Webber & Quentin Newsletter- Autumn 2023
Happy households, living in healthy homes,
as part of a cooperative community.
Welcome to our Autumn newsletter. Find helpful information to navigate the services on offer to all Webber & Quentin residents, and see what exciting changes we are making to improve day to day life on the estate.
Spotlight: The Gates are coming!
Our two-year programme to fund the installation and maintenance of new gates along Webber Row will be completed in the coming months. Residents along Webber Row have been calling for this development to help stop the instances of illegal parking, anti-social behaviour, drug use & dealing and have a safer space for our children to play.
The TMO Board was able to secure funding from Southwark's Cleaner Greener Safer grants scheme which promotes projects that improve our local areas. The Gates Committee then worked diligently to plan, commission and manage the implementation of this structural project.
Meet the team who helped bring this project together.
Six residents from the Webber & Quentin
Estate have been working together for three years to get the Gates project done. Jose, Orenda and Claudia are three of the members and they are delighted it will finally become a reality.
Can you say more about what it took to get this project off the ground?
Once we analysed the survey results and understood residents’ priorities, we engaged with Southwark Council to apply for funding. This took us three years. It also took a lot of effort: discussions, presentations and influencing Southwark of the benefits and opportunities the project would bring to the estate.
What were the biggest hurdles that the committee had to overcome?
Apart from budget issues, the most difficult thing was dealing with the Planning Application. The project required both planning approval and Listed Building consent. We engaged an architect to prepare the documentation that included access statements, fire risk assessments and highway visibility splay (yes that is a thing) checks.
What are you most looking forward to about having gates?
What excites me is the possibility to change the layout of the courtyards, says Orenda, and potentially to open up access to the central green space on Webber Row from the back. This access has been blocked up for years, to prevent non-residents gaining access to these areas.
What are you most proud of?
Jose calls out the teamwork, harnessing the strength of different neighbours to achieve a common goal. One of our residents is an architect and they were able to produce the design. Another is a highway engineer, who was responsible for preparing splay statements for the Council Highways department.
Orenda adds, it was important that all the residents were with us on this journey and we worked together to create the flyers distributed to all the residents to ensure everyone was aware of progress and were invited to join the Gates group. Putting the flyers together and distributing them was a real team effort!
Your questions answered!
Where will the gates be placed and what will change?
For each of the courtyards along Webber Row, end to end gates will be installed at a height of 1.8m [approx. 5’ 11”]. For each courtyard there will be two entry points: one for vehicles, locked with a padlock that uses an FB14 (Fire Brigade) key, and one for pedestrians, operated with an electro-mechanical key code or a key fob and this will be GSM-enabled.
When will the work start and what will happen?
We expect the work to start in earnest in mid- November and take a number of weeks to complete. The work will happen in a number of phases: the removal of the old gates, excavation and removal of current brickwork, laying new foundations and the installation of the gates and making the power connection. Each phase will be conducted by dedicated experts, builders and electricians overseen by the project managers from the construction company, Strand Systems, who are experts at installing gates at residential and commercial properties. For the duration of the work, a small work area will be set up in the courtyard by Algar House.
How has this project been funded?
We have now secured the funding for the project through three individual grants from Southwark's Cleaner Greener Safer programme. If there are any additional charges these will be reflected in the annual service charge and itemized in the annual statement. Leaseholders will be notified in advance of any charges being added.
When the gates are in place how will residents get in and out?
The pedestrian gates will be operated using a key code or with a key fob. These will also be GSM-enabled to give access to guests and enable deliveries. Keys to operate the vehicular gate padlocks and keyfobs to operate the pedestrian gates can be purchased cheaply at cost of approximately £1.50 each. The code to open the pedestrian gates will be communicated to all residents well in advance of the gates becoming operational.
How will guests and delivery companies gain access?
Guests and people making deliveries will access courtyards via the pedestrian gates. These will have a GSM-enabled system whereby visitors will be able to ring a phone number pre-assigned to each flat, which will allow the gates to be unlocked remotely. These can be operated from wherever that phone is located, no need to be at home to control this. If it is necessary for delivery vehicles to access the courtyard, you will be able to open the gates using your personal key, if you have purchased one.
For any additional questions, please reach out to your TMO Manager in the first instance.
News updates
What you told us – feedback from the Residents Survey
Thanks to everyone who completed this year’s Residents Survey. You told us that you are generally happy with the level of service you are receiving from the TMO and its Manager, related to repairs, cleaning and maintenance. Specific suggestions of what can be improved were noted.
All of you were clear that you are not using our website very much and that it is often out of date. The TMO Events & Engagement Committee will be making this a priority focus to address over the coming months.
Spending our surplus – change of plan!
