Islington Wharf

1 Attendees:

Ian Forrester (IF)
Tom Greenwood (TGr) Revolution
Jonathan Isaacs (JI)
Claire Johnson (CJ)
Tracey Langford (TL)
James Needham (JN) Chair
Josh Ramsden (JR) Revolution
Susan Swientozielskyj (SS)
Laura Walker (LW) Revolution

2. Apologies:

Tim Gardner (TG) Paul Kelly (PK) Anand Patel (AP)  

Agenda Item:

3. Minutes of the last meeting: ​ Accepted and agreed as a true record.

4. Lifts Block B: deep dive into the dilapidation survey report to discuss priority of actions.

JR reported that Revolution have met to discuss the reports but was unable to provide any other information. Members of the Committee expressed their dissatisfaction at the lack of action taken by Revolution to prioritise this as a major project and expected that this issue would have been identified as a key piece of work that needed a proper response. Each lift has its own report and there are some 28 individual recommendations that need to be addressed for each lift. Given the major failures that have occurred with these lifts, and whilst its clear that Revolution are dealing with the contractor failure with both Schindler and Otis, the Committee made clear that they expect to see a full project plan to address the recommendations of the

 

reports by the next meeting. JR agreed to give initial feedback to the Committee via JN by Friday 7 Feb.

The Committee acknowledged the good work done by KONE.

JR on behalf of Revolution assured the Committee that in future, there will be clear evidence that Revolution staff have interrogated key reports and agreed relevant action/s before uploading them. He will also speak with their contract manager about this. A​ction Revolution.

5. Water Ingress Block A/ Apt 200: T​ he situation, particularly for apartment 200 and that of CJ, is getting worse since the remedial works on the fin, funded by Waterside Places (WP). However, Revolution have not been able to get any further with WP as they are refusing to release any reports to either Revolution or the Committee, claiming commercial sensitivity whilst they are yet to settle with Laing O’Rourke. The Committee is deeply aggrieved that WP are claiming nothing can be done until the settlement with LOR is reached. Meanwhile, the apartments affected are becoming increasingly unliveable. After a fairly heated discussion, it was decided that the best way forward was to ask WP to send a representative to do a site visit and see the poor living conditions caused by the water ingress and also to agree to meet with the Committee to discuss how to get a final solution to this issue. JN pointed out yet again that WP has set a precedent by paying for remedial works to both Block A and the fin on the balcony of apartment 200. These works have actually made things worse and urgent action is needed to prevent further damage. TGr will take this up with WP. A​ction Revolution.

TGr requested a copy of the complaint letter that JN sent to Anand. A​ction JN

6. Cladding report and crash deck removal: P​ K, on behalf of the

Committee, has investigated the issue of the ‘missing report’ and has been able to confirm that a John Glen of Sandberg completed their investigation and the report was commandeered by WP through legal channels. The cladding on IW was supplied by Stone Panels International. WP are refusing to issue the report to the committee as they have said it is part of their ongoing claim with LOR. Meanwhile, the crash decking is continuing to provide shelter and a place for the local drug users to use and all the issues that are connected to this activity. The special bulbs that were supposed to have been fitted to deter drug users from using this space, h​ ave still not been fitted, ​ despite assurances by Anand at the January meeting. The Committee is deeply concerned about the impact of this issue continuing. A resident recently posted on the IW Facebook page that attempts to put their apartment up for sale had been stalled by estate agents because of the poor outlook of the apartment building.Separately to this, TGr confirmed that the safety issue [concerning the cladding] for mortgage applicants has been resolved and mortgages are going through.

The Committee are going to consider calling in the Manchester Evening

News to do a story on this issue if it cannot be resolved with WP in the near future.

 

 

7. Revolution Accounts: a​ re currently with the external accountant and will be finalised in the next 2 months. JR talked through some of the headlines on the budgeted expenditure:

-       Car park – showing an underspend

-       Estate – some things will move to the sinking fund including £6.5k for fire safety. The price increase is stated due to legislative change but JN has requested further information – is the increase for the due to something that was missing originally or is it due to legislative change and if so, what is the change for future reference.

-       Heating – there is an overspend. Mostly due to the replacement of heat water exchange units that have failed in some apartments. They cost £2.5-3k per unit. The exact number couldn’t be confirmed but is in the region of 3 or 4 units this year.

-       Door and gate – overspend. JN asked for the costs to be clarified as this is supposed to be covered by an annual contract. As an aside, It is noted that there has been no problems with the doors since the crash deck was installed which points to the previous problems being caused by sensor failure; an issue that was increasingly difficult to solve. This will need looking at when the crash deck is removed.

-       Overall, the budget is largely on track for the year.

-       JN had some questions and he will meet with SS to further scrutinise the ytd statements ahead of a further meeting with Revolution.

Action JN/SS

8. Rapid fire review of actions from January meeting. ​ See Appendix 1. 

9. Resignation of Katherine Harrison from the Committee: n​oted at the start of the meeting. Katherine has now moved out of Islington Wharf and therefore no longer eligible to stand. The Committee thanked her for her hard work and support over the years and wished her well in her new home.

Date and time of next meeting:

Monday 2 March 2020 at 19.00hrs, Medical Centre.