Islington Wharf

        Islington Wharf Residents Association

The contents of the minutes below are as taken by the minute taker. The Committee will confirm whether any amendments are required at the following meeting. Please refer to this set of minutes (when available) and read in conjunction with the section entitled ‘Minutes Last Meeting’ for any amendments (if applicable).

APOLOGIES:

• As above.

MINUTES LAST MEETING:

• Accepted as a true record.

UPDATE ON MATTERS FROM MINUTES OF LAST MEETING & MATTERS DISCUSSED WITH REVOLUTION:

        MATTERS ARISING:

• (I) Plant Destruction:

• Plants were uprooted and strewn about the floor in the lobby area and floor 5 of Block B on Wednesday 3 January sometime before 08.30hrs. Revolution management team are reviewing CCTV footage and will make further enquiries with person/s who may have been affected by this act of wilful damage.

• (II) Estate/Service Budget:

• Members of the Committee expressed their disappointment that the annual budget was released to residents without having first been discussed with the Residents Committee.
• This was against expectations and the Committee has asked for an in-depth discussion on the budget at the next meeting. WL commented that he has been in contact with  Anand for a breakdown, in particular of the £80k sinking fund, noting that c£36k is set aside for glazing, garden fencing and panels of the external facade, which he thinks is excessive. All agreed that there needs to be further discussions on the amount in the sinking fund, and the breakdown and allocations.
• JN reminded the Committee that the savings made from the appointment of Revolution as Management Company, [in place of GVA], a sum in the region of £95k, were used to establish the sinking fund. What isn’t clear is any savings that are being made to bolster the sinking fund on an annual basis.
• LC confirmed that Revolution has noted the issues raised and will work with the Committee for the next round of budgets, starting in September this year. In the meantime, SS suggested that a retrospective review is held at the next meeting which should be dedicated to this issue so that the Committee has clear oversight of all key points and can discuss key priorities for the sinking fund in 2018. All agreed this would be useful and to prepare, members to submit their questions to JN by 21st January, who will collate and send to Anand Patel to address in his presentation at the 8 February meeting. ACTION: ALL COMMITTEE MEMBERS/JN/AP

MAJOR REPAIRS & LATENT DEFECTS

• (A) Ongoing Issues

• The breakdown comparator report of IsW to other sites managed by Revolution has still not been submitted despite assurances at previous meetings that it would be ready and circulated in December. The Committee expressed their disappointment that this action has not been completed & requested LC to report back to Anand Patel to respond  before the next meeting .ACTION: REVOLUTION

BUILDING INTERNALS

• (B) Plants:

• JN has been in contact with Manchester Council as discussed at last meeting; he is awaiting a response. WL also updated the Committee that he has made enquiries with a firm who provide box hedging and they have done a site visit. The Committee requested a mock-up and costings for further discussion. WL also suggested ‘City of Trees’ as another option, he will make contact with them and feedback accordingly. ACTION: JN/WL

CAR PARK

• (C) Motorbike parking:

• Installation of the parking rail, expected  completion in December, has not been fitted. LC explained that this was due to contractor holidays over the festive period, some of which are not due back until wc 8 Jan. IW asked that bike owners are notified in advance so that items can be moved to allow the installation. ACTION: REVOLUTION

MAINTENANCE

• (D) Lifts:

• LC confirmed that Woodhouse will be on-site to quote on 19 January and that Gartek will be on-site next week. Quotes will be circulated to the Committee for decision at next meeting. ACTION: REVOLUTION

• (E) Use Of Companies That Have SLA Breakdown For On-Site Attendance:

• Action from last meeting  is still outstanding. Information to be circulated for further discussion ACTION: REVOLUTION

• (F) OOH Process And Use Of Committee Members For Triaging Faults:

• All Committee members present are  happy to assist where they can. However, there needs to be an agreed list of faults that they can legitimately attend to along with a brief training on the associated action/s to be taken.
• All present agreed that LC can give their contact telephone numbers to the helpdesk although this needs to be prioritised, currently JI and JN as first points of contact. JI volunteered to set out the information required for the garage roller shutter re-set. It is going to take a little time to set this up properly. ACTION: ALL (Post meeting note: SS suggests that this comes back to March meeting.) 

