Goulden House The Estate Office will be closed tomorrow, 12th December and Friday 13th December 2024 due to staff sickness.
You can still contact the Estate Office via email at [email protected]. In the event of an emergency, you can call Wandsworth Borough Council Out of Office Hours on 0208 871 7490.
For and on behalf of Goulden House Co-Operative Ltd
Estate Office Staff
Notice – Estate office closed due to sickness – 12th and 13th December 2024
WBC Ref: H114 INSTALLATION AND RECENT BREAKDOWNS
I am writing to address the concerns with the lift refurbishment and recent breakdowns that have occurred on lift H114 (Entrance A), and to extend my sincerest apologies for any inconvenience this has caused.
As you are aware in October 2019, components were upgraded to lifts H114 and H115 to improve the lifts’ reliability until the lifts could be refurbished. These components were as follows:
The new equipment that has been installed had to be adapted to the existing lift components that had been retained, the equipment requires a “bedding in” period which is a time when the mechanical parts adjust and conform to one another. During this period, you may notice slight changes in operation as the components align and wear in together. It’s essential for the contractor to monitor the lifts performance, as this helps ensure longevity and efficiency of the equipment.
When a lift defect related to the new equipment is identified during a breakdown, the contractor works closely with the manufacturers. They provide feedback to help determine the cause of the fault and ensure the necessary adjustments are made to reduce the frequency of breakdowns. We do acknowledge that any lift breakdown will cause inconvenience to residents, and we make efforts to minimise that inconvenience as much as possible. Please note any breakdowns recorded during the installation and the 12-month defects liability period relating to the new equipment installed will not be chargeable.
On 31st October 2024, the management team reported the floor levels were out of alignment, a callout instruction was raised to the contractor. When the engineers arrived on site and adjusted all floor levels via offset table within the control panel. During the lift testing, they observed an intermittent issue where the lift would stop just below the top floor level. They then made additional adjustments to the virtual terminal up limit device to address this problem. The lift was again tested at all floors, as no further issues were identified the lift service was restored.
Three callout instructions were raised on 21st 28th and 29th November 2024 as the council had been informed the lift was out of service. Callout instructions had been raised to the contractor. On each attendance the engineers had found the lift to be working arrival, the lift was checked at all floors with no issues found. We suspected there may have been an intermittent fault that was not evident during the engineer’s visit. This made it challenging to determine the root cause of the issue. Both the contractor and council agreed that we would closely monitor the lift.
A callout instruction was issued on 4th December 2024, after the management team reported that the lift was stuck on the third floor. Upon receiving Mrs. Gleeson’s email, I directed a Wandsworth lift inspector to visit the site and investigate the reported issue. The inspector confirmed that a door fault on the third floor was preventing the doors from closing, causing the lift to time out. When the engineers arrived on site, they checked the operation of the third-floor lock mechanism but were unable to replicate the door fault. They lubricated all moving parts and tested the lift on all floors.
Whilst on site they reviewed the event logger within the control panel and discovered numerous start failure events. The engineer requested the assistance from a senior technician, the lift was shut down and notices were displayed on the landings.
On 5th December 2024, Amalgamated Lift arranged for their construction Technical Manager, to attend the site and investigate the multiple “failure to start” faults. He found that the operation of the uncontrolled movement solenoid on the Overspeed Governor device (Safety device located in lift machine room and linked to the lift car was sluggish. Further testing revealed that the incoming voltage to the solenoid was lower than expected.
To address this issue, the technical manager re-wired the solenoid to utilize a different output from the control transformer. With the solenoid now operating from a new supply, its performance vastly improved, and they were satisfied that it was functioning correctly. The lift was then left on a test run to ensure the fault had been rectified. I am pleased to inform you that the lift has been returned to service and is now operating smoothly.
Both the council and the contractor are actively monitoring all three lifts to ensure their proper functioning. During this defect’s liability period, we are hopeful that the performance of the lifts will improve, providing a more reliable service for all residents of Goulden House.
If the event of an emergency, please can you contact Joint Control Centre on 020 8871 7490 which is staffed 24 hours/7days a week.
The lift department can be contacted on 020 8871 7042 Monday to Friday between the hours of 9.00am to 5.00pm
Yours faithfully
Warren Griffith/Head of Lift Services
Goulden House – Residents Letter 10th October 2024 from WBC Lift Department
This notice is to advise residents of Pestgone’s inspection of the site on 9th December 2024, which is as follows:
“A routine inspection was carried out today across all areas of the premises, including all internal and external areas, Including communal gardens bin stores and sub entries with light evidence of rat activity found within external bin stores and around one sub entry, only with a total site bait consumption of around 30% found. All bait stations have been fully serviced, with bait replenished and refreshed, where needed. Good levels of housekeeping and hygiene standards were found during today’s inspection, staff have reported no issues since previous inspection. All insect monitoring points have been inspected and show no signs of any recent or ongoing pest activity. PestGone will continue to monitor on forthcoming service visits.”
