october 09
GNTOWER UPDATE This update has been produced by a group of leaseholders and residents who have a positive commitment to the Great Northern Tower; three of them agreed to act as initial Directors of GNTMC Ltd, the GNT management company, on takeover from the developers in spring 2009. If you’d like to get involved, please contact Alex Normand at Stevens Scanlan in the first instance: 0161 233 3066, or alex.normand@ scanlans.com
conference security: feedback request by GMP The preparations by Great Manchester Police for the political party conference season begin months before delegates arrive at Manchester Central. Every resident will have been aware of some of the many security measures taken under ‘Operation Protector’. Some residents and leaseholders attended the presentation by police officers at our residents meeting last month.
Here are Ivan’s questions:
PC Ivan Hewitt, Outerzone Officer for Operation Protector, says “A great working relationship has now developed between the police, the GNT residents group and their managing agents and we want this to continue. We are always looking to improve what we do with the minimum amount of disruption to the local community, so we need to listen to what the community is saying. We made changes this year after considering comments from residents after last year’s conference, and are keen to obtain feedback from GNT residents again after the September Conservative Party event. The police feel this is vitally important, not least as we know we have similar conferences for the next few years.”
3. Regarding those security measures put in place by the police, were you affected by them? If so, how?
Ivan can be contacted direct: ivan.hewitt@gmp.police.uk Tel : 0161 856 6823 ext 66823: Mobile : 07500 607038
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1. With the conference being held in Manchester, how did it affect you, if at all? 2. I delivered a security briefing/power point !to the residents meeting, outlining how the conference planning was going and general security measures that we were implementing. For the people who attended: did you think it was useful? Is this something that you would like to have available again next year?
4. Were you affected or disrupted by any protest that took place during the conference. If so, how? 5. Were you affected or disrupted by the level of noise? If so, please could you give details, ie time date and the cause of the noise? 6. Were you affected by the security measures that were put in place by the police for access or exit to your building? If so, how? 7. Is there anything else you would like to say regarding the security measures that were put in place by the police? PC Ivan Hewitt Outerzone Officer Specialist Operations - Operation Protector Greater Manchester Police
Thank you.
GNTGN TOWER OCTOBER 09 update
seeing the light When it comes to energy saving, we are all keen to help drive down the energy costs of running the Great Northern Tower. Many people have said that there is no need for the lights in the communal areas to be on all the time. We agree. Our plan is to fit motion sensors to as many of the lights as possible, so that they only come on when needed. We also want to find out if there are any other energy savings that can be m a d e o n o u r b i g ‘ h i d d e n’ electricity users like water pumps and lift motors. These are heavy power users in the building. T he reason we haven't done anything yet is because the capital cost needs to be planned into our budgets. But we are investigating an interest-free loan from the carbon tr ust to spread the financial impact, so that we can “invest to save”.
Taking care of GNT:
John Beckerson goes behind the scenes to meet our caretakers. We have two caretakers and between them they provide cleaning and caretaking 7 days a week. They are Colin Pearson and Paul Ackerley, and here’s what they have to say: Colin: I've done a lot over the years, I've been a nursing assistant, a psychiatric nurse, an actor and a glazier - all sorts! I can turn my hand to anything. GNT: tell us a bit about your hobbies and interests. Colin: I’m a big film and music fan, and Man United supporter. If I had to tell you some of my favourite films, I'd mention Blade Runner, the Pianist, Schindler's List, stuff like that. I also have an interest in history and I've been round some of the First World War battlefields. GNT: let's get down to brass tacks, tell us about your work and some of the main jobs you do. Colin: when we started there hadn’t been any proper caretakers here, so some things were in a bit of a mess. Especially the bins. Now we make sure that the bins are emptied every single day and that they are washed out when needed, we also spend a lot of time looking after the floors. The floor area in this building is huge. GNT: Turning to you Paul, tell us a bit about yourself. Paul: well, I'm from Wythenshawe and in the past I've worked at Manchester airport looking after baggage handling and the passenger terminal, keeping that clean. I've also lived here myself, in the past I lived in B block and that was fun. I’m a keen City supporter so, sorry Colin, but the Blues are the best! GMT: tell us some more about your work. Paul: one of us works 7 ‘til 4 and another 9 ‘til 6, and one works a Saturday and the other a Sunday so the important caretaking gets done every day. Every day, we make sure that the reception area gets cleaned, the lift glass and front doors get polished, and the main corridor is done. Then during the course of the week we work from the top of each block downwards, cleaning floors and walls as we go. We tend to do the floors in the morning and bins in the afternoons. There's more than 40 bins in this building so that's a lot to do every day and then all the rubbish has to be transferred to the main bin room after that. GNT: What else keeps you busy? Colin: we tend to do a lightbulb run once a week checking for lights out and to log anything more important needing attention from a tradesman. GNT: What can residents do to help look after the tower? Colin: please tie up your rubbish bags properly, so what’s in them doesn’t leak into the bins. And please don't throw anything off balconies, not even cigarette butts, because they end up making a right mess on the glass roof below. Same with chewing gum. Don’t spit it off your balcony! Paul: it's a good place to work here and we’re always happy to chat to residents about anything we can help with. Or if there's a more serious problem, get a fault report form from the concierge and write it down, then we'll be able to sort out. GNT: Thanks guys, and keep up the good work!
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