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.

May we ask residents to please help us with reporting and use the following email address: dbebarbicanlighting@cityoflondon.gov.uk , to report these lighting issues on the Barbican Estate.

If you contact the team directly, may we request that you also copy in your House Officer, so that they may track and follow up on the repairs on your behalf.

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

We hope by working together, we can manage things a bit more proactively.

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.

Very bright unshielded highway light replacement

 There is a lamp pole on the ramp leading up to the highwalk from Golden Lane.

Here:  https://what3words.com/regard.civic.dare 

Today, a crew from Riney replaced the lamp fitting.  The old fitting was unobtrusive and directed light onto the walkway.  The new light is very bright and is unshielded.

The new glaringly bright light shines into dining rooms and bedrooms which face north overlooking Golden Lane.

You'll need very good blackout curtains from this evening onward! 

Details of the report to the City:

Reference: 00014601
Date reported: 09/03/2021
Fault type: Street lights defect, Unclassified
Description of fault: Street Light has been replaced but has been left unshielded causing bright light to enter properties on the Barbican Estate

You can check the status of the report online by going to the report location, or by using the following link https://highwaysreporting.cityoflondon.gov.uk?id=00014601.

A Meeting with Prior Western School

Here are some notes from a meeting between house group members and representatives of the Prior Western School which occupies a large part of the Golden Lane Campus.
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We met with Helen from the Governors board, and the new head teacher Fiona McCorquerdale.

Key points:

The new lighting on the playground

This was installed over half term, and 8 lights have been installed, rather than the approved 4 in the planning application. Fiona is querying this with the planning and installation teams and will come back to us on the outcome.

There have been no complaints from residents so far regarding the new lighting.

The lighting is on a timer, currently set to 6.15 to 8pm. There is an over-ride switch and the school intend that they pitch should only be lit when it is in use. So a sensor may be installed for this purpose.

Resurfacing of the pitch and noise reduction
The pitch and parts of the wall facing the lower Cloudsley School have been covered with AstroTurf, and this has meant a 25% reduction in the noise levels. This is complemented by the sound reducing walls and the installation of larger goals so that the rattling sounds from the goal posts is much reduced. The school are looking to raise the height of the ivy walls in places and any new walls that are to be installed will probably be higher than these ones we currently see.

Improvement Plans for the school
Fiona and the school board are looking to replace the existing play equipment with something more in tune with the children's needs. Previous plans have been rejected by parents committees as they were too plastic based, and the plans overall were disjointed. New submissions have been requested from several companies - with the requirement of being Eco friendly, and having an overall theme for the whole school area. These will be shown to the residents committee when they are received and reviewed by the school board. The new plans are to include a whole new planting scheme for the school with increased levels of greenery to be put in place.

Use of the School building
The school are looking at increasing the community use of their building - they are aware of the lack of local amenities for groups wishing to have a space to meet, often with a need for space for movement - dance, exercise etc. They are keen to open the school to the local community here in the Barbican area.

They are currently putting together a 'lettings policy statement' to ensure that the use of the building is sensitive to the school and the local residents. Part of the letting policy will cover the use of the floodlit pitch - the times to be used, and by whom. They will be sharing the draft of this policy with the residents groups as soon as they have it written, and are willing to attend house committee meetings to discuss in detail.

Termly meetings with the school are to be put in the diary - to be attended by Ben Jonson, Breton and any other house that may develop an interest in the school's activities. Next meeting to be in January 2020.

Golden Lane Campus Floodlighting: How many lights?

In February the Golden Lane Campus was given planning approval for the installation of flood lighting.  Given permission for 4 powerful light fittings, it seems the school has actually had 8 installed.

What the plans said

What the plans said to make it clear

What was actually installed ... Not 4 but 8

Podium lighting upgrade

Many of the walls which rise to the sides of the highwalks contain lights which shine down upon the walkway, or at least they should.  Many of the lights are not working at the moment, but the City has launched a programme to fix that.

Here is a map which is intended to be used with the text from the RCC below, though it's not clear to me how the map should be interpreted.

Click to see the whole map

From the house group RCC rep:
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P. 30 Podium Lighting.

A number of lights have been off for a considerable time. City will replace this lighting between April and July with long-lasting LEDs. The City states that the work to remove the old lighting and install the new should not be too noisy. RCC would like HGs to look at map attached, which it the plan, to see if all areas have been covered.

If you note any missing areas please email the Highway Manager, Giles Radford, who is managing this task.