• (G) Release of CCTV Images:

• Datpro has agreed to provide guidance as and when needed to assist the Committee in taking the right action when circumstances call for such action. The named person is Bernie. LC will provide full contact details.ACTION: REVOLUTION

PHASE 3

• (H) AOB:

• Committee members are concerned about the gap that will exist between the finished new build where it abuts the carpark/garden in that, will this become a place for rubbish to accumulate etc? This is something that the Committee would like to discuss with Eric Wright  Construction in due course. ACTION: RAISE IN MARCH MEETING

REVOLUTION & OOH

• (I) Monthly Report

• Breakdown of ticket items has been provided but not the costs. In particular, Committee members noted that the highest number of ticket items, some 1506 (76%), are listed as ‘general contact’ which is not helpful. The report is a good start, further discussion and clarity of issues is required. ACTION: REVOLUTION

COMMUNICATION

• (J) Electronic Noticeboards:

• These look great and the Committee thanked IW for his hard work in getting this service up and running. January updating will be done in the next week. Consideration also  needs to be given to an easier way of updating, ideally via a VPN or some such. IW to work with Anand Patel on this. ACTION: IF/REVOUTION

• (K) New Members Of Residents Association:

•  Last month has seen 11 new members to the Residents Association which is positive news. SS to complete action on  providing a list of achievements to JI for publication to residents.. ACTION: SS

GARDEN

• (L) Revamp:

• Call out to residents for their ideas has yielded a nil return. JI to re-issue the form; IW to include this call-out to residents on the electronic notice boards. JI to create a URL to capture the feedback. ACTION: JI/IF

AOB

• (M) Other Construction Projects:

• Nothing to report. There has been no response from the Developers to IW reach-out. No further action. ACTION: IF

• (N) Ken Retiring In March:

• LC confirmed that recruitment is underway. Ken will retire at the beginning of March.

• (O) Fire Safety Procedures:

• SS raised a question and concern about fire safety procedures for IsW following the recent disastrous fire in an apartment block in the Northern Quarter which broke out on the 9th floor, rapidly spreading to the 12th floor, whilst residents had no idea or warning that a fire was raging.
• As it currently stands, IsW has a ‘stay put’ policy and no fire alarm will sound other than in the lifts which go to ground when a fire alert is activated.
• Given the disaster that happened at Grenfell, and this recent fire close-by, SS continued to express concern – are we safe should a fire break out in IsW?
• All present agreed that reassurance is needed for all residents and clarity on what they should expect and do in the event of a fire occurring here. A presentation by the Fire Brigade Fire Safety Officer will be organised by IW. ACTION: IF

• (P) Resident Complaint About Boiler Malfunction:

• JN has been approached by a resident who is complaining that his boiler stopped working after the routine boiler maintenance had been done for which he then had to pay for a call-out to get the problem rectified. He didn’t think this was fair and asked JN to raise it here. Committee suggested that JN could discuss it with Revolution on behalf of the resident. ACTION: JN

MATTERS DISCUSSED IN ISOLATION

• (Q) Heat Gain and Latent Defects

• Next meeting with Waterside Places 1 February 2018. They have made some minor adjustments to the minutes of the last meeting which JI will circulate when they are sent through. ACTION: JI

• (R) MP and Councillor Engagement

• No Update

• (S) Resident Committee Membership:

• The Committee is still essentially 2 members short. JI to put a call out to residents for interested parties with a prompt for any specialist skills or knowledge. ACTION: JI
• In terms of representation from the commercial units, there are no plans to progress this any further although consideration will be given to feedback sessions on any relevant issues every 4-6 months.

AOB:

• (T) New Agenda Format:

• SS will devise a new agenda format to trial at the next meeting, for future meetings, in an attempt to more clearly identify the actions from each meeting and to reduce the repetition of items month to month. ACTION: SS