Attendees – Alex Stirling (AS) , Peder Oien (PO) Lee McPherson (LM)
The Roof Gardens (TRG) – Sue Walter (SW), Robert Seals (RS), Eilish Quinn (EQ)
Apologies: Keith Mehaffy (KM)
Agenda
- Overview of complaints received
- Update Parking Management Technology
- Premises License Inspection
- Any other business
- Next meeting date (Thursday 3rd October @ 6pm)
Overview of Complaints received
- RS-no complaints received. However, on 21st August TRG did have a power outage on 7th floor that kicked out our noise limiter and security made us aware that on that evening they did hear
occasional audible music from the street. We have now reset the limiter so that’s now fixed as soon as we were made aware and reset that so it’s back to where it should have been. That’s the only
noise issue we are aware of which was an internal issue. Keith Mehaffy, (who emailed his apologies in advance to Rob Seals for not being able to attend the meeting) also advised that the council had
not received any complaints. - AS –I am not aware of any complaint from my standpoint or KSRA, but I do think a lot of people
have been away - PO- No I am not aware of any complaints
- AS –Some of the residents are now back as of last week and I received a text last night from
someone saying they hear people talking at 11pm on the street corner and security didn’t move
them on - RS-again, please tell us when these things happen. The team down there are very much aware of everything and the steps they need to take on the Square, and we are trying to back them up in
our actions, so their work is not for nothing. For example, we contact all members who have parked in the square. Two repeat offenders are on a final warning. The street guards also need to know we are taking it seriously.
Security
- AS –on the security side the guys, my impression is that they seem to have settled into some sort of formation in terms of where they are standing and how they are walking the square. For now, it looks like it’s working but August probably isn’t representative yet, so we probably need to see how it goes in September.
Update Parking Management Technology
- RS –We spoke before about the numberplate automatic reader. The companywe have spoken to do static ones which aren’t really an option, and we have been trying to get a handheld version.
The battery and handheld set are just too big, so we are not proceeding with that option. Mani (Emmanuel Anyiri) our Head of Digital is working develop to develop a web app so we can do
everything on on iPhones. Security guards have been already using mobile phones for the security app. Apologies for sounding like a broken record (on getting this tech in use), but it will take 3 –4
weeks to develop the app to enable us to scan, recognise and register numberplates. - PO-so when that tech comes in what will happen when security scan a numberplate, will it tell them right away if it’s a member’s car?
- RS- yes, our database will match that up straight away to our members. Also, the current method of our security guards seeing someone park and radioing our reception to ask if that person is a
member and has gone into the club or Equinox will continue, so will continue to add to the database (if not already in database and identified as a member). - SW -the nice thing about it being web based is that AI kicks in and AI will automatically start picking up patterns, and so it becomes more and more sophisticated the more you use it
- PO-so what are you doing about collecting members numberplates?
- SW-That’s part of the onboarding now, it’s in place.
- RS-I don’t think Peder you were here at the last meeting, but we went back and forth a bit about how many registrations we had. It’s growing and on our application form, so if you apply to be a member, you must include your registration. Hands up we didn’t do that right at the start in retrospective maybe we should have.
- AS-how many members do you have now approximately?
- RS-1700
- AS-your full capacity you’re aiming for 3400, is that right?
- SW-it’s not that easy Alex, it doesn’t work that way. You can only really do that if you are running a
restaurant/hotel. When you’re running a member’s club it’s a bit like running a gym, some people will take out membership and come once a year, some will every day, week so it’s really done on
occupancy. So, what you do is take an intake, wait to see how it goes, so capacity really depends on how members use the space. - RS-with the season changing now, today being is a good example with the weather changing like now and how the spaces finds its feet
- PO-did you see a decline in attendance when the weather changes?
- SW-People come but they will sit inside rather than outside. During summer we saw a decline in
attendance, but that is normal in members’ clubs as members are away. So, we saw attendance
drop by about 50%, especially in August. Now it’s September people are starting to come back - AS -going back to the parking technology, so you think 3-4 weeks to have the app and then you will be trialing it. We’ll get an update at the next meeting. Can we get a preview at that meeting as to what it does?
