Islington Wharf Residents Association
Meeting |
Thursday, 6th July 2017 @ 19:00 |
Medical Centre |
|
Date of Minutes |
Wednesday 12th July 2017 |
Attendees |
Linda Cox (LC) – Revolution Katherine Harrison (KH) Jonathan Isaacs (JI) – Chair Tracey Langford (TL) Wayne Langford (WL) James Needham (JN) Anand Patel (AP) – Revolution Susan Swientozielskyj (SS) |
Apologies |
Ian Forrester Paul Kelly |
Minutes |
Katherine Harrison |
Next Meeting |
Thursday, 3rd August 2017 |
APOLOGIES:
- As above.
MINUTES LAST MEETING:
- Accepted as a true record.
UPDATE ON MATTERS FROM MINUTES OF LAST MEETING & MATTERS DISCUSSED WITH REVOLUTION:
MAJOR REPAIRS & LATENT DEFECTS
- (A) Water logging in gardens
- The company responsible for the original installation has now admitted the fault and signed off the repairs which should now be completed within the month.
- WL raised an issue re: the fencing and style of garden for the main garden area in terms of when will plans be provided and improvements made? AP will look into this and report back. ACTION: REVOLUTION
BUILDING INTERNALS
- (B) Plants:
- Outside: New planter designs discussed with the general consensus to keep with a modern design as already insitu. Purchase decision not yet made. Also, generally agreed that real plants/trees should be our first option. ACTION: REVOLUTION TO PROVIDE DETAILS OF EXTERNAL PLANT PROVIDER TO SS TO SPEAK TO IN CONJUNCTION WITH INTERNAL PLANTS
- Inside: SS apologised to the Committee for not taking action sooner – hampered due time out of the UK and family illness. Is now pleased to report that the two companies previously discussed (Evergreen Direct & Replica Plants), have been contacted and she is now working with them on design and price. Should have information for the Committee to discuss within the month & in prep for next meeting. The current annual budget is £2.5k but as replica plants will not need ongoing care, there should be some leeway on final spend in order to achieve the right aesthetic. ACTION: SS
- (C)Â Metal covers:
- These are now in place and have been painted.
CAR PARK
- (D) Motorbike parking:
- Racking is now ready to install and will be completed within the month. In terms of the service charge to be applied, a discussion took place with the committee and Revolution. It was agreed that this was to be set at a third of the current service charge for a car parking space.
- (E) Door Alarms:
- These cannot be fitted to the main door as the system does not recognise if the door has been opened with a fob or forced. However, the doors to the car park can be fitted with an alarm system that is triggered if the door is not opened with a fob. This solution was welcomed by the Committee. ACTION: REVOLUTION
- (F) Lights In Car Park:
- It has been reported that some of the sensors are not working to trigger the lights to come on. Revolution has had a company in this past week to review the existing system and are now checking options for an upgrade with some LED additions. ACTION: REVOLUTION
- (G) Short Term Rental:
- The 40 spaces currently owned by Waterside Places for Islington Mews can be rented out for the moment on the existing charge of £100 pcm on a one month rolling contract. People who wish to take up this offer need to contact Revolution.
- (H) Sale of Spaces:
- AP confirmed that people who own car parking spaces cannot sell them detached from their lease; and also that there are no car parking spaces for sale at this time, ie Waterside Places are not releasing the 40 spaces they currently own for sale to Islington Wharf residents.
- This would be looked into with the assistance of Revolution and our local councillors as to the legality of the above, and also whether spaces from an initial phase can be used for subsequent developments. ACTION: REVOLUTION AND JI
- Following the meeting, further investigations revealed that subsequent planning permissions of Phase 3 and 4 gave permission for 319 apartments with a maximum number of parking spaces of 230. This gave a ratio of 1 space to every 1.38 apartments. Applying the same ratio to Phase 1 with 200 apartments, there should be 144.92 spaces – close to the 150 originally constructed. By offering only 110 spaces to 200 apartments, this gives a ratio of 1 space to every 1.81 apartments, something which is outside the Council’s planning guidelines. Waterside Places would be emailed on this as would the council. ACTION: JI
MAINTENANCE
- (I) Lifts:
- Cleaning of the lifts will commence on 14 August starting with Block A. This will be hand-polished to enable the lift to remain in use during the process. The same will apply to the access lift to the Penthouse Apartments in Block B. Cleaning of the main lifts in Block B will be staggered in order to protect people from the dust & fumes etc, ie these lifts will be machine polished and taken out of use for the process.
