The Roof Gardens – Residents Meeting Minutes 10.10.24

Attendees – Alex Stirling (AS) , Peder Oien (PO) Lee McPherson (LM), Keith Mehaffy (KM) via TEAMS
The Roof Gardens (TRG) – Sue Walter (SW), Robert Seals (RS), Eilish Quinn (EQ)
Apologies: Catherine Cowley

Agenda

• Overview of complaints received
• British Fashion council (BFC) -16th September
• Residents’ items
  o Security and Parking in Kensington Square – effectiveness
  o Large Events
  o 7th Floor Plans
  o Rubbish collection/ Food Delivery:
  o Nighttime Lighting (5th Floor):
  o Planning:
• Membership Termination Residents items
• Update Parking Management Technology- ANPR, Uber, Sq. Entry
• Any other business
• Next meeting date (Thursday 7th November @ 6pm)

Overview of Complaints Received
RS

• I’ll come back to BFC on 16th separately. These are the other complaints that have
  come to KRG since September (meeting).
• Daily Mail did complain about the 16th September BFC as a side regarding what they
  said were taxis being stopped from picking up their staff.
• 1st October Alex you emailed regarding comments that security positions looked to have
  changed. We haven’t changed and can talk about that a bit more as its one of your
  points if it appears we have altered.
• 3rd October Leon emailed regarding high-speed cars around the Square. Apologies I
  didn’t actually reply directly back to hum (Leon), but we did do an internal look and not
  club related. Too quick to note the plates clearly. Not club related.
• 7th October – building management told us about bright lights on 5th floor which is
  another point we will discuss further with you.
• 10th October – today, Keith sent same email (regarding lights) and we will pick up and
  are working on that.
• That’s it in terms of what has come our way, so the main thing is the 16th.

BFC event 16th September

• RS-Alex would you like to add anything to that because (BFC) is your first point?
• AS – I think that’s it. There are people feeding stuff into either KSRA or to me in part
  because people don’t know which email to use.
• RS – so I can pick up on that as part of my breakdown of the evening because
  Mariela did call the Duty Manager line which I missed and didn’t quite get that and
  did call her back and spoke to her on the night of the 16th. She had also emailed Sue
  to say that and complain that she couldn’t get through on the Duty Manager email.
  She actually mistyped it and I have told her begore and I have let her know again
  that she has the wrong email address
• AS – what is the email address again?
• RS – duty.manager@theroofgardens.com
• AS – and that’s for all complaints?
• RS – all complaints or anything else you want to send.
• AS – I don’t want to have to deal with it so if people have got an issue they need to
  send to the post box.
• RS – We tend to use that for the wider group. I did say to her that I would reply back to
  your email as you also emailed on the same night. I let her know separately she has the
  wrong email address. That’s all good. So I spoke to her and she was talking about she
  had heard noise outside the club and she was talking about the parking. She also
  emailed about parking on the street and being busy, so we spoke to Keith the day after;
  we got caught out I won’t lie. The British Fashion Council (BFC) is the end of their week
  of things and in the past, there had been big parties here and we had a guest list.
  (Lee McP walked into the meeting) RS repeated talked about the BFC event on 16th.
• AS-Trying to catch your speeding car around the square, They don’t think it’s from the
  club. LM- I know. I spoke to someone downstairs RS- It definitely wasn’t from the club.
  AS-You haven’t got an AMPR system so how would you know? RS-Well they didn’t
  come into the club that night, I don’t think they got out of the car, they were whizzing
  around.
• RS – back to BFC in the past there has been big parties that they have done. And one thing I did say to Kieth talking afterwards, is that while we are trying to change the culture of who comes in in club and how they use the club, which we are, there is a legacy in the outside wider world does still have a little bit of a feel of party place here. So, we had a crowd outside, they weren’t on the guest list, they didn’t get in, caught usunawares a little bit and we managed it as well as we could. So, by 12.15am we managed to get that crowd out. We are way that it did cause more issues in the Square than we would have liked but there were more people there than we would ever have imagined coming, so it was extra than the guest list, The BFC didn’t have them on their guest list. We spoke to KM, he can’t comment (Keith was not on line via TEAMS at this point of the meeting) but I will say this for him and he will see the minutes, we spoke about it and in terms of where we have been since Stormzy and this one (event) on the whole I would like to agree that we have been doing ok but that one did catch us unawares.
• LM-Is that the event where Sadiq Khan was present, the Sadiq Khan event right?
• RS- No, it was BFC’s event.
• AS-No he was here
• RS Yes, he was here sorry.
• AS – He parked on the square with his entourage.
