The 2017 AGM will take place on March 31st at 18.30 in the Lilac Room. Before the AGM business Iain Simmons, assistant director (City transportation) will make a presentation on ‘Changes in Fore Street, London Wall and Moor Lane’.
News
London Wall Place – St Alphage Highwalk returns
You will have seen that the work on the highwalks is well advanced, although they will not be open to the public until the building is finished, expected to be June 2017.
To give a taste, this picture shows how elegant they will look, with wooden handrail, and black balustrades, and with lighting in the posts supporting the handrail.
But at a recent meeting with the BA St Alphage Group members expressed concern over the attractiveness of the highwalks and gardens to skateboarders. The architects explained that they have included a number of passive measures such as the studs in the image, and the design of the benches which could be a target for skateboarders. In reality, skateboarders are probably not interested in long flat surfaces, which is what the highwalks will be, but the planters and the new slope down to the Salters’ gardens could be very appealing and this is where anti skateboarding measures are being applied. The site will also be under round the clock surveillance of the London Wall Estate Security Team.
21 Moorfields Roof terraces: take our survey
One unwelcome aspect of this otherwise welcome scheme for redevelopment has surfaced, which is why we are seeking residents’ views in our online survey.
Land Securities are preparing a scheme for the redevelopment of the 21 Moorfields site and recently presented this scheme to local residents at a public exhibition held at St Giles’ Cripplegate. Overall, Willoughby House Group and the Barbican Association too think that the development is welcome. It preserves – and enhances – highwalk access across the site, and the increase in height is stepped away from the Barbican. We are hopeful that most other concerns can be addressed through planning conditions.
One serious concern has recently surfaced. We have learned that the developer would like to clear the way for the roof terraces facing Willoughby House to be available to for their office tenants to use both early morning and late evening, especially if they are used to host receptions or social events.
Your house group thinks this has the potential to cause a lot of disturbance to residents. Almost all the rooms facing the site are bedrooms, but many people also use these rooms for other purposes too. Though amplified sound would not be permitted on the roof terraces, the noise from an excited group of people attending, say, a drinks reception in the evening on one of the terraces could be very loud and intrusive – especially due to the way sound reverberates around the street and facade of our building.
Planning won’t be able to prevent the use of the terraces during the daytime – planning guidelines don’t allow them to be that restrictive. But we can seek curbs on their use in the evenings or early morning. The developer would like to give their office tenants unrestricted use up to 10.00 pm and from 7.00 in the morning. We think that is too much, and that the hours should be cut back to something more reasonable.
We have created a short survey to capture people’s views on what they think reasonable usage is. Willoughby House residents can access the survey by following this link. All information will be treated in confidence, and the findings will only be presented in aggregate.
The developers intend to proceed with a planning application towards the end of this year. We will let everyone know when that planning application is open for comments.
AGM 2014 at City Boot, 23 April – and VFM presentation
Our Annual General Meeting takes place at Davy’s City Boot wine bar, Moorfields Highwalk, at 7.30 pm on Wednesday 23 April. Before the usual reports and elections, there will be a presentation from Ian Ratcliffe of Vision Fibre Media (VFM) who are now carrying out the TV and broadband upgrade across the Estate. Ian will give a brief overview of the different services being provided – TV, phone and broadband, and also explain how these will be provided to each resident’s flat – how the fibre cabling will work and what boxes will be provided if you opt for either the free or the optional paid-for services. This will be followed by a question-and-answer session.
The second half of the meeting will consist of reports from the acting Chairman and the Treasurer, followed by the election of up to seven residents to serve on the Willoughby House Group management committee for the coming 12 months.
As four of the existing committee is standing down, we welcome residents to come forward and fill these vacancies, and bring some welcome fresh ideas and input to the committee.
Your house group committee will be pleased provide a complementary glass of wine (or soft drink) to all members at the start of the meeting. Our meeting is at the ‘large table’ near the entrance closest to Willoughby House.
Summer Party 2013
CWilloughby House Summer Party – an open invitation to all residents at Willoughby House. Wednesday 31st July starting at 6.30 pm on Speed House lawn. Wine, soft drinks and wonderful food will be provided. £6 per adult to cover costs collected on the night; under 16s free. No need to pre-book. Simply come and enjoy!