- (J) Resident boiler maintenance:
- AP is pleased to report that 120 apartments have been serviced and 40 more are booked in. This matter can be closed.
- (K) Window Cleaning:
- AP reported that Waterside Places are considering providing additional window cleaning at no extra cost to residents. KH reported that many people continued to question if the windows had been cleaned in June as their windows were still dirty; AP confirmed they had. All agreed that communication needs to be improved so that all residents are aware of when the window cleaning is taking place and how to complain if they are unhappy with the result or think they have been missed. ACTION: REVOLUTION
PHASE 3
- (L) Phase 3 Construction:
- JN raised a concern about window replacement of any that become damaged or broken, AP confirmed all repairs and replacements will continue as before.
- (M) Car Park Allocation For Phase 3:
- Item carried forward for next meeting, however to be read in conjunction with point (H).
REVOLUTION & OOH
- (N) Monthly report from Revolution with tickets raised:
- AP has provided an example of this to JI. The only remaining action for this item is to agree the level of detail required. Revolution to provide soft copies of this report for annotation. ACTION: JI / AP.
- (O) Address for agendas and minutes:
COMMUNICATION
- (P) Electronic Noticeboards:
- AP confirmed these are ready to install. Revolution is awaiting the information for loading up. JN and KH will take over this action. ACTION: JN/KH
- (Q) Access To Revolution Mailing List:
- AP confirmed that this can be done in that when residents first register with them, the front page will have an automatic pop-up box to register at the same time with the Residents Association. The Committee has asked AP to put this in place. ACTION: REVOLUTION.
GARDEN
- (R) Communal BBQ:
- AP confirmed that new griddles cost £25 each and can be purchased from the Managers office after payment has been made to Revolution.
OTHER
- (S) Parcel Collection:
- Nothing further to discuss on this point. Item closed.
- (T) Commercial Unit:
- AP informed the Committee that the unit has been viewed by an interested party. Further information to follow if things progress. Meanwhile, new wrapping is being considered if the unit is to remain vacant. ACTION: REVOLUTION
- (U) Throwing Items Out Of Windows & Leaning Out Smoking:
- TL and KH have identified the apartment mainly responsible for this on the 15th floor. SS has also complained about the apartment directly above 112 for throwing bread and other stuff (unidentifiable) out of the window. Revolution will take action  to warn the residents and their landlords that this behaviour has to stop. A repeat email has already been circulated to all residents regarding the fire risk if cigarette ends etc are discarded in this way – highlighted following the Grenfell Tower fire. ACTION: REVOLUTION
- (V) Fire Proof and Cladding:
- AP confirmed that a full review of all relevant manuals is currently underway. Also, a full fire risk assessment was completed and passed in April 2017. The Committee asked that Waterside Places send an update to residents who remain concerned about overall fire safety following the failures at Grenfell Tower in London that resulted in the loss of more than 80 people. ACTION: REVOLUTION
MATTERS DISCUSSED IN ISOLATION
- (W) Latent Defects & Zurich Insurance:
- JI informed the Committee that Cundalls has advised us that a new building code/regulation has been passed in terms of how heating is controlled in modern high rise apartments and buildings – TM59:17. This could herald a positive way forward for Islington Wharf as new buildings will be required to meet this new legislation. As such, Waterside Places has asked for a meeting with the Residents Committee to discuss in the first instance followed by a general meeting with all residents. JI will send out a doodle poll to members for a suitable date. ACTION: JI/MEMBERS
- In the meantime, JI still has 50 thermometers for residents to monitor the heat in their apartments. He will arrange to get these distributed to those with floor to ceiling glass windows etc asap. JN agreed to get the floor plans from AP in order to identify those apartments. ACTION: JN
- (X) Media Coverage:
- Item to be carried forward to next meeting.
- (Y) Meeting With Lucy Powell:
- KH has nothing to report at this time.
- (Z) Tender Management:
- Carry forward to next meeting although noted that we are very happy with the service and working relationship provided by Revolution Property Management, and that they are widely recognised as being a very good property management company.
- (AA) Phase 3
- Generally agreed that a meeting with the site manager is not required at this time as everything seems to be in hand and being well managed by Revolution.
AOB:
- Non
Page  of