Outcome of the Meeting held on Sunday 22nd January 2012

Dear all,
Many thanks to those that attended the meeting held in the Clan Campbell Hotel this Sunday evening. More comprehensive notes will be issued in due course, but in summary: there was agreement that in order to better manage the challenge of maintaining our building and coordinating the works required, an Owners' Association and Committee be formed. The outcome of this is that 3 office bearers (Chair, Secretary and Treasurer) have now been elected in addition to 2 general members. This committee will work initially to develop a constitution outlining the purpose and powers of the Association. (The next meeting, to review this, will be held at 5pm on Sunday 4th March 2012 venue tbc). Thereafter, the committee will work to review the recent Building Survey Report in order to prioritise the various aspects of maintenance work required to protect

• the physical structure and fabric of the building;
• the ongoing upkeep;
• and the general community that is 46 Brunswick Street.

All owners/owners agents of properties in the building are welcome to attend any meeting and are actively invited to comment on any aspect of what has been proposed. (Tenants are also welcome to participate).
In the meantime, thank you from your new committee, namely:

• Chair - Catriona Macmillan (3F2)
• Secretary - Kate Miguda (47a Montgomery)
• Treasurer - Alan Duff (3F1)
• Member - Gavin Dickson (2F3)
• Member - Sharon & Simon Saffery (1F1)
• Member - Joseph Carlini (47 Montgomery)

Block Meeting to Discuss the Survey Report

Hello all, Having by now had a chance (I trust!) to digest the full building survey report that was commissioned and produced in November 2011, it would seem wise for us all to get together as soon as we can to discuss the content and - perhaps more importantly - the implications of it. Clearly, there is essential maintenance work required:

• in the short term (i.e. within the coming months),
• in the medium term (i.e. within the next 2-3 years, say)
• and in the long term(i.e. within the next 10 years)

as well as the (less exciting but just as important) regular ongoing maintenance that we should be doing every year.

I invite you all to join me on Sunday 22nd January 2012 at 5pm.

(So that we have room for everyone, the owner of the Clan Campbell Hotel, 11 Brunswick Street has kindly agreed to let us use his dining room from 5pm-7pm).

Please could you confirm back to me (before Friday 20th January) that you will be able to attend, or if you are unable to be there yourself please let me have the name of the person(s)who may attend on your behalf. It would be helpful if we could get representation from each of the 14 properties within the block.

In addition to the report itself, I would also like to suggest that we consider developing some more formal arrangements such as an Owners'/Residents' Association which would take responsibility for managing the inevitable coordination/communication work that will be required over the coming weeks, months and years. I have noticed that our neighbours round at Dicksonfield on Brunswick Road seem to have an arrangement that we may be able to take some pointers from. Please have a look at their website here before we meet and let me know what you think.

Ok, I look forward to seeing you in two weeks time. Kind regards, Catriona

Happy New Year - Roof Holding - So Far....!!

(Thankfully this chimney on a car was not one of ours - but it easily could have been!)

Happy New Year to you all.

Having just seen these images on the BBC News website tonight of the effects of the strong winds on some Scottish tenement chimneys, I for one am relieved that ours appear to have withstood the gales. I think some masonry did come off a roof in Elm Row and also in Leith, so this really does highlight how important it is that we all take collective responsible for maintaining our building.

As you will by now have seen in the Full Building Survey that we agreed to commission a few months ago, at least one of our chimneys is in a rather delicate condition so we could seriously be said to have had a lucky escape.

Thank you to those of you who have already reimbursed me your share of the fee that I paid on your behalf, and would politely request that others do the same as soon as possible please: as posted on 27 November 2011, the share per property (14 of us) is £42.86.

Many thanks,

Catriona