For and on behalf of Goulden House Co-Operative Ltd
Goulden House Estate Staff
Notice to Residents – Update from Pestgone’s Inspection of GH on 9th December 2024
This is to advise that the Estate Office will be closed for the Christmas week. The Estate Office will operate as normal until 5 pm on Monday 23rd December 2024.
The Estate Office will then be closed from Tuesday 24th of December until Wednesday, 1st January 2025.
The Estate Office will re-open and operate at normal hours from Thursday 2nd January 2025.
This has been approved by the Goulden House Management Committee and Wandsworth Borough Council has been updated accordingly.
You can still contact the Estate Office as normal for non-urgent issues by email on [email protected]. In the event of an emergency, please contact Wandsworth Borough Council out of office hours number 020 8871 7490.
For and on behalf of Goulden House Co-Operative Ltd
Estate Office Staff
NOTICE TO RESIDENTS – ESTATE OFFICE OPENING AND CLOSING DATES – CHRISTMAS AND NEW YEAR 2024-25
Date: 8 November 2024
Dear Resident,
RE: Goulden House ventilation system/Section 20 Major Works
As you may be aware Wandsworth Council has been looking at a number of options with regard to the existing ventilation system serving your property. The systems serve the bathrooms and toilets through communal ducts that terminate in a series of roof fans.
This ventilation system was installed at the time the block was constructed approximately 50 years ago and unfortunately was poorly designed meaning that the ducts cannot be accessed to be cleaned of debris. This cleaning, which ideally should take place every few years, ensures that the ducts are not compromised by dirt and debris and the inability to clean them means that they are becoming increasingly ineffective. The cleaning also removes flammable materials from the ducts lessening the chance of a fire spreading through the block. In a new communal ventilation system access points would be built in to enable the mechanical cleaning of the ducts and fire dampeners would be located in the ducts to contain fire. None of these are present in the existing system in Goulden House. Therefore, the ducts have never been inspected or cleaned which over the years has compromised the effectiveness of the system and increased the risk of fire spread throughout the ducts.
The Council appointed specialist consultants to look at options for the ongoing service and maintenance of the communal ventilation systems and has also met informally with Building Control managers to gauge their views. We have also met with members of the Co-Operative Board and the Goulden House Manager to listen to their views and to brief them on progress; the last meeting being held on 17th May 2024.
The conclusion that we have reluctantly drawn is that it is not practicably possible to continue to maintain the communal ventilation system. To do so would require extremely invasive, disruptive, and expensive work to break into each duct through the roof slab and from each individual bathroom to clean or replace sections of ducting as necessary, to install cleaning points and fire dampeners in the system between each floor of the blocks. It could also prove to be the case that the whole duct may need replacing along with individual roof fans.
As the freeholder of the block, the Council is legally responsible for the repair and upkeep of the fabric and structure of the block including any communal services. It is not possible to leave the existing ventilation system in place knowing that it cannot be cleaned or maintained as recommended. Therefore, the Council, in consultation with the Co-operative, have taken the decision to abandon the existing communal system and to retrofit individual ventilation systems within each property. We recognise that there are flats with different configurations and therefore, the individual ventilation systems will need to differ accordingly. In conjunction with the Co-Op Manager, we have already successfully fitted systems to a couple of empty properties. In those properties the costs of undertaking the required work in each property was approximately £4,500 (although these costs are expected to be lower as part of a block wide major works scheme).
We now plan to tender out this retrofit work seeking prices for installation to the various property types found in Goulden House. Wandsworth Council will tender to five contractors, residents will be consulted, and leaseholders will receive the normal statutory consultation notices. However, as we are proposing to undertake work within residents’ properties, we will also give individual leaseholders the option of procuring this work privately rather than use the Council’s contractor. Leaseholders who choose to undertake the works privately, will be provided with the necessary plans of their respective properties. If leaseholders choose to opt out and arrange for the work to be undertaken privately, they will not be charged for the work to the other properties in the block, and the remaining leaseholders will be charged a percentage of the total costs in line with their lease. As we will be undertaking work in phases before decommissioning the roof fans and sealing the communal ducts leaseholders will be given plenty of time to secure their own contractor and to complete the installation before the communal ventilation system is closed down.