Annual General Meeting at City Boot, 12 June at 7.30pm
Your House Group Committee hopes you will be able to join us for our Annual General Meeting on Wednesday 12 June at 7.30 pm. Davy’s City Boot is located on Moorfields Highwalk, between Willoughby House and the escalator down to Moorgate underground station. We will be occupying the large table to the right of the bar, through the first entrance you come to, when approaching from Willoughby House.
- You can download the minutes of last year’s AGM as a PDF. The password is in the printed AGM announcement delivered to your flat (or by post, to non-resident long leaseholders) – or phone the chairman for the password.
Going up and coming down
By Tim Macer, WHG Chair
As I write this, I can count six building sites visible or audible from my balcony overlooking Fore Street. Those of you nearer to Silk Street will be enduring two more – the Heron/Milton Court complex, and separately, work in our car parks, fitting out ready for Heron residents. The end is at least in sight for Milton Court, but work is now about to start on St Alphage. Brookfield, the new owner, has appointed Keltbray to do the demolition. Enabling works and soft sripping-out has now started, and the noisy demolition work is due to start in November – fortunately by the time our windows will be closed again, assuming warmer weather ever arrives this year.
The demolition work is simply to clear the site. Building work will not start until Brookfield have a pre-let, which they do not have yet – so we may be staring into an empty hole for a while.
WHG, along with all other neighbouring house groups and the BA have set up a regular series of consultation meetings with the developer, and we will be watching their plans carefully to ensure every step is taken to mitigate what is going to be a noisy and disruptive process. At least the timing means it will take place when windows are more likely to be closed.
GSMD Extended Hours
Even before the new GSMD building is open, Barbican Centre and GSMD are in the process of applying to override the planning condition that says public performances must stop by 11pm for the new school building. This condition was put in specifically to protect local residents. They now wish to extend to midnight. Even if the number of late events are infrequent, as they propose, this will still mean late night disturbance for residents on or close to Silk Street.
We have been in discussion with GSMD, in association with Speed House and the BA. GSMD are aware of the strong opposition they face to this move. We will be in touch again when any application is made, as our objections will be made stronger if they are also supported by many objections from those who directly affected. We will let you know when this application goes live.
Heron Sales Pavilion: Cheeky bid 3 more months
In last year’s AGM notice, we told you of Heron’s audacious request to extend its temporary planning permission for another 18 months beyond the original 3 years it was granted.
Nobody could accuse this developer of sensitivity to its neighbours. Almost a month after this extended permission had lapsed on the 31 March, you probably received the planning notification that Heron is applying for a further extension for three more months.
Your house group has objected, as has Speed House Group and the Barbican Association. The planning site shows numerous objections from residents from Willoughby and Speed Houses too – sufficient for this application now to go before the planning committee. We are pressing for the City to apply an enforcement notice to ensure the building goes.
AGENDA
AGENDA
1. Apologies for absence
2. Minutes of previous AGM, 18 May 2011
3. Matters Arising
4. Chairman’s report
The chairman will report on the work of the House Group during 2011 and describe current issues facing Willoughby House, including Milton Court, Crossrail, Moor Lane street scene, Moorgate Telephone Exchange, St Alphage House and other redevelopments.
5. Treasurer’s report and presentation of the annual accounts
6. Election of Committee for 2012/13
All members of the committee stand down annually. The meeting may elect seven members to serve for the coming year.
7. Membership resolution
Each flat within Willoughby House will be granted membership of Willoughby House Group until the next AGM, unless the owner or tenant notifies the Hon Secretary that he or she does not wish to be a member during this period
8. Setting the membership subscription for 2011
The committee recommends that the current subscription charge of zero be maintained for the coming year.
21 November meeting: open to all WH residents
Our next house group meeting is on the 21st November and will be at Wood Street Bar & Restaurant, starting at 7.30pm.
We have invited Helen Davinson, our Barbican Estate House Officer, who will be available to answer any questions about Estate matters. We will also have our usual agenda, including a round-up of the many local developments taking place on our doorstep:
- Milton Court/The Heron
- Moorgate Exchange
- St Alphage
- Crossrail
- Streetscape improvements: Moor Lane linear park and Silk Street
Our meeting will take place in the downstairs bar and starts at 7.30. Wood Street bar can be reached easily by the lift or stairs by Gilbert House South that lead down to St Giles’ terrace.