Caerau court road news issue 3 may 2014

Caerau Court Road News

Issue 3 May 2014

Welcome to the latest edition of our Caerau Court Road newsletter My name is Meryl and I’m your Housing Officer. In this edition of the newsletter we’ll be updating you with progress on the scheme improvement works, the patio area, reporting crime, and giving you up-to-date info about the residents’ groups.

Scheme Improvements Below is an update of how work has been progressing at Caerau Court. We appreciate the work has taken some time due to the bad weather, but we hope you will feel the benefits soon..

So far, we have: • Removed the old defective cavity wall insulation and installed new external wall insulation, to keep your heating bills down.

• Upgraded the existing Integrated TV Reception System and fitted extra cabling/sockets for the multi-room facility.

Please note residents are no longer allowed to put satellite dishes on the outside of the blocks, as it will cause damage to the external wall insulation system.

• Upgraded the external lighting.

• Carried out concrete repairs to the maisonettes. We will be looking to replace balcony railings once other work has been completed.

• Removed asbestos fascia boards and replaced them Before work started... with uPVC.

Meryl Thomas Housing Officer

Meet the staff “These are the staff who work alongside me at the scheme”, says Meryl. All staff can be contacted via our Customer Service Centre on freephone

0800 052 2526.

Grant Gibbon Asset Management Officer

Kevin Evans Estates Officer

Sion Phillips

Tenancy Enforcement Officer

Herman Valentin

Community Development Project Officer

Claire Hammond

Resident Participation Strategy Officer

The scaffolding went up...

One of the finished blocks...

Twitter: @wwha | 0800 052 2526| www.wwha.co.uk | Page 1

Caerau Court Road Newsletter | Issue 3 | May 2014

Roof replacement

Individual properties Works completed: • Full gas central heating upgrades for properties with inefficient boilers • Upgrades of radiators for those properties where the boilers have already been upgraded • Installation of a voltage optimiser - this reduces the mains voltage to 220v and should reduce power consumption from electricity loads, thereby reducing bills • Installation of Flatmaster / Drymaster to improve ventilation

With the scaffolding in position we have been able to inspect the roofs. We have found that there is little or no insulation and the roof coverings have reached the end of their useful life. As a result, we are now upgrading the insulation and replacing the roof coverings. We are also creating a parapet wall on the roof to make it look better, creating new drainage to prevent roof leaks and renewing the downpipes.

We have started preparation works on the two maisonette blocks and flat block 45-53, and will be working on all three blocks at the same time. When these blocks have been completed we will move on to the other two flat blocks and the houses. Although we have previously passed costs for this type of work onto our leaseholders, WWH will be meeting the costs of this particular work in full. We hope that all the roofing works will be completed in about 15 weeks - weather permitting.

Leaseholder properties Windows are to be replaced in our leaseholder properties, with Wales & West Housing meeting half the costs.

Garages

Easy access to the new patio

Wales & West Housing has been carrying out investigations over the years to find out which garages are rented or owned by which residents.

Work is due to start to put an access gate in for the patio area in front of the tower block. This will then be wheelchair accessible and can be enjoyed by all from the tower block.

We demolished some garages due to their poor condition and will be looking at the other garages in the near future.

Page 2| www.wwha.co.uk | 0800 052 2526 | Twitter: @wwha

Caerau Court Road Newsletter | Issue 3 | May 2014

Thank You We’d like to say a big thank you to Kate Solomon from the WWH Property Services team and SMK Building and Maintenance for their hard work and support with the developments at Caerau Court.

Photo shows: (L-R) SMK Site Manager Richard Tamlin, Kate Solomon of WWH and Director of SMK Shaun Williams

Comments from residents “No one likes having work done and scaffolding up but we really appreciate everyone’s hard work and are excited to see the end result”

“What a difference already, very happy with what we have seen so far”

Reporting crime

and anti-social behaviour If you witness a crime taking place within or around the Caerau Court Road area please call 999.

For non-emergencies, or to report anti-social behaviour, you can call South Wales Police on 101 - any calls to 101 will be used as evidence for the Police to put resources into a specific area.

Examples of the type of calls you might make to 101 are: • Reporting your car as stolen; • Damage to your property; • You suspect drug use or drug dealing in your neighbourhood.

wea cymru Welsh Culture Day Trip to St Fagans National History Museum Celebrating Adult Learners’ Week

Saturday 14th June

Transport is available.

For more information or to book a place contact: Kim Vidal 07787 433936 WEA South office 02920 382431 kim.vidal@weacymru.org.uk Twitter: @wwha | 0800 052 2526| www.wwha.co.uk | Page 3

Caerau Court Road Newsletter | Issue 3 | May 2014

Did you know we have two active resident groups in Caerau Court?

If you live in the Towerblock, you can join in the social activities organised by the Towerblock Action Group.

The group, which has been running for about 18 months, holds a weekly coffee morning from 11am every Thursday in the communal flat (ground floor opposite the lifts). All Towerblock residents are welcome. Tea and a lovely selection of biscuits costs just £1 and all funds go toward future activities. Why not come along and get to know your neighbours!

The TAG also organise and get involved in lots of seasonal events and trips for residents, the next of which will be a visit to St Fagans.

If you’re interested in going or would like to find out more, pop along to a coffee morning and ask for Ray, or any other member of the group.

If you live in the back maisonettes you can’t have failed to notice the beautiful gardens created by the Caerau Potters Gardening Group over the past few years.

Despite the Arbed development work taking longer than expected to complete due to the bad weather, the Potters have managed to keep gardening and hope that with some help their gardens will be back to their former glory very soon.

If you’d like to help grow fruit, veg or flowers in the communal gardens or you’d like to create a window box for your home, speak to Stan, Debbie or Chris and they can offer their expertise.

If you don’t know the residents who run the above groups and you’d like a member of staff to introduce you, just ask when you see us on site or phone us on 0800 025 2526 and we’ll be more than happy to help.

Page 4| www.wwha.co.uk | 0800 052 2526 | Twitter: @wwha