It is hoped that we can be on site next year but meanwhile please feel free to talk to Wandsworth Council’s Heating Manager, Peter Roberts, who is Wandsworth’s Council contact for the proposed works. You can also ask to be shown one of the individual ventilation systems in an empty property by the Co-operative Manager, Annie Gleeson. If you wish is to visit the pilot flat to view the individual ventilation system, please engage with the Estate Office either via the office email [email protected] or by calling the Estate Office direct on 0207 924 5213, within 14 days of receipt of this letter. The Estate Manager will then collate the number of residents who wish to view the individual ventilation system within the pilot flat, and you will then be advised of the date and time for your viewing. The Estate Manager or a representative from Wandsworth Council will be able to respond to any further questions that arise from that visit.
We are conscious of the fact that leaseholders have already been charged for some previous work to clean the communal ventilation ducts. I can confirm that those charges are being reviewed to ensure that leaseholder are only charged for work that was undertaken by our contractors and notification of any revised charges will be sent out shortly. The latter will include a breakdown of the costs incurred and confirmation on the number of flats which were inspected by Wandsworth Council’s appointed contractor (T Brown Group). Wandsworth Council will also provide residents, upon request, with the T Brown Group’s CCTV findings which resulted in the proposed decommissioning of the current communal ventilation system.
Yours sincerely,
Tom Crawley
Assistant Director of Resident and Estate Services
Wandsworth Council
WBC GH Joint Letter Section 20 Communal Extractor Fans – November 2024_ (003)
This notice is to advise residents of Pestgone’s inspection of the site on 12th November 2024, which is as follows:
Report Summary
“A routine inspection was carried out today across all areas of the premises including all external grounds building perimeters bin stores inner and outer greens sub entries and communal areas and landings with no evidence of any recent or ongoing pest activity found within internal areas or bin stores. Light bait take has been found in sub entries by 81 and 84 and live sightings reported within the inner green with a total site bait consumption of around 40% found. All bait stations have been fully serviced with bait replenished and refreshed where needed good levels of housekeeping and hygiene standards were found during todays inspection staff have reported no issues since previous inspection all insect monitoring points have been inspected and show no signs of any recent or ongoing pest activity. PestGone will continue to monitor on forthcoming service visits.”
For and on behalf of Goulden House Co-Operative Ltd
Goulden House Estate Staff
Notice to Residents – Update from Pestgone’s Inspection of Goulden House on 12th November 2024
Dear Residents
We apologise for Lift H114 being removed from service. The contractor found Floor Level Fault.
The contractor has provided a provisional return to service date of 5/11/24 although depending on the nature of the fault the lift may remain out of service for longer than expected.
The lift will either be returned to service on this date or further notification will be provided depending on the findings of the investigation.
Please accept our sincere apologies for the disruption and inconvenience caused by this unfortunate situation, we are working towards resolving this as quickly as possible.
In the event of an emergency please contact Emergency Control on 020 8871 7583 (24 hours).
The lift department can be contacted on 020 8871 7042 Monday to Friday from 8.00am to 5.00 pm.
Yours faithfully
S Skipp/ Lift Engineer”
Dear Residents
Please find below link to events in the Borough to support residents with the cost of living.
To support residents through the winter months as the cost of energy continues to rise, we have funded the distribution of warm homes packs, which is estimated to save the average household around £200 a year.
Cost of Living events – Wandsworth Borough Council
For and on behalf of Goulden House Co-Operative Ltd
Goulden House Estate Staff
Dear Resident
Please click on the link below for details with regard to Transport for London notification to advise that from 1st November 2024 they plan to start building the Battersea Bridge safety improvements scheme, which they consulted on between November 2022 and January 2023.
For and on behalf of Goulden House Co-Operative Ltd
Goulden House Estate Staff
URGENT NOTICE TO BALL COURT USERS
The Goulden House Ball Court will be closed by Estate Staff daily at 4.45 pm, Monday through to Friday and by Wandsworth Borough Council on Saturdays and Sundays, these timings will become effective from Monday 4th November and will remain in place until Spring (February), the latter when the brighter evenings return and in compliance with the Terms of Use during the Autumn and Winter months.
We would ask that if you are using the Ball Court at 4.45, when Estate Staff are closing the Ball Court, that you leave the Ball Court when requested by Estate Office Staff.
Your assistance with the above, is very much appreciated in advance.
For and on behalf of Goulden House Co-Operative Ltd
Goulden House Estate Staff