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UPDATE FOR LEASEHOLDERS


We have a shared vision for Burrells Wharf that can be summarised as follows:
"That Burrells Wharf be recognised by residents, potential residents and local estate agents as the most desirable dev- elopment in which to live on the Isle Of Dogs." To achieve this aim we propose:
1.To maintain transparency and integrity in all relation
ships; amongst the Directors, between the Directors and Shareholders, Managing Agents, estate staff, employed lawyers & accountants.
2.To make, keep and maintain full accounts & complete records of all meetings and key telephone conversations and correspondence on the part of the Directors.
3.The Directors will take a rigorous and active interest in the running of the estate.
4.The Directors are committed to high quality communication, particularly with the Shareholders, and hold the Managing Agents accountable for the same.

 Many leaseholders will be wondering about the latest developments regarding the defects found at Burrells Wharf. Some of you may have attended the open meeting at the Octagon on 29th April 1999. Some 150 people attended, for those who did not attend you were sent an information pack and the minutes of that meeting so you would have had all the information that was discussed at that meeting. We think it is important to cover these issues again, give an historical out-line of events, [some parts of this story could not be disclosed by BWFL as there was a legal case ongoing by a resident on the estate against Galliards, more about this later]and to give you the latest developments at the time of this newsletter being published.

Background
As you will know by now, when BWFL purchased the Freehold we undertook a Health and Safety audit of the Estate. This was to cover our legal responsibilities required by law. Also, before BWFL bought the Freehold, there was a fire in the rubbish chute of the Wheelhouse. As a result of this it became apparent that there were defects in the alarm systems across the whole Estate, and the smoke vents of the building. The fire was investigated by fire investigators from the London Fire Brigade,







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their report confirmed that the the smoke vents did not function properly and the fire alarm panel in the estate office did not activate. When BWFL commissioned its audit the TBA[Troupe Bywaters Anders] Services Management Ltd was asked also to look at these defects which had been highlighted. Their report has now become known as the TBA report. The directors decided to implement this report in its entirety. We budgeted for it in this years’ service charges and issued emergency consultation notices to all leaseholders late last year.We will come back to this later.

Defects - BWFL made aware
In October 1998, completely unexpectedly, we received some disturbing information from Fairweather Stephenson. They told us that for some time they had been acting for a client, Sundelta Ltd, who owned a penthouse flat on top of the Wheelhouse. Sundelta Ltd had bought this flat from new from Galliards and was in litigation against them regarding a number of defects. Apart from a short while when a tenant rented the flat, the flat had not been occupied because it was in an unletable state.

The owner did not for some time tell BWFL of this situation. However as part of the litigation they needed to inspect the common parts of the block owned by BWFL.So they approached us, this now made us aware of a problem for the first time.[Though the TBA report had revealed some defects] We asked to speak to the surveyor [Chris Easton] employed to give us an outline of what the problem was. He told us that he was uncovering, after superficial inspection, defects in the building. This had revealed breaches of the fire integrity of the wall to the ducts and to some of the flats, as well as inappropriate hinges to the fire doors, inadequate smoke dispersal and notification systems. All indicated breaches of building regulations and which made the building unsafe in the event of a fire. This was even before a more rigorous inspection had been undertaken. BWFL was now faced with a potentially serious situation whereby we had an Estate that was potentially unsafe. This could have had serious consequences for all our investments here and there was a real danger of the Estate being blighted. We had a duty to inform the insurance company who insure the Estate and we had to in

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