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. SS informed the Committee that it had not been possible to amend the previous minutes (October) due to a formatting issue but all present accepted that the amendment was recorded and clearly accessible, therefore action could be noted as complete.

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

        MATTERS ARISING:

• Any matters arising will be covered in the agenda.

MAJOR REPAIRS & LATENT DEFECTS

• (A) Ongoing Issues

• The breakdown of information requested at the last meeting is still being prepared. AP apologised for the delay and confirmed the report is currently being generated and will be sent to JI in the next few days for review and circulation.ACTION: REVOLUTION

BUILDING INTERNALS

• (B) Plants:

• JN has done some fact finding in particular for the sourcing of mature olive trees to continue the aesthetic already provided by Vivid. These cost approx £4-500  per tree. In addition, he has given a lot of thought to how the surrounding area could be further improved and enhanced by planting of trees along the sidewalk adjoining Block A as well as in the central reservation of Great Ancoats Street from the junction at Old Mill Street to the traffic lights at  the junction of Pollard Street.
• James has created a  superb mock-up of how this could look which he presented to the Committee. He is going to put a proposal to our local councillor Emma Taylor requesting that Manchester Council provide some investment to improve the area in keeping with the massive development  that is ongoing to improve the Ancoats area overall.
• James is going to use the fact that Islington Wharf residents currently pay upwards of £1/4 million to Manchester Council in council tax. In addition, James suggested that the Committee pursue the other developers working in the area to tag into their landscaping plans as this could give us all the opportunity to create a consistent aesthetic for our area.
• The Committee agreed this is a good idea and to pick up in 2018. In the meantime James to contact Emma. ACTION: JN

CAR PARK

• (C) Motorbike parking:

• JI confirmed that Waterside Places are not going to sell spaces for motorbike parking at this stage due to the complexities of space. AP confirmed the proposed rental system has been accepted by Waterside Places at a cost of £30 pcm which will commence in January 2018. IW asked if the bike rack, which has been on-site since the summer, will now be fitted with some urgency during December in order to be ready for the new system in January. AP agreed this would be done. ACTION: REVOLUTION

MAINTENANCE

• (D) Lifts:

• The quotes previously provided were rejected as too expensive at the last meeting. As a result, Lynda Cox is in contact with Addison Electrical for a more suitable pricing option. Revolution has worked with this company before and has good SLA’s with them on other properties. JI also suggested a company called Gartec for an additional quote. AP will circulate the quotes before next meeting so that a decision can be made and signed off  asap. ACTION: REVOLUTION

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

• AP  has contacted and asked all current service providers who have on-site attendance SLA’s for Islington Wharf re: adjusting requirements if deemed necessary by the committee, which would of course impact on price. Most are willing. Next action is for Anand to circulate details of the relevant information to the Committee for review ahead of next meeting. ACTION: REVOLUTION

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

• This hasn’t moved on particularly well although Committee members agree that there is a place for them to assist in re-setting lifts and garage doors when this is all that is required. Training is required. The more pressing issue is for residents themselves to report when they find a fault. It would appear that most people simply post a question on Facebook eg “the lift is broken, has anybody reported it”? This is not helpful and therefore we must continue to advise people to report faults to Revolution when they find them; a 24/7 service is in place. ACTION: ALL

• (G) Release of CCTV Images:

• AP confirmed that CCTV images can be released when appropriate to do so, ie if, for example, CCTV captured a person vandalising and breaking the main door, the image of the act of damage cannot be released. What can be released is the image of the person approaching the door with a statement to the effect of ‘does anyone know this person, if so, please contact Revolution as they would like to speak with them’. AP will update the Committee ongoing as required. ACTION: REVOLUTION

PHASE 3

• (H) AOB:

• No further action at present.

REVOLUTION & OOH

• (I) Handling of Noise Complaints:

• Revolution person in charge of this is Laura. All future complaints of noise [from apartments that are let], will be forwarded to the landlord for action [not the letting agent]. No further action required at this stage.

• (J) Monthly Report

• As noted above. ACTION: REVOLUTION

COMMUNICATION

• (K) Electronic Noticeboards:

• Are now working. However, there is only a welcome screen showing which raised concerns from JN of the risk of ‘screen-burn’. All agreed would be wise to switch off for now whilst committee members hastily review the slide set with aim to have the rolling presentation working within the next week. Also to include a ‘seasons greeting’ message for the Christmas and New Year period. ACTION – COMMITTEE – URGENT

• (L) New Members Of Residents Association:

• This is an additional agenda item; there has been an excellent response to the new system put in place to attract join-up from new residents when applying for their Revolution account. The new system, which has only been live for a few weeks, has already generated 37 unique apartments with 43 respondents. The majority are leaseholders including landlords which is excellent news, and especially pleasing that the Committee can now more easily reach out to this group.
• JI asked for a volunteer to pull together a list of ‘what we achieved this year’ – SS volunteered to do this. ACTION: SS

GARDEN

• (M) Revamp:

• IW reported back that, after speaking with a garden architect he knows, he has been advised that architects do not advise/quote etc unless they are signed up for a job as it is not in their interests to do so. All present agreed the best  way forward at the moment is to reach out to residents and ask what they would like to see in the garden. JI will put out a simple form for ideas to be submitted by end January. Then over the next few weeks, the Committee to review all submissions and create a composite design to take forward. The overall aim is to have a clear plan of action with an improved garden ready for use by the summer. ACTION: JI

AOB

• (N) Other Construction Projects:

• AP will provide the Committee with a lead into the Oxygen development team. JI will follow up in the first instance. To date, the only suggestion put forward by residents is for a development update similar to that provided by Wrights. ACTION: REVOLUTION

• (O) Parking Outside Shops:

• No further action as it is confirmed that Islington Wharf has no jurisdiction over this

• (P) Ken Retiring In March:

• Committee to prepare for this. Revolution are recruiting and will update the Committee accordingly.

• (Q) Christmas Parcel Collection:

• Noted that this isn’t without its challenges but residents must take responsibility to ensure they get their parcels on time. Anand advised that Ken and Colin have a good relationship with most of the couriers that deliver to Islington Wharf and there is an informal system in place to manage deliveries in a time efficient way.

• (R) Christmas and New Year Office Rota:

• This will be available shortly and distributed. ACTION: REVOLUTION

MATTERS DISCUSSED IN ISOLATION

• (S) Heat Gain and Latent Defects

•  JI stated that the meeting had gone well and that the meeting process is also working well. SS has completed the minutes which JI will circulate. Next meeting will be end January or early Feb; dates will be circulated and set according to majority availability. ACTION: JI

• (T) MP and Councillor Engagement

• No Update

AOB:

• Non