• RS- He did. We had the Prime Minister in the week before and he parked in
  the loading bay because that’s what they wanted it to do. Sadiq Khan’s security team
  comes beforehand like the PM’s team did. I know we had a bit of back and forth, but I
  can’t argue with them, they are the police firstly, it’s the mayor, they are also armed
  police. I am not going to stand there and say they can’t park there; I did explain our club
  rules about parking, but they said that’s what they are doing. I get it, but that’s out of our
  hands Alex.
• SW-Rob did challenge them on the night.
• AS-the club rules are, correct me if I’m wrong, ‘If you are a member, you’ve got guests,
  you’re responsible. If you’re organising an event, you are responsible’. So, the question is
  who invited him and how are they being held accountable for that?
• RS-I think it goes above that. I don’t even think we can argue that point.
• SW-It’s the Mayor of London, he was surrounded by police officers, the police officers
  turned around and said to us we park wherever we want. There is nothing we can do
  about that
• RS-I can’t tell a police officer where to park.
• SW- It’s not like the Mayor of London is in here every day. It’s a one off.
• AS-I guess if it’s a one off it’s a one off and it’s the Prime Minister than ok fine. What I
  would not want to happen is that this becomes a thin edge of the wedge, next week it’s
  going to be your owner who’s like he owns the club he can do whatever he wants or his
  best friend or whatever
• SW-I can honestly say that Stephen has never parked in the square. He doesn’t even
  bring his car.
• AS-Picking him as an example. I am just saying that if there are rules ok.
• SW-It’s only the thin edge if we allow it to be the thin wedge, The end of the day the Sadiq
  Khan the Prime Minister they are not in here every night. I fact both have only been in
  here only once. It’s not a regular occurrence, it’s a one off. There is always exceptions to
  every rule as you know, but from our perspective we still try continuing to enforce parking
  and manage traffic all of those things. The BFC the people who were standing outside
  were not members, not on the guest list we did not invite them. They came here because
  they were tailgating the BFC party. We tried to manage them as best as they can. As Rob
  said, we were caught unawares as they were not on the guest list they were not members.
  They literally just turned up and we kept trying to persuade them to leave for most of the
  evening.
  Keith joined the meeting via TEAMS.
• AS-Keith we were just talking about the BFC event .Out of interest how many people were
• there at this event and the Stormzy event. The reason why I ask is that if you have a
• members night people trickle in over a 3-hour period, if you have an event of how many
• people?
• RS- Stomzy from memory was 350 people in total BFC was 550 including members. It
  was a big night.
• AS- if you have a big night, a lot of people will arrive at the same time as they want to get
  their drinks early
• SW- Actually you’d be suspired. It can trickle, they don t always arrive at the same time
• AS- maybe, maybe not.
• RS – on that night they did.
• AS – On a big night like that my impression is that it’s causing a big bottle neck issues for
  you on Derry St where you have a lot of gridlock traffic, lot of hooting and revving of
  engines, people at the door some issues with people trying to gate crash people parking
  and dropping on the square which we have seen on these nights. I think above a certain
  limit you are having difficulties managing that. I think the question is, therefore, on the
  assumption that you are going to have more of these kinds of events which is I think one
  of the point is raised, can you put in place additional resource or different operating
  procedures to manage that. My sense, again I you guys are still learning how to do this as
  it’s still relatively new, but my view is that on event nights like that you are somewhat
  overwhelmed, and stuff is going wrong.
• RS- Not quite fair, as we have had other big nights where this hasn’t been an issue. So in
  terms of numbers, we have had other 550 nights.
• SW- I think to put it into context. We started trading on 4 July. We are now in October it’s
  really two events where there have been issues. The first was a test event and we are
  never going to do that kind of set up again, which was the Stormzy event. The second was
  BFC and people turning up that were not on the guest list, not our members. To Rob’s
  point in that period July to now we have done quite a few events one getting to
  600 and they didn’t result in any of those issues because we didn’t have issues of
  uninvited people turning up. We had a controlled guest list with no tailgaters
• AS-which week or month was that on?
• SW -We have had quite a few events
• AS -Were they in August when we weren’t here?
• SW- No September as well. We have had a few events. As I’ve said we’ve had two events
  where we had issues (test event Stormzy and BFC). The other events, the fact that you
  don’t even know they’ve taken place speaks for itself, but we have had other events
• AS- I travel a lot. Some weeks I am travelling 3 or 4 nights I’m not looking for it
• SW-It’s not all about you Alex, there are about 200 other people that live in the Square
  and other people could have complained.
• AS -No fine
• SW -We obviously report all the complaints back, we don’t hide anything
• RS – and again that night I think the Mayor parking on the square exacerbated
  everything we try not to do. Keith we were just discussing the Mayor parking on the
  square and we can’t do anything about that if he wishes to park on the square.