Golden Lane Campus - Flood Lighting Approved

The long running process of the Golden Lane Campus applying for permission to install flood lighting on rooftop playing areas has reached a conclusion.  The application has been approved.

From the chair of the Ben Jonson House Group:
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Dear all,

I attended the planning meeting at Islington Town Hall last night along with about 7 other objectors from both Breton and Ben Jonson. 3 of us spoke followed by 2 speakers on behalf of the applicants, a spokesman from the lighting firm and a parent. The councillors decided that the outdoor exercise needs of the pupils took precedence over our concerns and so granted permission for the floodlighting.

It is very disappointing that the installation of a green wall to mitigate noise was dismissed as ineffective and that our petition for use to be limited to 6 pm or 6.30 at the latest was dismissed because permission has already existed from the start for use of the MUGA to 8pm. Although the school does not currently exercise this right in the daylight hours of summer, the Headteacher said this was only because they could not offer the same facility to pupils in winter.

It is the case that the school was trying to raise funds for a green wall to address air pollution, so there may still be some mileage in supporting that initiative, which has the backing of Islington's environmental team because pollution levels at the school are above the recommended limit.

Now that permission has been granted, we'll need to find ways of working with the school to limit disruption to our amenities.

Kind regards

Golden Lane Campus - Flood Lighting update

The long running story of the flood lighting for the Golden Lane Campus has taken another step, the planning application will be heard on the 11th of February at the Islington Town Hall:

Click to read the whole letter

The text of the email containing the letter said:
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You have received this email from Islington Council (Planning Service) in relation to a planning matter at Prior Weston Primary School Golden Lane Campus, 101 Whitecross Street, LONDON, EC1Y 8JA.

The attached correspondence contains important information; please retain it for your records.

If you would like to respond, please reply to planning@islington.gov.uk

In any correspondence, please quote the Council reference number, which is included in the attached letter.

Golden Lane Campus - Flood Lighting update

It seems that the plans to install flood lighting for the roof play areas of the Golden Lane Campus have come back to life.  Apparently the brightness (lux level) of the proposed lights are now included in the plans:

Click to read the whole letter

Objective Environmental Measures - e.g. sound

I was very excited to read on the BBC about a project in Barcelona called Smart Citizen to take objective measures of pollution, light levels and sound using an inexpensive always-on device.

I shall be seeking support to get these, or something like them, running here in the City and in particular around the estate.

Click to visit the Smart Citizen project page

p.s.  Here are some videos presenting the Smart Citizen project:

• An introduction to the device
• How the device might be used in London (from 2014)
• On TED:  a (2013!) presentation including context and examples
• A (rather over produced, perhaps) overview of the programme

School Floodlights Circular

A resident has posted a two page circular to the flats which could be directly affected by the proposed Prior Weston floodlights.

The circular ends by pointing out that the deadline for objections is the 27th October (this Thursday), so if you want to comment on the application be quick (follow the link above to see how to comment).

Click to read the whole circular

School Floodlight Objections

If you feel you may be affected by the addition of floodlights on the Prior Weston school play area (see location here) the deadline for letting Islington council know is 27th October.

For a list of valid reasons to object to planning applications see here.

To submit an objection to this application visit the Islington Planning Portal. Click here for details of how to do this.

The Barbican Association, Ben Jonson House Group and Breton House Group will be raising objections, but it is important that individuals submit their own objections.  If there are only a few objections Islington officers may approve the application using delegated powers rather than allowing the application to go before the planning committee.

Clearly is this important to people, which explains why colour notices have popped up in the lifts.  If you do wish to post a notice then please link to this blog (and this article) as there is much more more information here.

Please remember to add a link to the blog

... and if you have a colour printer and wish to look after the notice boards please do let me know.  Your help with that would be most welcome.

School floodlighting planning application is in

The Prior Weston school has submitted a planning application for their proposed floodlights. The application is now validated and visible on the Islington planning portal (search for P2016/1803/FUL).

The school clearly decided they didn't want to discuss this further with residents nor run a test installation to give residents an idea of how what they had in mind would look in practice before submitting the application.

Copies of the documents which form part of the application are here.

According to the planning application details on the Islington site (copy here), comments may be made until 27th October.  You may wish to review the valid reasons for objections, but the main considerations here are likely to be light pollution and the possibility of noise later in a floodlit evening.  The school tell us that the reason for the lighting is to allow the use of outdoor spaces in the winter, with no extension in usage beyond the times we experience in the summer.  Planning conditions need to be in place to ensure this, so do write in if this will affect you.