At a Special General Meeting (SGM) in January 2023, the residents voted unanimously to put the well-earned surplus of £104,000 towards addressing fundamental structural building issues that are leading to a range of disrepair cases. Following further investigation, it has become apparent that this effort – while informative – is unlikely to help us secure prioritized focus or additional funding from Southwark Council to make the necessary structural repairs happen. The Board is therefore going back to consider an alternative plan to invest the surplus. A revised plan will be presented at the AGM in June/July 2024 for review and consideration of the residents. If you have ideas about how we can put this funding to good use, please reach out to the TMO Manager and let them know.
Help our fundraising efforts!
The TMO funding sources are under pressure this year because our annual allocation from Southwark Council is not keeping pace with the cost inflation we are all experiencing. As a result, the ability of the TMO to fund community activities is now severely constrained.
But you can all help! We've created a profile for our charity, Webber & Quentin Ltd, on EasyFundraising. Without any cost to you and just by making online purchases with over 7,000 online retailers such as Morrison's, eBay, Argos, John Lewis, ASOS, Booking.com and M&S, you can help us raise money.
All you need to do is:
1. Join for free:
https://www.easyfundraising.org.uk/causes/webber/
2. Every time you shop online or with your mobile, go to easyfundraising first to
find the site you want and start shopping. Or, even easier, you can add the
easyfundraising extension to your browser so a notice will pop up to let you
know when you are on a site which gives donations.
3. After you’ve checked out, the brand will make a donation to Webber and Quentin Limited at no extra cost to you whatsoever!
We've been testing this with just two people, and have already raised about £45, just from a few grocery deliveries, eBay purchases and some advanced holiday bookings. There are no catches or hidden charges and the TMO will be able to put the funds to great use to help make our community even stronger.
Our Community coming together
We are planning a Christmas event on Sunday 10th December starting at 12:30 and finishing at 17:00: Santa’s Grotto will be coming to the Webber & Quentin TMO Portacabin Office in the Quentin Estate Car Park. Bring the kids to meet Santa and enjoy some festive food and drink for kids of all ages!
Keep in touch
There are lots of ways you can keep in touch to find out our social events such as the garden workshops. Register for our text alerts: send us an email with your phone number and we’ll add you to the list.
Visit our website to get the latest updates and to communicate with the TMO Office to find out about renting a bike locker, report a repair or find out who to call for help.
Pop into the TMO Office in the Quentin Estate car park
Become a member of the TMO and join our Board or one of our Committees
The TMO is held together thanks to the help and dedication of local residents who volunteer to help make a difference. We are currently experiencing some changes to our Board membership and are keen to get new members involved. Let us know if you are interested to sit in on our next Board meeting to understand the way we work. Or find out more about joining one of our committees: Garden & Grounds, Events & Engagement and Finance.
Let us know if you’re interested to join: contact@wqtmo.org
Where to get help
Webber & Quentin TMO
Address: The Portacabin, Gray St, SE1 8UY
Website: http://webberandquentintmo.org
Tel: 020 7620-3001
Email: contact@wqtmo.org
Reporting repairs:
Please call the TMO Office or email contact@wqtmo.org for any daytime repairs.
All emergency and urgent repairs must be reported by phone on 020 7620-3001.
For emergency repair reports outside of walk-in times (Wednesday AMs and Friday) or when no one is available via the number above, we recently changed our emergency repair contractor.
The new number to call is Eastside on 020 3633-1541. Please only use this number if you are a council tenant to report repairs such as blocked toilets, bathroom or kitchen back surging, flooding, water leaks or water penetrations, burst pipes, no power in the house, or if you are a vulnerable or OAP tenant and you are locked out.
Our temporary TMO Officer has also recently departed and we will have no office cover on Tuesdays for a few weeks while we are recruiting. Please use the same number (020 3633-1541) to report emergency repairs on Tuesdays too for the time being. General responsive repairs should be reported to TMO Manager on 020 630-3001 or via e-mail to contact@wqtmo.org
Out of Hours Emergency; Heating & Hot Water; Door Entry;
Only for emergency repairs out of hours 5pm to 8am Monday to Friday and during weekends & bank holidays; as well as heating & hot water repairs (tenants only), door entry, stacks pipes or communal drains or lighting issues during normal hours. Please call Southwark Council; 0800 952 4444 or 020 7525 2600
(Email: repairs@southwark.gov.uk)
Communal matters report to Southwark Council:
If you need to report issues with pest control, missed rubbish/recycling collections, bulk rubbish collections, parking enforcements, communal repairs issues such as door entry, TV aerial or loose cables, roof or gutters leaking, please report them direct to the CALL CENTRE on 020 75252600
https://www.southwark.gov.uk/
Sign up for My Southwark to check rent status and to make housing applications.