• KM- Can I just say, there is a lot of bedding in going on here with regards to the
  premises. What you have to be able to do is establish what are the constraints of the building and the events that take place. There will be problems, but the fact is when those problems keep recurring, that is when we are more interested in the situation. If the problems are addressed and the processes are adjusted for that, then clearly that i a benefit to everyone.
• AS – I don’t think we are disputing that at all. To your point, learning from the Stormzy
• event, you will never amplify music outdoors, good. We have the BFC event, you say
• you have a gatecrasher issue, and you will manage that better next time.
• RS- On that night considering the situation, think we managed the issues well on the
  night
• AS- I wasn’t there. The key point is on those big event nights, the other points that still
  need to be addressed are traffic on Derry St. You either have to shut the traffic off, or
  you’re going to have to have some other system.
• RS- We can’t have another system. We’ve had this discussion before. Unless we agree
  with the Council to block the street off, that’s the only way we can control Derry Street
• AS -you did that once.
• RS- No, we did, but not via the council and got told off for it and major complaints. We are
  not doing that now. We do speak to cars coming in at the end, especially when it starts
  getting busy as it’s a health and safety or traffic issue, because it’s actually easier for
  people to get out at the top rather than come down but some people still choose to. We
  can’t physically stop traffic unless we apply to the council and block it off. Talking to the
  fellow tenants in the areas it is not desirable for us to do that. Again, point taken we can
  weigh up whether an event is going to be that big, we didn’t think that event was going to
  be that big. M&S decided to do two articulated truck deliveries and 7pm on the same night
  which doesn’t normally happen, which is out of our control plus there are building works
  on the office block down the end of the service road, which means the trucks couldn’t turn
  around so one had to stay on the street. That didn’t help the situation. We had a few things
  that was a bit of a perfect storm going on. We have had bigger nights, and we haven’t had
  the same issues. We got caught out and there were other things going against us
• AS – AlI I would say is that for the big events you should consider having more traffic
  stewards, or traffic stewards at the entrance and also maybe coordinating with M&S to
  see if there will be deliveries
• RS- Understand completely, but we have the Daily Mail breathing down our necks every
  time we even try to stop anyone coming down the road, so we are trying to balance a few
  things. On the 16th we did get caught out quite badly.
• LM- What is your biggest talk away from what you have learnt from the big events?
• RS- We weren’t expecting outside guest management, we hadn’t really done that yet
  because we haven’t had to. If we are doing that, we will make sure we get them in
  (alongside) the building get a queue, so we don’t have a big crowd outside. It’s a busy
  road, we are well aware to your point that if we stop the road, we will have more complaints
  than just residents, so we are trying to manage that as much as possible, lining people up
  the street. The crowd outside was not what we expected or what we wanted. It just isn’t
  nice. For a couple of hours, it was just too much to handle.
• LM-Have you got any other big nights coming up?
• RS -Halloween, a member’s night and not everyone coming at the same time
• SW- New Years Eve but again that’s members night.
• LM- How do you deal with tailgaters?
• SW- Obviously we don’t let them in.
• LM – How do you disperse them?
• SW – You have to disperse them as gently as possible. The last thing you want is people
  shouting, arguing or screaming, so you have to try and keep the temperature low. The
  BFC people did not want to leave, and we had to keep asking them.
• RS- If there was a line up the street, we would cherry pick the VIPs from the line we want
  to let in. With the crowd it was quite hard to identify people everyone was trying to get in
  and it was harder to get them (VIPSs) out
• SW- It has never happened before, the BFC event is the only time it’s happened.
• RS- If we thought it was going to come, we would almost (people) block the road and force
  people with barriers
• AS- On a normally night you might pull the SIAs back from the square after 10pm or
  whatever it is…
• SW- No, we would never pull a resource off the square, It’s part of our license.
• AS- I think they move slightly into Derry Street or certainly how they seem to be
• RS- Two on the gap….we have one roving, so I’m going to pick up that point you made.
  So, we are now a bit more static in the square…
• AS- Let’s come back to that. On these event nights, those two events in particular there
  were people urinating, smoking drugs, there was anti-social behaviour happening.
• RS- Again, you can’t say they were all from the Club
• AS- OK I thought they looked like had been to the club
• RS- Trying to get in to the club potentially
• AS – I’m saying you got to have people there, they don’t know that the club rules are or
  have out of date views as to what the purpose of the club is, and what type of
  environment it is, going back to your key point.
• RS- which a big deterrent would be not getting in, so they won’t try again.
• AS – I just think if you have a big club night coming up, one of these nights, a corporate
  night or whatever. Very simple, get for that night, the people to pay more those who are
  renting out the club and put one extra person who is looking for after antisocial
  behaviour the square and a person on Derry St.to manage traffic.