It looks like comments must be submitted via the Islington planning portal:

Click to visit the portal. Search for P2016/1803/FUL

Here is a snip of the light spillage document in the application (copy here):

Click to zoom in.  Use links above to view original documents.

LED Survey - 79% of respondents say yes

We have the results of the LED Lighting survey.  79% of respondents said they would like to see the lights changed over to LEDs.

We have asked the BEO for details of the installation including any installation costs.  Once we have that I'll post that here and we will ask the BEO to do the deed.

Ben Jonson House - LED light survey

The housegroup have asked the BEO to put together a survey for LED lighting in Ben Jonson House:
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Dear residents

The Ben Jonson House Group has requested the Barbican Estate Office conduct a survey on their behalf to establish if residents would like to change the lights in the corridor (over the front doors) to LEDs.

The emergency fittings above the South side doors of the corridors have already been replaced, so changing the regular lights on the other (North) side of the corridor will be a better match of colours.

LED lights are initially more expensive to buy, at £2,805 per batch of 150 lamps rather than £300.  However, with the combination of their longer lifespan reducing costs in servicing and the reduction of wattage from 30W down to 15W, savings will be seen in the early part of year two. CO2 emissions will also be reduced by 50% from 3.240kg to 1,620kg a month. Eventually, all the regular lights will be replaced with LEDs, but this survey will establish if residents wish to have the lights changed over sooner. 

Please let us have your vote by Friday 22 July 2016. Thank you.

Click here to take part in the survey

12m Pink Neon "Scandinavian Pain"

From the Barbican Arts Centre:

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For the Barbican's Ragnar Kjartansson exhibition this Summer, our Gallery Team are working with the artist to install a piece of artwork above Silk Street which will display throughout the duration of the exhibition. This will be a temporary artwork entitled Scandinavian Pain (2006), installed on the walkway above the parapet of the Directors' offices at Silk Street.

At the moment, it looks like planning permission will be required to install the artwork so Katrina and Leila will submit a planning application this week. Here are some brief points and more detail can be found in the attached documents (which include mock-ups of the installation):

· 12 metre-long neon sign in soft pink reading 'Scandinavian Pain'
· The sign would be up for a maximum of 58 days (10 July – 6 September 2016)
· The installation work will be carried out between 9am and 6pm
· Proposed to have the neon sign on every day from 10am to 9.30pm

We are conscious that this may affect residents (namely in Cromwell and Speed) so we are going to send Jane Smith some information to circulate to the House Group Chairs. Katrina and Leila will also attend the next Quarterly meeting on the 16th May to report on the plans further.

Flood Lighting for the School

Prior Weston school is one of three schools located in the Golden Lane Campus which is the school complex just to the north of Breton House, in Islington.

Prior Weston would like to install flood lighting to one of their outdoor play areas.  The school have given us a brief note explaining what they have in mind:

Click here to read the note

As the note says, we (Breton and Ben Jonson house group reps) met to talk with school and contractor reps, and we look forward to talking again when the plans are firmed up.  We have suggested a residents meeting where people can see the proposed lighting, ideally in action.

The area to be floodlit is shown on this photo of a google maps print-out we were shown:

Click for a slightly larger version.

Corridor Lighting

At present all light in the corridors of Ben Jonson House comes from the fittings above the door to each flat.  Some of these lights (those on the south side) are LEDs and some (those on the north) are old incandescent bulbs.  The BEO will be sending out a survey shortly to ask residents if we'd like to pay to switch the north side lights to LEDs too at a short term cost but with fairly quickly realised savings (because LEDs use so much less power and need much less maintenance).

I'm told that long ago the lighting story was different, and in may ways more sophisticated:

... a few years back a small number of residents, apparently backed by the Estate Office, wanted to increase lighting in our corridors suggesting that they were too dark for people to make their way along them safely.

The Estate Office spotted some metal plates in the ceiling. They decided that as these concealed lighting sockets this meant that the full corridor lighting had never been properly completed. They proposed to stick bulbs in them to brighten things up. 

It was pointed out to the BEO that when the block was first built, these few ceiling sockets were used for night time lighting. They came on (providing just enough light to see your way, saving energy and money) when the lights above our doors went out between, say, midnight and 6.00am when most people are tucked up in bed and not roaming the corridors.

It's not clear why that arrangement was ended.