.gov.uk0207 0293921

Shopping Trolleys - for the shops

From the BEO:

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Shopping Trolleys

Leave 'em in the shop, not the car park

Please be reminded that shopping trolleys are not to be left on the Estate. If you are able to push a loaded one to your flat, you should be able to return an empty one with ease.

We do appreciate your cooperation in this regard as the trolleys are now blocking the cycle racks and other areas.

Storage Units - Things left outside deemed trash

From the BEO

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Clearing the Storage Units

deemed fly tipping

Please note that residents should not leave items on top of the stores, as this is a Fire Hazard.

Items left around the stores are a Health and Safety risk. We appreciate your compliance with this, and items left, will be constituted as fly - tipping.

Remove or lose your bikes by Monday 4th

The BEO need to clear a set of bicycles from the Breton / Ben Jonson House car park to allow maintenance access.  If the bikes are removed by the BEO you may get the bike back, but any lock will probably be destroyed.

The BEO will remove the bikes after 17:00 on March 4th.

Ask a friendly CPA for advice on where you can park your bike.

From the BEO:
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Breton Car Park: Please Remove Bicycles
Essential Maintenance Works

Move or be moved

It would be appreciated if residents could remove the bicycles located in Breton Car Park, near staircase 64 of Ben Jonson House 02 level, by5pm Monday 4 March. Essential maintenance work will start Tuesday 5 March and be completed by the evening of Friday 8 March.

Bikes that have not been moved will be relocated into the adjacent bike storage area by the BEO. Please note that the bicycle lock will be cut off and that they will not be replaced or refunded.

Elves (CPAs) in distress - collect your parcels!

From the BEO:
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Prompt Collection of all Parcels and Packages from Now Until Christmas

Due to an increase in parcels received around the Christmas period, concierge offices begin to get very full. If you could please try to collect your parcels as soon as you receive your pink cards, this would be most appreciated.

Thank you very much for your cooperation.

Car Park Price Rises - New BRC Proposal & Meeting

The matter of price rises for the car parks came up at the 4th June meeting of the BRC.  There was significant opposition to the proposed price rises and the BRC sent the matter back to a sub-committee for further thought.

A new set of proposals will go before the BRC on Thursday 21st June.  Here is the agenda and information pack which details the new proposals:

Click to read the whole pack

... and here is the detailed Lauderdale Tower response:

Click to read the whole Lauderdale response

Notes from the BRC on June 4th

Three members of the Ben Jonson House Group committee attended the BRC meeting on the 4th June, and a big thank you to them.  Here are notes from the meeting:
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After some discussion about the rules on who could vote and/or speak on the car park and stores charging proposals, in fact almost all the resident members did speak out querying various aspects of the proposals presented by the Working Party. Only one member of the Committee spoke strongly in support.

As I understood, it was resolved to refer it back to the Working Party to resolve the difficulties and inconsistencies. The problem is that it all needs to be resolved before the next meeting of the Court of Common Council on 21/6/18 and this time scale was much too tight for the WP to achieve a rethink. At the same time, if new stores were to be built the BEO needed to commission them very shortly so they could start to bring in income. BEO would also need to inform residents of changes in charging well in advance.

Points made by CCs were:

1. That the income from car parking and stores in the car parks should be accounted together.
2. That the expense of the CPAs should reflect the fact that they now spend a greater proportion of their time on concierge duties
3. The increased charges may result in fewer people renting and lead to further losses
4. No account had been taken of the mobility needs of older and frailer residents who may well be less able to afford increases and cannot realistically move their cars to cheaper parking elsewhere. There we're equality issues involved.
5. The security committee was not happy with security issues and if non residents were to have a different key as recommended, it would involve more work for the CPAs.
6. The proposed rents were not based on comparable spaces. The CoL run car park on London Wall was less than half the price suggested for Barbican Car Park spaces. Any increase should be based on CPI. Stores charges would be more per sq ft than for a Barbican flat.

Summing up, the new Chair, Michael Hudson, drew attention to the comparison with sum of £800 pa charged to residents by CoL at an adjacent car park, where commercial users pay more. An increase by CPI would be reasonable. Higher charges proposed were likely to lead to losses as people stopped renting. Although advice is to treat car parking and baggage store income separately, it would be more sensible to treat them as one. It was important to include an equality assessment.

Speaking for BEO, Michael Bennett asked for an immediate decision because the Stores policy had expired in March 2018.

When put to the vote the majority were in favour of referring the report back to the Working Party.

NB Mention was made of parking availability at Seraph Court EC1 for £1,300 pa and it was proposed that the Lauderdale proposal be considered.

Car Park Price Rises - The City's legal view

Here are the responses from the Comptroller and City Solicitor in respect of the questions on the Car Park Charging Policy from the Residents Consultation Committee

They can charge what they like?  Click to read the whole document.

Car Parking Spaces - No longer for sale

A resident of Ben Jonson House heard that it is no longer possible to buy a car parking space on the estate.

I asked the BEO if this is in fact the case, and if so, when this policy change happened and where is it documented?

Here is the BEO response:

Due to lack of resources within the office and a number of projects across the estate we have had to take a management decision and this option is currently unavailable. Please note residents can still rent a parking space and also have it added to their service charge account.