• SW – Going back to Lee’s point about learnings, bolstering on the square is one of the
  things we could do. The only think i will say about anti-social behaviour this is the first
  time this we opened in July that we’ve had urinating or vomiting in the square. The only
  thing I would say is they were not our members or guests. If people are standing outside
  the building for 4 hours the chances, are they will want to urinate and go looking for
  somewhere to do so. Our members have access to toilets in the club. Again, I would just
  make the point they were not our people.
• AS -They could have been in the club for 4 hours drinking and spilled out
• SW- It hasn’t happened since July; these are our guests. There has never been an issue
  with people urinating in the square since we opened in July. It was that one night, which
  to me suggests quite strongly that these were not our people. It was people outside who
  did not have access to toilets and sadly ended up down in the square.
• AS- Maybe. Again, I am not trying to attribute blame or anything, so we don’t have to get
  defensive about it. If it’s a big event, there is a higher-than-average potential that this could
  happen again.
• SW- The point I would like to make is that we have done a lot of events, most of which
  have gone completely under the radar, and we’ve managed them ourselves. What I try
  and encourage all of us to do is look at everything in the round rather than in isolation. In
  the round, this first time you’ve had this kind of behaviour, which suggest to me, it’s not
  our members or guests. There was a rogue element that night which was not our members
  or guests, and it hasn’t happened since or before.
• KM- From my experience working in Kensington for 36 years some of our very best
  managed premises get it wrong once in a while. The whole thing is to make sure it
  doesn’t recur and that processes are updated. I think the proof in the pudding Alex is
  basically to ensure we monitor it and see what happens. I think there is dedication, a
  commitment on the part of The Roof Gardens, for this not to happen again, and
  hopefully that will be the case.
• AS- I think that would be helpful, I am just giving feedback here. If your position is its never
  happened, you’ve got no proof, we’re doing a great job… you know if you want us to
  provide you with more complaints, more photographic evidence, all of that stuff we can go
  down that route. I am not saying we have to; I’ve got better things to do with my life. I’m
  just giving you a couple of thoughts here.
• RS- The flip side of that is, I would almost prefer a bit more. Because we are not
  responsible for every single person in the area, the square, Like the car going around, we
  appreciate you report it, but that wasn’t a club related issue. There are other things going
  on in the area, not everything comes from the club. On this particular night, I take on board
  what you are saying as that is slightly more likely that some of the things that happened
  that night including parking would have come from the crowd outside.
• LM- Have you started to see that you profile of your member is different. I don’t know if
  you hire the club out, is that what you do? To the BFC, or is that a collaboration?
• RS- Some spaces. You can hold events here. That was a collaboration.
• LM- Was that crowd different to your average crowd?
• RS- The crowd that tried to get in 100% yes. They are not people we would normally invite,
  and we did not invite them.
• SW- some were ok about not being allowed in and some were not and we had to try and
• manage them.
• AS- You have these two big member events coming, someone mentioned you are turning
  the 7th floor into an events space.
• SW- It’s still licensed as a restaurant space, and we have just hired Roman & Williams in
  New York to design it as a restaurant and it’s going to open next year at the moment it’s an empty space. What we are doing is moving our larger bookings between now and Christmas because we are getting a lot of requests for large sit down meals via our members. So, we are moving these bookings up to the 7th floor because it’s empty and it’s licensed to be used as a restaurant, which is exactly what we are doing with it. So, for example on New Years Eve you can book 7th floor for your 5-course special meal, that type of stuff. So instead of displacing members with large table bookings we are moving them upstairs. Some of them may be canapes and drinks instead of dinners but it’s just moving them up to the 7th to free space for members.
• AS- so it’s a temporarily being used as an events space
• SW- I wouldn’t say it’s an event space. We are mostly using it for large sit-down dinner
  bookings and maybe the odd drinks reception.
• AS- So again the restaurant will be reopening from when.
• SW- it’s about 12 months away
• AS- Is this a change of use under the license?
• SW – No. It’s still within our license.
• KM Can I ask who Honey Dijon is? I’ve been set a flier with regards to ‘sinner in the sky’
  on the 31st of October?
• SW- that’s the Halloween member’s event
• KM-Is that a promoter?
• SW- No she’s a performer.
• RS- She’s the DJ for the night.
• KM – Sorry I’m a bit old.
• SW- She the music for the night. She’s the DJ – inside not outside.
• KM- Is that taking place on the 7th floor?
• SW- No the 6th floor.
• KM- Any event that takes place on the 7th floor will be Restaurant conditions and things
  like that
• SW- Yes. Nothing that’s outside of the license WE are just moving some activity upstairs
  and spreading it out between the floors
• KM- Perfect
• AS -No DJ up there. Or dance floor?
