The Directors would like to issues an update on the windows project and start with an apology for not keeping everyone informed more frequently – but until recently the message would simply have been that we are still investigating.

So here is a progress report:

There are still some Owners who have not paid their bills despite formal letters to remind and several personal emails and phone calls. These will now be pursued through the standard debtors procedures which can ultimately result in County Court Judgements. Only by the 5th of April did we collect £255,00 of the £305,000 of funds required, which was our threshold to proceed. The missing amount will be found from existing reserves until the rest is secured by the courts.

We have had some excellent support from residents questioning the technical aspects of the windows and the procedures to install them – resulting in Orrins being called onsite to carry out investigations twice. The architecture diagrams left by the builders have turned out to be inaccurate so we have decided to carry out pilot installation in a flat so that we can carefully remove the existing windows, investigate and install the new designs. Once our Surveyor has signed-off the resulting process we will commit to the rest of the windows. The order for the pilot has been issued and the windows should be on site next month. This does, unfortunately, put the timetable back.

After some detailed debate about design, the Directors have re-confirmed the powder painted aluminum frame design. We have also determined that we can upgrade the windows’ acoustic specification (a further one third improvement) for a relatively small amount of funding. We will ask each of you if you want this option later but we expect the costs to be covered by what you have already paid.

So please bear with us. We know progress is slow but we only have one shot at getting this right.