PERA Annual Report

Piccadilly East Residents' Association Annual Report 2023/24

Dear Members

The past 15 months since our inauguration have, to put it mildly, been a rollercoaster of a ride!

We've grown from a fledgling organisation to a residents' association formally recognised under the Acts of Parliament with a membership that represents 70% of all leaseholders across Crusader and Phoenix.

Your committee has worked tirelessly to strive for the best, whether that be in discussions with Capital & Centric, Urban Bubble, or more recently our new management company Zenith Management.

Each member of the committee, including past members who left us during the year, has given their time freely whilst at the same time leading busy lives and jobs.

We've worked tirelessly to resolve snagging issues with C&C and been frustrated at the lack of dedicated professional support. Thankfully, in recent months we've seen a change of direction with snags being addressed and an acknowledgement that meetings between C&C and the association must continue. We will be ensuring that C&C address recognised issues outstanding at their cost.

Working with Urban Bubble has been fraught. We struggled with building managers until Shaquirah arrived; she attended a committee meeting and we started to see progress. Unfortunately, she left after two months and her replacement was not effective at all. Despite numerous confirmations of attending to matters, and a meeting with senior staff at Urban Bubble we progressed slowly with the many outstanding issues. Claire, the new manager until 2nd June is good and has an honest approach, but it's too little too late to be honest!

We're looking forward to working with Zenith. Their approach is good, and we were impressed with the tender documents that we had sight of. As we reported on in our communication to all members following the announcement of the termination of Urban Bubble's contract, we had hoped that C&C would allow all residents to comment on the appointment of Zenith. However, that was not to be. The Committee would have recommended Zenith based on the information we reviewed, but ultimately it is the Landlord that appoints the managing agent and not the residents' association. We've already had two positive meetings with Zenith, and they haven't even started on site yet.

We've worked well with our local Councillors, who have assisted us in funding, raising awareness, and being good support to the association.

We've also achieved the following over the past 15 months:

• Formed a very active litter picking group.
• Secured funding for 4 waste bins along Baird and Chapeltown Streets.
• Formed a book club, that meets regularly to dissect their latest volume.
• Formed a gardening group that has recently taken on the watering of the cloister planters and has great plans.
• Set up a book swap.
• Set up a Mustard Tree collection.
• Collected for our concierge and cleaning staff for Christmas and birthdays.
• Organised, with others of course, various social events, which include:
  • Coronation Party.
  • Coppafeel fundraising party.
  • Drinks in the courtyard.
  • Pride event.

We have great plans for the next 12 months which include developing our groups more to create a sense of community, keep the pressure up on snagging, and working with Zenith to ensure that services are resumed, and we have a home that is well maintained both now and in the future.

Please do come to our regular member meetings, the next one is on 29-05-24. It's an opportunity for you to have your say and meet your neighbours over a drink at our local taproom.

Finally, we'd like to thank you, the members, for your support and faith in all that we do.

Kindest regards,
The Committee