• SW- There isn’t a dance floor, but we can have music up there under our license
• KM- Have you any intention of serving us with any temporary notices that we need to know
  about ?
• RS- No, no plans. The next extended night will be NYE and that is automatic, if we do.
• SW- As you know Keith, the last TEN you gave us we didn’t end up using it in the end.
• KM – Yes. I was basically for the last hour everything else was conditioned up until the
  timing of the TEN, so that was exactly the way we wanted it, which was good.
• RS- Which was the BFC night we have been talking about. We didn’t need it, and it
  wouldn’t have been a night to use it.
• KM- That’s fine. If you were going to go for a TEN, we would probably be looking to add
  some conditions on, that’s something which we would negotiate with you.
• RS- No plans for extension.
• SW- NYE already is extended hours under the current license so we wouldn’t be looking
  to change.
• KM – Yes it‘s a standard condition. It can run from NYE until the end of business New
  Years Day.
• AS- If you have nothing else Keith, maybe we move to parking. Again, since September,
  there has been a noticeable change in the level of traffic in the square at night so it’s pretty
  full 24 hours a day
• RS- Natural increase?
• AS-Yes , but usually historically forever at 9/10pm it stops. Now it’s full like all the time
  until late.
• RS- historically forever?
• AS- Well for the last 5 years.
• RS – So since the Club has been shut
• AS- I guess so. If I Iook at the way the SIA are operating, and again I don’t spend my life
• observing them, my impression is that and I think we discussed in May, June, July the
• idea that the early part of the evening they will be more in the square. I know they were
• some debate how far in, as some residents didn’t want them outside their home with one
• person roaming. The latter part of the night they will be more focused on the exit from the
• club. My impression is that since September the two guys are hanging out the early part
• of the evening near Derry St not in the square anymore. The person supposed to be
• roaming is doing it a lot less and multiple people have told me that no one is approaching
• any cars. I think again my impression is that human nature, you get comfortable, it’s cold,
• they would rather be in a light than dark area. There needs to be a refresh.
• RS- Sure, going back to he agreed plan OMDP it was 2 people in Derry St which we
  moved closer into Derry St, rather than standing outside .
• AS – No we said if they were in Derry St, they are not doing anything.
• RS- They are in the Derry St side of the gap
• AS- We discussed this back in July after Mariella said she doesn’t want someone outside
  her house we discussed they need to be in the square or they can’t see anything.
• RS- Bear with me. There are 4 people in total. 2 stand on the gap, the Derry St side of the
  gap, one looking into the square, one looking up Derry Street; they are permanent. Then
  there is one in the square in the NW corner so they can see everyone coming into the
  square, and then we had a roaming person that could go from Derry St into the square.
  What we have done and to your point that it has changed, we are two permanent in the
  square, one on the NW seeing people coming in and one on southern side.
• AS-Can I propose an action out of this meeting that for tomorrow or this week, that we out
  it on a piece of paper.
• RS- It is on a piece of paper. The 3 positions the Derry St moving one, we still need to
  have someone who is moving, but they are moving on the Square still.
• AS- I don’t think we are seeing that person I would say it’s ad hoc. Again, can we
  recirculate the positions , and maybe some retraining of the guys and girl. They are good people but one or two of them are more recent in the last two months they are not focusing
• on this
• SW-That’s fine Alex. We can recirculate the plan as there was one circulated.
• RS- I am not going to change it, but I will recirculate it. The floating one is still floating but
  they are on the other side.
• SW- We will debrief the SIA team.
• AS- Rebrief and they also need to be stopping people flagrantly parking in the square.
• RS- I disagree that’s happening all of the time, but let’s improve it. I know it’s not as I see
  the footage
• PO-Is it generally the same people working in the square?
• RS – In the square yes btu they none of them work 7 days a week so there are going to
  be changed as there is a team of about 16/17 guards over a week.
• SW – But it’s the same pool so you will start to see familiar faces.
• RS- Anthony and Vanessa are they definitely the two main ones.
• AS- Vanessa is good, she’s quite on it. She just needs to come out of shell more and
  speak to people and tell them they can’t park on the square.
• RS- If they are going into the club. We are asking if they are going into the club first can’t
  stop everyone parking on the square
• AS-The other two guys stated bluntly sitting on Derry St, nowhere near the square on their
  phone’s half the time. The young guy with the curly hair and the other guy so they are not
  doing their jobs
• RS-The phone is the app, so they record things on it.
• AS- Spending a lot of time looking at that and not into the square
• RS- We’ll pick it up.
• PO- So where are with the (parking) app?
• RS- Still being developed. To you point Alex in your email the implementation of the ‘ANPR
• parking Management system was a precondition to the license’ the caveat on that is if the
• technology allowed. So, we did go for off the shelf technology, but it was not gone to work
• as was too big. So, we are developing it. On the screen are screen shots (see Appendix
• A.) of the app we are developing. The image on the left is a holding page.
