The update below is taken from October’s GLERA newsletter. You can read all previous newsletters here. If you’re a GLE resident and would like to sign up please email secretary.glera@gmail.com
update on major works | city engagement with residents
In mid-July GLERA was asked to join a board, originally called a ‘transformation board’ as part of resident engagement for the Major Works Projects happening on our estate. We were told that the board would consist of three City of London officers, three Cripplegate Members and three residents with Councillor Anthony Fitzpatrick, elected Member for Lime Street, as independent Chair.
- Judith Finlay – Executive Director of Community and Children’s Service
- Peta Caine – Director of Housing
- Kindy Bansal-Shah – GLE Project Coordinator
- Councillor Ceri Wilkins
- Councillor Adam Hogg
- Councillor Sarah Gillinson
With very short notice GLERA was asked to provide one GLERA member, one leaseholder and one tenant. GLERA Chair, Sue Pearson asked Peter Luckham and Lee Millam to support her. They kindly agreed and the first meeting took place on July 28. There is the option to swap in other residents in the future.
There have been three board meetings with the first two being largely procedural. The board has been renamed, GLE Major Works Renewal Programme Board, its purpose defined and terms of reference approved. The third meeting which took place earlier this week was more productive, with next steps being:
- to confirm the total scope of the project across the whole estate, what is included and what is not
- to identify the various groups involved with the project within CoLC and how they relate/ interact with residents and where decisions are made
- to outline the engagement plan
- to clarify the methodology for establishing leaseholder costs
There will be an agreed ‘summary’ after each meeting, which will also be posted on the GLERA website.
winter measures | good news!
Since the beginning of the year GLERA has been pushing for extra help for residents for the cold winter months, both practical and financial. The CoL confirmed last week that residents will be getting help with their energy bills for the 5 winter months and the amounts will be confirmed in an official letter to residents. GLERA wants to make sure that this funding is easy to access (unlike when tenants were refunded for their overpayment of water rates). READ MORE
We are also still pushing to get physical measures such as curtains and draft excluders for those who need them, and Karcher-type window cleaners that suck up condensation for every flat. Condensation is one of the main causes of black mould so GLERA believe that this would be the single best provision. We hope to see progress on this after the proposal has been approved by Community and Children’s Services Committee (CCSC) later this month.
GLERA + CoL meetings
After a break GLERA have managed to re-etablish monthly meetings with CoL officers. Topics discussed at the last meeting were:
- interim repairs and redecoration strategy: GLERA are pushing to bring some works forward, particularly to blocks scheduled later in the Major Works programme.
- estate services: we suggested the setting up of a small working party to look at issues and devise solutions. This was agreed but there has been no follow up action.
- Government consultation on rent convergence: we asked for information on CoL response to the consultation and what affect this may have on tenants.
- follow up to our March Action Day: we asked for an update on repairs, roofs and balconies, and conforming to listed building guidelines. We were told that a new contract manager was starting in September and that new contractors A&E Elkins will be carrying out preventative maintenance (eg regularly clearing drains and gutters). CoL has been increasing its quality checks but has IT issues.
- communications: we discussed the ineffectiveness of existing methods and were told that a system, similar to the Barbican residents’ weekly email updates, was being trialled and would be up and running in September. GLERA has not seen the trial as yet.
- occupation of Black Raven Court: still delayed, awaiting Islington Building Control approval.
GLERA sub-groups
We are slowly but surely making progress in establishing sub-groups to tackle the issues arising from the Major Works programme.
The Technical group will meet for the first time on Wednesday 22 October. The Crescent House planning consultation event will take place at the end of November, and for Cuthbert Harrowing in the New Year. We need to be prepared so if you are a construction/engineering/architectural or surveying professional we would love you to come along to the meeting or at least share your contact details so that we can discuss issues with you. Please contact technical.glera@gmail.com
The Leaseholders group will hold their second meeting on 29 October and invitations will be going out this week to all leaseholders who have expressed an interest in joining. Please contact me at chair.glera@gmail.com if you would like to attend but haven’t signed up yet.
The Evidence/Archive group is in the formative stages and sterling work has been done by Matt Startin in scanning the whole of the GLERA paper archive (HUGE!), and he has since been working with Peter Luckham and Jacqueline Swanson on how to store and interrogate the information they contain. As the paper archive trickles out around 2014 more recent information will need to be sourced. Anyone interested in helping with these early stages, especially if you have archiving IT skills, knowledge of documentation redaction software, or if you are interested in helping to build our evidential case, please contact archive.glera@gmail.com
