Quadrant Court under the hammer - intrusive survey works to commence next week

First Port have advised residentsof Quadrant Court in Wembley Park that 'intrusive investigations' will start next week on the external facade of the block. The works have an estimated completion date of March 12th and will be carried out by SISK.

The survey follows the failure of the block to achieve an EWS1 form when examined by fire engineers which means that residents are unable to satsify potential lenders of the safety of the block.  The block was only rated B2 and First Port hope to achieve B1 as a result of the survey.

Residents are warned that surveyors will need to access the external facade cladding at various levels that will mean the erection of scaffolding towers or extentable platforms. There will be noise from drilling and hammering at various stages between 8am and 6pm.

Some access to particular apartments will be required to get to the balcony and adjacent facade.

First Port will be working with Quintain as well as SISK.

Cladding: Help or Betrayal?

 

 Before Robert Jenrick's announcement yesterday on cladding, local #EndOurCladdingScandal campaigner Lucie Gutfreund asked on Twitter whether it would be 'Help or betrayal?'

For many it looks like betrayal for those living in blocks of under 18 metres in height who will be faced with 50-60 year loans to pay for remedial works.

Lucie said on Twitter:

Apart from the cost not being affordable, what is important to also raise is that the £50/mth loan for 30-60 years will make their homes devalued and unsaleable and wipe out the leaseholders' equity if they need to sell their home, and many do need to!

She said she felt disgusted by Jenrick's treatment of leaseholders and his brazen claim that he understands the plight of leaseholders.

 

Cllr Shama Tatler, Brent Council Lead Member for Regeneration, Property and Planning  tweeted:

 

The government  announcement is simply not good enough. Leaseholders should not bear the costs.

 

The monies made available for higher blocks is only for cladding and not for the many other safety faults that have been found including lack of fire breaks, cavity wall insulation and of course the cost of waking watches.

The Fire Brigade general secretary Matt Wrack said: 

From the very start, firefighters and residents have warned that the building safety crisis goes far beyond the flammable cladding that was on Grenfell Tower.

This funding falls far short of the estimated £15bn needed to end the crisis. The government’s piecemeal and patchwork approach – designed to shield itself from responsibility – is wreaking havoc on the lives of millions of innocent people.

The government has sent a clear message that it cares more about their friends and donors in the housing and construction industry than residents trapped in dangerous buildings below 18m or the tens of thousands more with other serious fire safety defects.

A number of new build residential blocks across Brent are affected along with student accommodation in Wembley Park. Forum House owners have been told  by First Port that assessors have found it is eligible for funding for remediation work including render finishes and insulation layers as well as ACM cladding.

Quadrant Houseowners have been told that the report by an independent engineer found that the building can only be granted a B2 EWS form at present which would not satisfy mortgage lenders. Further remediation work may be needed on the external wall in order to gain a full EWS form acceptable to them. Meanwhile the engineer has said further fire alarm installations and a waking watch are not required.

 

Should Wembley residents be picking up the bill for Quintain’s mistakes?

Guest blog by ' A Wembley Park Resident'.

The first residential block in Quintain’s rapidly expanding Wembley Park empire, Forum House was a flagship development at the time it opened back in 2009.   Along with neighbouring Quadrant Court which opened a year later, these developments were intended to establish Wembley Park’s reputation for “destination living” at an affordable price.   These early developments were mixed tenure - with private leaseholders and renters, shared owners and social renters all moving in to the new blocks. But as Quintain rolling out new developments at a rate of knots, some of which feature no properties at social rent, they appear to have taken their eye off the ball when it comes to ensuring that their original residents remain satisfied.  Most of their efforts are going into marketing newer luxury properties, and promoting their much-vaunted Tipi scheme, based on a build-to-rent model.

Quintain implicitly acknowledged that the managing agents they had originally contracted to oversee the developments were under-performing when they took the contract away from LRM and awarded it to rivals First Port.  But the full scale of LRM’s failure only became clear subsequently, after they left a vast deficit (thought to be just short of £100,000) in the Forum House annual accounts for 2016-17. Despite already high-levels of service charge, LRM had apparently failed to make any provision for a sinking fund - necessary for prudent management of any estate - and had consistently overspent despite failing to address recurring problems in servicing the estate, including the regularly faulty boilers and pumps.

So who is to pay for the shortfall?   LRM has now pocketed its fees and the accounts have been signed off.   Quintain might yet to be entitled to query whether LRM delivered on its contractual obligations, and potentially recover some of their cash.   But in the meantime, it’s been left to residents to cough-up for a significant “balancing charge” running into hundreds of pounds each, whilst at the same time being hit with major service charge increases from First Port (using LRM’s questionable figures as a baseline guide).   

In his usual suave manner, Quintain boss James Saunders promised WPRA’s febrile Wider Residents Meeting in June that the company would undertake a review of what monies could be reclaimed from LRM, which he anticipated might take three months.   But when the residents have asked for a progress update, no further reassurances have been given. Residents fear they’ll still be on the hook for the costs of having been failed by the freeholder and managing agents. Isn’t it time, they are asking, that Quintain paid the price for its own mistakes?