• The middle image , they can take picture of a number plate and if it’s in the database it will
  populate with members details and the location so we can prove if they were in the square,
  and if there are no details , they can add it and make notes. The image on right, it will hold
  it so if they know straight away, they can talk to reception and add it straight away. Which
  is what we are doing almost now, a daisy chaining getting a radio signal back if its member
  or member’s guest. Not shown on here yet but there will be a ‘toggle’ ,and if t’s a guest of
  member it will flag and be associated with the member, that a guest has broken the rules.
• PO- Are the guests of the members required to provide you with their registration?
• RS- No, but they are not allowed to park as part of the membership rules, and members
  know that. So, if you invite your guests to the club and they park in the square it’s the
  same deal.
• SW- It’s basically logged against the members as default on their membership as the
  member are responsible for their guest.
• PO- So if they take a picture of a registration and it’s not in the database,
• RS- Of which there will be a lot
• PO -Yes, I would assume so, mine’s not in there. The only way they can determine
  whether that person is a guest or member is by speaking to them.
• RS- A bit of both
• SW- They can observe them walking into the club and they can radio across and say that
  person that came into the club, are they a member/guest and they can make a note.
• AS- When it flags that this guy is a member, then who is having that conversation to say
  you cannot park, is it the SIA or is it someone up the club?
• RS- Sorry, to you point about approaching cars, listen we will improve that if it has dropped
  off. We cannot stop people physically parking. We have to try and ascertain if they are
  going into the club. That person might say no I’m not. They might be members or guests,
  or they a may say f*** off, which they do a lot. There is quite a lot of abuse. If we think they
  are going, once they are approached, they see them go out of the car and head to Derry
  St, they watch if they go into the club, they radio the front desk on the ground floor. It’s the
  security guards running the daisy chain, it’s a process where they think they may be going
  to the club, they may be going to Dishoom, may disappear elsewhere. But if we think they
  are parking and think going to the club, approached or not we try to get information if we
  don’t have it already.
• AS- That’s if you don’t have the number. Personally, speaking I don’t think having met the
• delightful young lady downstairs I, see 0% probability of having a difficult conversation
• with someone.
• SW- She is not part of our security team; she is a host. We have a team of security that
  you would have seen on the ground floor, that’s’ the end of the daisy chain you are
  referring to. I see you come out of your car, I ask you if you are going to the club, you say
  no I’m not. I then observe you going into the club I radio ahead and say the guy in the
  navy-blue jacket where is he going. They then radio and say he’s gone to Equinox; we
  then know he’s not ours. Or they say he’s a member’s guest, so we then capture the
  information, who’s guest is he and then a conversation is had with the member and that
  goes against the member’s profile.
• AS- How many of these conversations have you had in September as I think that’s a very
  laborious extended process?
• RS- Well it is laborious.
• AS- The point of failure there, is that you are relying on the guy in the square to have seen
  it. If he’s not in the square he won’t have seen anything. Then you are relying on him to
  actually call through and then you’re relying on someone in the square ‘ok I’ve got 3 people
  walking in in blue jackets, am I going to have corner all three or manage something else?
  There are too many points of failure
• RS- But that is what happens.
• AS- How many people have you stopped?
• RS- I don’t have that to hand. A lot. You’re saying we’re not I’m saying we are.
• AS – If the ANPR gets caught in the square who is having that conversation, the SIA ?
• SW- If they get caught in the square that conversation is happening in the square.
• AS- The person with the ANPR?
• SW- Yes
• RS – They are saying that. But they are not taking away membership.
• AS- I love the photos by the way, but has it been built?
• SW- It’s being built.
• RS- That’s the first stage of testing.
• AS- That’s a great visual. My 12-year-old could create a visual like that.
• RS- That’s a bit harsh
• AS- We have been talking about this since July right. In fact, we were talking about this
  when we went through the licensing. This is going sideways. Every month it’s like we’re
  building. Last meeting we discussed there would be a demo, that’s not a demo, it’s a
  visual
• SW -We were hoping to have demo for you by this meeting
• AS- So with the upmost respect you are either taking this seriously or your just not?
• RS- Alex we are taking this seriously
• SW- I would hope that by know you do accept that we take what we do very seriously, and
  we fully intended to have a demo ready.
• AS- But not in this area
• SW -We are Alex, I know it doesn’t seem that way. We fully intended to have a demo with
  you by today. Unfortunately, our Digital manager who has been building it has had a lot of
  sickness over the last month which has slowed us down. It’s not where we want to be.
