TPG will be repairing the footpath this Friday between 7-12, please be careful going in and out.  I understand access will be restricted but still possible

This is to rectify the damage and resulting uneven path.

They have had some weather delays on other jobs – they will not commence before Tuesday March 8

Welcome to the new followers, I trust you find this a useful way to learn ‘what is happening at Botanica’.  I expect that these will not be more than once per week.

Hopefully you have seen the information in the lift recently about ‘high pressure cleaning of the building’.  The Committee made the decision that the building was starting to look a bit grubby on the outside.  When we discussed with our friends at Bencorp, they also commented that it is good practice to do this as it extends the time between paint jobs.

Weather permitting, they will start Thursday NEXT week, March 3.

It is being done via abseiling which will be an interesting challenge for them.  The current plan is to start at the top and work their way down one side of the building at a time.  It is still to be finalised but it is likely that they will start on the side nearest the city – above the St Kilda Rd driveway.  They will then do the back of the building and so on.

We will stress to them to take care around window seals, gardens, furniture, air con units and the like.  Clearly the less obstructions the better, so if you can bring gear inside it would be great.  If you can’t move gear then some plastic sheets may be useful.

They will also do a full window clean.

If you have suggestions on this entry or things that you’d like to know more about….you can add a comment to any blog entry or simply send me an email to buckgw@gmail.com ….thanks Gary Buck

Update from today’s meeting

1. Footpath
   • They agree that footpath needs remediation
   • They agree that it is not safe and will replace.
   • They will meet with Council to ensure that all requirements are met in the one piece of work.  May do more than the recently replaced piece of path
   • Likely to be done within 2 weeks – especially as it is a safety issue
   • We will be given reasonable notice
   • We will lose access to front of building for 2-3 hours.  Middle of day our preference
2. Hedge and Ficus – appear they will be OK, both parties keep a watching brief
3. Fence/ Wall – We agree nothing more needs to be done

A representative from TPG (who did the cabling out the front) will be on site tomorrow around noon to meet Paul, William and I.  The list of issues we gave them is as follows:

• The footpath is already sinking and this is immediately outside our front door.  This is urgent given our number of elderly residents
• The hedge has been damaged – looks like the exhaust from their equipment has burnt significant sections at the front and around the corner
• The front garden wall has been damaged and the footpath is now lower in some places than the painted section of wall
• I am concerned about the potential damage to the ficus tree caused by their digging but I suspect we won’t know about it for some time
• The area around the street tree needs significant remedial work

I have told them that we will not allow them to make their service live in our building until we are satisfied – and they need access to our power to enable their service 😉

We have been working with the City of Port Phillip for nearly a year to improve safe exit from the lower car park.  Initially they were reluctant but late last year they agreed to convert one car parking bay into a two motor cycle bays.  The bay is the one immediately to the right of the exit.

They committed to have this done by the end of January.  Nothing has been done and so we have escalated again.  Hopefully it will happen very soon.  Thanks for your patience

The recent footpath work was a combination of work by Optus then NBN and finally TPG.  We have been in communication with the TPG contractors to express our displeasure with the lack of communication and poor state that they have left the footpath.  City of Port Phillip are also being notified