More cladding removals in Wembley Park

Following the Grenfell disaster Unite Students is currently removing cladding from its huge student accommodation building on Olympic Way. Yesterday First Port wrote to residents in Quadrant Court about removal of cladding around the entrance to the building:

Dear Resident,

IMPORTANT – Quadrant Court – Cladding.

Following on from our correspondence regarding the cladded areas at the entrance of Quadrant Court, we are happy to inform that the cladded areas will be made safer and more secure.

We have been informed that from Monday (16th of July), Sisk will be doing some works on behalf of Quintain to make it safer, this will include the change of the insulation behind the walls and a new fire breaker to be installed. This repairs will make the cladding safer and bring it in line with the government recommendation.

During this works that will take a maximum of 2 weeks there will be minimal disruption to the residents but if at any time you need assistance please do not hesitate to contact the concierge desk and they will be more than happy to help.

Please do not hesitate to contact us if you need more information. Kind regards

Andreas Deligiannis (Development Manager)

'Wild animal' on the loose near Wembley Stadium

Residents of Quadrant Court have been warned not to approach a Harris Hawk that has been deployed by First Port Property Management Services to 'combat the  current pigeon situation.'

In a letter to resident, First Port say, 'You may see him in the next couple of weeks flying across the courtyard or having a break on your balcony. Please remember this is a wild animal. Please do not approach him without the consent of the handler first.'

First Port add that as an additional deterrent they are installing kite hawks on the roof area. These float around in the wind, you may have seen one on the roof of the Wembley Ark,  and are claimed to deter pigeons.

They may have better luck than Chalkhill Primary School where a model of an owl, installed on the sports hall roof to see off seagulls, now regularly hosts a seagull nest between its feet!

In other news, First Port, who faced sharp criticism from residents over increased services charges recently, say they are reinstating the courtyard water feature, renovating the courtyard including new flower planting and investigating a leak in the car park/gymnasium. They apologise to residents for the latter taking longer than expected because the building 'has a complex plumbing system.'

First Port attempt to justify leap in service charges at Quadrant Court, Wembley Park

Management agents First Port have responded to residents' concerns LINK over increases in service charges with a Q&A seeking to explain how they arrived at the increases at Quadrant Court.

They quote an increase of 7% but also recognise that this does not include several major items of additional expenditure.  They do not discuss what one what resident described as the 'rocketing' charges they pay for the maintenance of the Wembley Park estate, now costing their residents at least  £100,000 a year.

The 'all-in' Tipi style private rental build by Quintain, supported by Brent Council, leaves room for increases in broadband, utility, maintenance and concierge  charges, over and above the basic rent, with residents tied service charges based on whatever deals the management agents arrange.

This is the Q&A sent to Quadrant Court residents (Click bottom left to enlarge):

Forum and Quadrant residents face huge service charge increases

Forum House at the weekend

Residents of Forum House and Quadrant Court, two of the first Quintain developments at Wembley Park face service charges of 47% according to well informed sources. First Port who manage the development spokesperson  denied the figure this morning and told me that the increases were actually 2.7% for Forum House and 5.1% for Quadrant Court.  He added that First Port had only been agents since April 2017 and the amount depended on what baseline was being used.

Forum House is presently undergoing works for removal and replacement of cladding following the Grenfell fire but the spokesman said that as the buildings were also most 10 years old that maintenance  would be needed anyway.

Forum and Quadrant are different from the later Tipi developments in that they are mixed tenure including housing provided by Genesis and Family Mosaic.  Clearly the increases will be less affordable for housing association tenants.  There are fears that the increases have been made to bring charges in line with Quintain's latest developments.

First Port is holding a site surgery today and in apparent contradiction of the spokesperson admit that the increase is 'significant' this year. I have sought clarification from First Port. The discrepancy may be due to the fact that First Port is switching from a financial year budget to a calendar year, charging 5% more during the period of adjustment for only a 9 month period.

The Development Manager of the develpment meanwhile does not seem to deny the extent of the  service charge increase but justifies it on the following grounds:

We are adjusting the budget to the real expenses of the development and the necessary works that have to be carried out as per examples below:

-          Fire equipment: A provision for ad hoc works including a replacement of the fire panel, replacement of fire doors and magnetic locks. As these are required ad hoc works for this year only so we anticipate a lowering of this cost line year.

-          Electricity: This budget is previous years metered usage, however we have now procured a contracted rate through First Port bulk purchasing. We will be able to achieve rates which are well below normal domestic rates and highly competitive against commercial tariffs. We have carried out a comprehensive assessment of the lighting on site and were aiming to replace current lighting with LED equivalents as part of the major works being carried out in order to reduce energy costs over the long term. Due to funding we are unfortunately unable to do this at present, however it will be undertaken in the near future.

-          Reserves: We plan to appoint a chartered surveyor to carry out a detailed Asset Management Plan for the development to ensure that future annual collections are set at sufficient levels to fully provide for all future major works and that collections are allocated to the correct schedules. We have however budgeted for an estimated required amount to be allocated to reserve funds.