• AS- we haven’t been talking about his for a month, we’ve been talking about this since
  April
• SW- I know, but we first started to get something off the shelf which is the ideal solution
  for us. Rob has looked at lots of different off-the-shelf solutions none are right. Too big,
  not agile enough for what we want. We are willing to invest in building it ourselves to
  ensure it’s right and we have a Digital Manager who has been building it. He’s had a lot of
  sickness in the last month which has slowed us down. It’s not though want of trying. We’ve
  always said if you guys can find a solution which is better than what we are proposing then
  bring it to us. AS we are trying to work with you as team on this
• RS- There is legal bits to go through. We on developing things that are taking people’s
  personal data.
• AS- It’s not for us to go out …it shouldn’t be down to us.
• SW- I’m not asking you to Alex. I’m just saying, if you guys have something better than
  what we are trying to do by all means give it us, but in the meantime, we will carry on
  developing what we are developing. It’s in our interest to develop it, because as you say
  the current process is cumbersome and it’s not ideal. I wasn’t presenting it to you as a
  perfect solution, it’s the way it works right now. It’s in our interest to make it work
• AS- Look we should move on, but I don’t see the commitment or the urgency on your side
• to fix this
• RS- I don’t think that’s quite fair.
• AS- OK but I don’t see the results yet. Tell me when we are going to see it
• RS- I’m not going to give you a date but as soon as we possibly can and it’s getting nearer.
• LM- Is anyone on the front desk capturing registrations, believe you guys mentioned that?
• RS – Only in the process we just mentioned where the security team capture it, front desk
  than supplies the members name if we don’t have it already
• LM- No one asked me if I parked anywhere.
• RS- No. We are not asking everyone who comes to the club. That would make the guest
  entry too staggered. I prefer that we are doing it in the background and monitoring it.
  To your point about taking it seriously, we have terminated the first member for repeated
  parking in the square. Applying the rules, giving people fair warning we’ve now taken away
  someone’s membership. I think we are taking it seriously. I have Mariella on film saying
  it’s a difficult process, I think you’re going to fail. It is difficult. You’ve just explained the
  situation is quite difficult to capture every single person coming onto the square, who may
  not even be associated with the club.
• AS- You’ve got 3 SIAs who are supposed to be doing this and you’ve got major resources
• RS- They are doing it Alex. We are building a database, we are stopping people, we are
  doing it. I appreciate it we need to refresh it and make it better.
• AS- We just need to bring it to a conclusion
• RS- Which bit?
• AS/SW- All of it
• AS- Sue you sat in the licensing and said we will do the right thing by you. This was a
  major issue.
• SW- I stand by that Alex. I am investing time, resources
• AS- you’ve got to bring this home now
• SW- With all due respect I will bring this home and you’ve got to allow us the time to do it
• well and do it properly. Even when we deliver this app, I promise you something will slip
• through the net as it’s almost an impossible job. We are throwing everything we can at it.
• I cannot legislate for the fact that the person building it has had a lot of ill health in the last
• month and it’s not his fault. We will get there. You’re a business person Alex, you
• understand these things. But I won’t accept you saying that neither I nor my team are
• taking this seriously. We are taking it extremely seriously and we will bring it home. You
• just need to bear with us. Everything we’re talking about will come to pass. I believe we
• have put far more effort into meeting the needs of the residents than anyone before us
• with The Roof Gardens. I feel we have demonstrated that sufficiently.
• AS- OK I just think again, putting myself in your position, this is really hot topic yeah and
  what would give me comfort is if you said. This is what we are going to deliver, by when,
  here’s the timeline and you deliver on that timeline. What is less satisfying is you smiling
  every month and saying, ‘we’re getting on to it’, we’re taking it seriously, ‘I’m not telling
  you how many people we have on the ANPR database’, ‘I’m not going to tell you when
  we’re going to deliver this, the person is off sick, but we will deliver at some point’. That’s
  not… just give us a timeline and say we’ll deliver by that and that’s fine. That would provide
  me with some comfort. All we see in the interim is the traffic going up, It’s basic stakeholder
  management right.
• RS- I’m not smiling Alex
• SW- I do get your frustrations I really do, and we will come back to you on all of those
• things
• AS- Not to say you’re not trying let’s just be specific. Otherwise, we misinterpret it that you
  are not taking it seriously
• SW – Got it understood.
• RS- We are taking it seriously

Member terminated

• RS-We have taken away a membership for repeated parking on the square. Underlying
  how seriously we are taking it. We don’t want to be turning members away, but we have
  done.
• LM- How was that received?
• RS- Terrible. Crying.
• SW- No one wants their membership taking away but the reality is we were willing to do
  it.
• RS- Not just repeated parking but rude to our team.
• LM- How do you do it?
