Out and about with Carol (1)

This month I had the opportunity to briefly visit two buildings in Somers Town – Levita House and Unity Mews – with Neighbourhood Manager, Madalina Fieraru. It was great to catch up again and to see how Madalina is doing in her role as Neighbourhood Manager in the Inner London team having been promoted from a Neighbourhood Officer role in the Outer London team. She had noticed a difference in the nature and complexity of issues she is managing now in Inner London, but her persistent focus on getting the right outcomes for residents, with good support from colleagues, has been helping with the transition.

In both buildings we saw similar issues with security and common areas. At Levita house a rear entrance door was insecure and had been leading to unwanted intruders (including those who are street homeless) who had caused damage and littering to the communal hallway, we also observed some ill-fitting internal corridor doors which aren’t closing properly. Both issues will be reported through to the relevant teams to resolve as soon as possible. It was evident that the stairway flooring could do with renewal as its difficult to get clean. Although we have a backlog of cyclical maintenance to common areas, following merger with Places for People we are now ramping up investment and will shortly publish the long term indicative programme on our website. 

We then walked to Unity Mews, where the stairway flooring could also do with replacing and where the estate has been experiencing problems with loitering and intruders. Madalina has started the process of looking to upgrade the security gates to automatic locking gates to try to deter this in future.  It is encouraging to note that this year we have had a substantial programme of upgrading main entrance doors and gates where residents are experiencing these issues .

As we walked back to the office, I asked Madalina about issues of concern to residents on her patch. Concerns were around the impact of overcrowding, often linked to condensation and mould issues. This is a difficult challenge given the shortage of family-sized affordable homes in London, with people often waiting years to be rehoused into more suitable accommodation. Origin (and now as part of Places for People) has been contributing significantly year after year to the new supply of family homes to try to alleviate these pressures, and in the meantime we need to continue to make sure that those in the most need are given priority.

My overriding impression from these visits was to underline that although we have a way to go, we are focusing on the things that matter most to our residents and making tangible progress.