-          Cleaning external areas: This is budgeted in for inner court yard cleaning, including all paving, section walls inside, steps etc. (steam and chemical). Also perimeter clean outside areas including pavement sections, plant surrounds, reception entrance.

-          Window cleaning: We have made provision for the external cleaning of windows and balconies throughout the development. This has not been budgeted previously but is needed enhancement that will deliver a much improved appearance to the scheme.

-          Building, Terrorism, Property Owner Liability Insurance: Provision for insurance for period 30 Sept 2018 to December 2018. This has previously been separately recharged to residents in the form of an additional levy.

-          Lifts: We have based our budget figure on actual previous expenditure allowing for 4 passenger lifts, this covers the relevant maintenance contracts, lift telephone lines, lift insurance and ad-hoc repairs should they be required. Our budget allows for our premium service lift contract which we are able to procure at a lower than usual rate via the Quintain Wembley wide agreement. This also incorporates the outstanding aesthetic repairs to all lifts.

-          Ground maintenance: We have allowed for a provision for an annual grounds maintenance contract and the regular  maintenance of the irrigation system as well as improvements to the landscaping in the budget.

Latest Quadrant Court fire safety reviews

 First Port, the Property Manageent Service for Quadrant Court, have sent to following to leaseholders and residents. (August 22nd)

Fire Safety and ACM Cladding on the feature column of Quadrant Court

The following information has been issued to keep you fully abreast of the current position in respect of the building in the unlikely event of a fire at the property.

Following the tragedy at Grenfell Tower we have carried out some reviews of the building that we manage, in line with Government (DCLG) advice.

Through this review it has been established that the two storey maroon feature column to the left hand side of the main entrance on Empire Way is clad in an Alucabond material that is classified as ACM. This element relates to a localised and isolated part of the building façade and was confirmed as ACM via the government’s first suggested testing procedure. At this juncture this should not give rise to undue concern albeit that we are considering whether any action is necessary. The blue arrow on photo below shows the maroon panelling so that it is clear what we are referring to. 

On receiving this information we contacted the Fire and Rescue Services and also notified the building’s insurers to establish if any immediate action was required. Initial findings are that no immediate action is necessary.

You may have heard it reported that the Government has produced an updated document, setting out fresh guidelines for testing procedure/s. This includes testing the entire cladding system and not just the exterior cladding material.

This is important as the systems behind this cladded facia can be key to the structure’s performance in the event of a fire, and the nature of this system can differ significantly from building to building.

The installation details for this feature column are different to those that have been discussed in the media.

In the interim we pro-actively invited the Fire Brigade to carry out an inspection of the building in order to ascertain if there was anything further we can do to enhance fire safety at Quadrant Court. Thankfully they were happy with the processes and strategy we have in place and were satisfied that we operate the development correctly and efficiently in terms of fire safety.

Nevertheless, taking into account the guidance issued by the Fire Brigade at other affected comparable buildings, we have instructed additional patrols of the building by the onsite staff during the night time and I can confirm that these have begun. These will stay in place until further notice.

I would like to take this opportunity to remind you all that a “stay put” policy is in operation at Quadrant Court in the unlikely event of a fire. Homes and developments such as Quadrant Court are built with fire compartmentation, which is designed to resist the passage of fire between the walls and doors giving ample time for the fire services to arrive.

In this way, the fire service are given plenty of time to assess risks and ensure that, if needed, any evacuation is managed in a safe and orderly fashion.

In addition, the communal corridors and escape passages at Quadrant Court are equipped with smoke ventilation systems to improve conditions for means of escape and fire-fighting by limiting obscuration and toxicity in the common escape routes. These systems are tested regularly and in line with manufacturers recommendations.

We understand that there may be concerns around the “stay put” policy at this time. The following remains the guidance from the London Fire Brigade:

“If there is a fire inside your apartment leave, closing the door behind you and call 999. If there is a fire elsewhere in the building, and not inside your own apartment their advice is to stay put. The Fire Service will carry out an evacuation of the other apartments if necessary.”

Further information can be found on http://www.london-fire.gov.uk/staying-in-or-going- out.asp.

We also ask that residents ensure they remove anything that is combustible on their balconies. This is of course a stipulation in your lease but as is apparent from walking around the building there are a number of residents that continue to breach this lease requirement. Barbeques and storing items other than small garden furniture are examples of such breaches. In light of the above, we would ask that you comply with this instruction as a matter of urgency.

Fire safety should be at the forefront of everyone’s mind, and to that end please ensure you are comfortable with the fire procedures, know where the nearest fire exit is and make sure the smoke alarms in your apartment are tested regularly and replaced every 10 years. It is also good practice to close all your apartment’s internal doors when you go to bed at night.

We will advise if any specific action or change is needed and we will continue to keep you updated in relation to this matter. Meanwhile, we will also continue to track any findings or new guidelines and take the appropriate actions.

Finally, should you have any further general questions or queries we would in the first instance refer you to the enclosed statement and guidance relating to fire safety. However, should you have any questions that are not answered by this document then please do not hesitate to contact us.