• SW- Our Membership Director does it in person

Rubbish and food deliveries

• AS- On the glass I think we have got to the right place but what they’ve done is switched
  over. The glass collection is after. 7am but I think they have brought forward other rubbish
  collection beforehand.
• RS- Again, I’ve had the conversations, but they are not our staff it’s not our area. The
  glass is ours that we put down there. I suggest you speak with Avison Young directly.
  Their loading bay and operation opens at 6am our license is from 7am and we’ve tried to
  move everything to 7am. I’ve had that conversation with them, but I think you need to
  speak to them.
• AS – It’s your rubbish going down there that is being picked up?
• RS-It’s the buildings rubbish.
• AS- Who is managing it?
• RS- Avison young-building managers
• AS – we usually deal with the freeholders
• RS – They are the freeholder’s agents when the blinds came up that came up from the
  residents direct to Avison Young so someone must have their contact details.
• AS- just on the food service trucks, not sure you go the picture.
• RS- I got that, yes Woods would have been a delivery to us. It didn’t come from the square
  we believe the driver parked there after making a delivery to us via the loading bay. Our
  Goods Receivers have seen other vans Amethus for example parked in square that isn’t
  us. No everything that comes into the building is us, but I will speak to them. This is a
  moot point as it’s not in the licence about delivery trucks, but I will talk to Woods.
• AS – I know it’s just a basic…
• RS- I get it and will talk to them
• SW- Equinox also do food and beverage we are not the only ones
• RS Japan House as well. Deliveries from the square for sure, I think if some ones has
  delivered and decides to park in the square in the day that’s a harder one
• AS – If you can just remind your suppliers that will help.
• RS – Majority come through the loading bay we will talk to them anyway as appreciate
  shouldn’t be doing it.

Planning

• AS – Again most of us don’t spend our lives monitoring the planning. Two applications that
  went in on the 6 and 13th September, I think you withdrew them relating to the awning.
  Again, one complaint I think came in from KRSA, I think there are 2 worries 1) post the
  Stormzy event, is outdoor noise entertainment and two this could be a segway to a
  permanent thing
• SW – Intensification? We are not allowed to have a permanent awning
• AS- It looks like you have withdrawn your application
• SW- No let me explain how the planning process works. You submit drawings of what you
  intend to do, but what you can’t do, is if the drawings change swap out drawings and keep
  the same application, you have to withdraw the application, update the drawing and apply
  again. That is why it looks like two cancelled applications. The first drawing, the awning
  was too close to the trees, asked to reduce width so we withdrew, redo the drawing and
  put it back in which we did. Then they asked us to do another tweak, so we had to withdraw
  it again tweak the drawing and resubmit. Which is why it looks like there are two withdrawn
  applications. It’s just updating the drawings. We are not allowed to have any kind of
  permanent structure there, it’s a restaurant not a night club . There is not going to be any
  music there. It’s already a restaurant and we are operating it under parasols, there is no
  intensification of use.
• AS- Under the assumption that these two applications or for the other applications you
  may put in, I don’t know what the right thing is, but you may want to send around an email
  to people that can be forwarded to people in the area to say to explain this to allay their
  fears.
• SW- I am really happy, whatever you suggest Alex, if you think it would be helpful, I am
  happy to do that. If it wasn’t dark I would show you, but what we have is restaurant with
  banquettes, seating tables, parasols that do not provide sufficient rain cover, so what we
  are trying to do is put a temporary winter awning that will come down in the spring when it
  goes back to parasols. It’s just to provide rain cover for people dining. In the daytime any
  of you are welcome to come and have a look. It is just a restaurant not a nightclub, just to
  prolong dining.
• AS- My personal view is that it may be helpful to explain it to people to allay fears but let
  me speak with KSRA.
• PO- It may be a good way to manage it, otherwise people find it and their like ‘oh my god
  what is this’
• AS- Yes for the other 3 applications that have gone in, people haven’t heard anything
  about it and they react.
• SW- If you remember at the last residents meeting, we did talk and i drew out the awnings
  for you on a piece of paper
• PO-Yes, we did talk about the awnings last month.
• SW- You’re right communications can always be better on these things. I think it’s a really
  good idea and I am happy to send an email to the residents’ association.
• AS – Just and email saying you’re going to be putting forward an application, this is what
  it’s for if you. Otherwise, people are not giving a heads up, they see it and they react.
  Objection, which is not helpful to you.
• SW- I understand
• RS- The other application I think was explained to us today is that we put the planning in
  for everything, it’s a council process that conditions get discharged as the process goes
  on. So, it looks like we are putting in new ones but we’re not.
• SW – Happy to put in another separate meeting
• No AOB
• Meeting ends 5.55pm

Next Meeting November 7th 2024 @ 6pm