GNTOWER UPDATE

april 09

This update has been

launched by a group of
leaseholders and residents
who have a positive
commitment to the Great
Northern Tower

leaseholders and residents take control of

GNTMC from april 2009
After several months of discussion, the Realising last November that we Your input and suggestions are more
leaseholders in the Great Northern needed a rigorous review of the full than welcome - if you don’t owe
Tower have now taken control of the budget provision to take account of GNTMC any money for service or
management company GNTMC changes since 2005, we have worked water charges, of course!! We will be
(Great Northern Tower Management with Taylor Wimpey and Stevens meeting every 4-6 weeks, probably
Company) Ltd. Scanlan to ensure sufficient provision alternating daytimes and evenings,
through service charges in order to run making good use of emails and ad hoc
Previously the building’s developer the building properly through 2009. discussion in between. We may also
Taylor Wimpey had been responsible look at developing a web-based forum
for this, which included providing Important decisions lie ahead on a or use other ways of communicating
Directors, setting the service charge wide range of issues. We can only effectively amongst ourselves in the
budgets from 2005 onwards, and begin to make positive improvements to future.
appointing Stevens Scanlan Ltd as the building if everyone pays their bills
managing agents to act on GNTMCs on time - so please play your part as a Meanwhile, if you’d like to get
behalf. member of the GN Tower community involved, - please contact Alex
in making sure you are up to date with Normand at Stevens Scanlan in the
We have successfully influenced a your service charge, ground rent and first instance: 0161 233 3066, or
number of issues since the start of the utility bills.  alex.normand@scanlans.com
year, which has culminated in the We’re all aware that there is a long way
group taking full control as of 1st April We are considering improvements - for to go and a lot to think about, but hope
2009. Three leaseholders have agreed example we could effect a dramatic that you might already have already
t o b e c o m e D i r e c t o r s o f t h e reduction in communal area lighting have noticed some changes for the
M a n a g e m e n t C o m p a n y ( o n l y bills by fitting motion sensors where better since January...
leaseholders can become directors), possible - at the moment, there are
with the remainder of the group dozens of bulbs burning 24/7 on every MAY UPDATE:security and parking: all fobs to
consisting of other leaseholders and level of the building. be withdrawn and reprogrammed
long-term tenants.

1
GN TOWER APRIL 09 update electricity costs
how to reduce your bills “Think twice about those
sparkly but juice-guzzling
When those quarterly bills come in halogen ceiling lamps...”
many of us need to sit down and take a
deep breath. Basically, it's because we John
are on peak-rate for all power use and
heat is where the money goes. Here’s
some thoughts from John, a block C
resident, on things you might consider
to reduce the pain - a bit!

He says....”If you are a leaseholder you

might like to investigate changing to an
Economy 7 meter and tariff, and fitting 
storage heater s instead of the
convectors in your main rooms to make
using power at night-rate worthwhile.
And ensure that your hot water only
charges at night. (The Gledhill units we
have aren’t very efficient as they have a
secondary heat exchanger!) I'm
changing to economy 7 and will let the
group know how I get on.

Consider a draught excluder for the

front door - even in new flats it's worth communal electricity no relish on mine, thanks!
checking for heat losses, using heavy the true story
curtains at night and so on. Also check Weeknights lately have a been little more
that all trickle vents are closed when not It was shocking to find that Scottish peaceful thanks to the temporary closure
wanted and that the extractors only run Power had hired a debt collector to collect of Relish nightclub, after months of
when you need them. monies they said we owed for communal extensive noise and disorder problems.
electricity - not least as they hadn’t had The GNTMC group made objections
Think twice about those sparkly yet juice the grace to respond to our request for against Relish’s attempts to overturn
guzzling 50 watt halogen GU4 / MR11 information on what/when the charges recently imposed restrictions on the use of
ceiling lamps, and 40W halogen G9 were actually for. It even got to Court, the front door area. Then, at the
capsules. You can de-rate both from the with their case thrown out and Alex, from beginning of April, and at the request of
40-50W you may find fitted, to 25-35W. Stevens Scanlan, who was fighting our the Police, the club was closed pending a
If you really want to go for it on lighting, corner, wished “good luck” by the District review of the license, with a hearing to be
you can change to 4W LED GU4's  or the Judge! held at the Town Hall on 28th April -
n e w G 9 c o m p a c t fl o u re s c e n t by CR9 at 10am. This is an important issue
Megaman, without appreciable loss of If they had been granted a warrant to which affects all residents and has a direct
light: depending on how much capital enter and disconnect, we’d have had no impact on the environment in which we
spend you want to lay out. If that's scary lifts and no water - it’s all pumped. live - please lend your support by
you can just put some floor lamps in with Anyone got any human contacts at attending the hearing and/or emailing
Te s c o l o w e n e r g y l i g h t b u l b s ! Scottish Power? your objections to the Licensing Unit at
Good luck!” licensing@manchester.gov.uk

water charges
pressure required!
Many of us would like to have an
independent water meter for our flats,
which are currently connected to a bulk
m e t e r. G ove r n m e n t a p p l a u d s a n d
encourages individual water metering, and
most households in England, Wales and
Scotland are entitled to a free meter from
their water company on request. Here in
GNT we have individual meters fitted in
the service cupboards on each floor - but
United Utilities won’t read them. A
decision to have “bulk billing” was made
before any leaseholders were in place; we
don’t know why. Stevens Scanlan have
written to UU asking that individual meters
be fitted and/or connected and/or read to
each property, but have not yet received a
satisfactory response. We’ve written and
offered an on-site meeting to discuss it - but
still got nothing positive.
It may help if we start a steady stream (ha
ha) of written requests from leaseholders
all. If you’d like to join in, let Alex at
Stevens Scanlan know - she’ll give you the
contact details - and a template letter if
you’d like.