- SW-if it’s ready and working we should get Mani to come and do a little demo.
- AS-just to explain what the functionality is. In terms of the numberplates, I will ask, how many number plates do you have now?
- RS-quite a lot.
- AS-you can’t avoid the question every time.
- RS-It’s growing. It’s probably not where you want it to be, but it’s not as far off as you think.
- AS-are we below 25% of the 1700 or 25-50%?
- RS-I would say more to the 50%
- AS-That’s better than I expected. I think what you’re going to see is the Club getting busy in the next couple of weeks and you’re going to see more pressure on Derry Street and remember when you were doing the trials, it was so I suspect you are going to see that again and testing the parking situation.
- SW-bear in mind we will cancel memberships if people continue to park where they shouldn’t. You only need to do that a few times (people losing membership) and the message gets around that
memberships get cancelled. We’re also assuming that of 1700 members there are 1700 cars, a lot of our members don’t have cars or drive, and I am one of those. So, we shouldn’t assume that every single person has a car. - RS- The hardest part for us is guests of members parking in the square, as we must track that back to the member. A member will say my guest parked not me, so it’s potentially a harder message
to get through but we will continue the process whether a member guest or event guest. It’s ongoing and we are going in the right direction
RS went on to advise of two other bits of technology TRG were trialing:
- We can’t do the geofence with Uber as it will block the whole building off. What we can do is geofence the phone of any member with our members app and the Uber app so that it will move their pick-up to the high street. Trialing this in practice currently.
- Speed of entry into the area so if they have the members app, we should be able to see if they are arriving by car/taxi. We are testing it but at some point, we will be able to push out a notification to say they can’t park in the area but for now we are just monitoring.
Premises Licence Inspection
- RS- we had a Premises Licence inspection on 23 August from the Council. I am pleased to say it went well and we passed the inspection with no issues.
- AS- I wanted to talk about rubbish collection?
- RS- I spoke with Gemma (from AY) this morning; she said nothing before 6am (should be coming
in). I said residents have complained she said she would do her best. I don’t have any control over
this as we do not directly manage those staff. - AS -The glass collection is after 7am now which is good, but who do we speak to about the
collections between 6-7am?
RS had to leave to meet with PM’s protection detail so RS and AS agreed to discuss rubbish collection issues separately (call booked for 10th September) - SW-The Licence inspection that Rob mentioned was really gratifying as it was a surprise inspection.
They just turned up during normal operating hours to make sure we were complying with all the licence requirements; they toured the front/back of house and we were very pleased that they were
happy and there were no actions for us.
AOB
- AS –yes can you tell us a bit about the planning application that went in for the gardens upstairs
for putting in a marquee. - SW -yes, basically we would look to put a temporary structure over the Walled Gardens during winter months so people can still dine outside. It will be taken down after winter.
- AS-was it just for dining, as I saw a notice in mid-August which seemed to suggest it was in both gardens application that suggested it was in the back gardens
- SW-we are putting winter cover into the Walled Gardens and the Spanish Gardens, and we already have parasols in all of these areas. All we are doing is taking the parasols away and putting in something with more structure to cope with the wind and keep people dry.
- AS-is it covering the whole of the gardens?
- SW drew a diagram to explain how the temporary structures would work and that they would not cover the whole gardens. She also added that they have put in planning for temporary structures
on the Sun Pavilion terrace (11pm closure) put temporary structures. These would not be fully enclosed. Licensing in terms of opening/closing remains the same - AS – I got queries from KSRA about it this morning wondering what it’s all about
- SW-have any of you been to Chiltern Firehouse. It’s similar to what they have, but ours would be temporary as we are listed building so only up over winter months and we don’t want them up over
summer months. - AS-what months would they be up?
- SW-it’s very weather dependent. I would like to not put them up for a long as we can. If assume they go up September/October and come down early Spring by 1 May
- PO-out of curiosity, are they something you can put up/ take down?
- SW-it’s not something we can do by ourselves. The people that install them would also take them down as it’s technical installation.
- Next meeting is to be held on 3rd October @ 6pm.