UPDATE: October 2025
The Board
Pressure of work and the holiday season prevented the publication of an update over the summer, but the Board has continued its work on behalf of Residents. Our first residents’ surgery took place at the end of July; directors met formally on 18th August; we have been in constant liaison with both Tideway and TCD Construction on the current phase of major works and with Tideway about general issues on the estate; Dominic has met with representatives of Boards at other mansion blocks; and work on the new website has progressed.
Previous year’s accounts / AGM
This year’s meeting for shareholders of RVG (Freehold) Ltd will be an Annual General Meeting (AGM), not an Extraordinary General Meeting (EGM). This change of name brings us into line with accepted corporate practice, our obligations under the Companies Act 2006 and our own Memorandum and Articles of Association. Residents who are not shareholders will also be invited to join the meeting as observers, without the right to speak unless invited or to vote. As yet, we are unable to set a date for the meeting due to the failure of our accountants to finalise last year’s financial accounts. We hope the AGM will be held in late October/early November but, until we receive the figures, we cannot set a date as there is a statutory period between publication of documentation and the AGM. The Board is reviewing all our providers’ delivery standards and changes will be made where they fall short. The lack of accounts also means that Tideway cannot yet dispatch invoices in respect of last year’s anticipated shortfall, as advised in our July update. The Board is committed to circulating informative paperwork prior to the AGM. We hope the meeting will be a forum where as many voices as possible can be heard and there is opportunity for a wide range of topics affecting residents to be considered. To ease this process, we will be asking Shareholders to give prior notification of their questions or proposal for the meeting. On the night, discussion across the floor will be managed so that as many views as possible can be heard and the largest number of topics regarding the estate can be covered. Each speaker will be allocated a limited time to speak, which will be dictated by the volume of questions or proposals received. We will also be asking the Managing Agents to withdraw for a section of the meeting to allow frank discussion.
Current year’s budget
The current year’s budget continues to be monitored monthly by the Board. Progress on costs is being made, for example new electricity contracts have been negotiated by Tideway which should have a positive impact on an area of significant cost in the past. A meeting with the financial team at Tideway will take place shortly to review various queries from the Board following a recent invoiceby-invoice scrutiny of current expenditure.
Major works
The major work on flats 100 to 111 has been completed and scaffolding struck. Works on 112-129 Riverview Gardens are in progress. We have been generally delighted with the quality of delivery by TCD Construction and their subcontractors. Quite considerable additional remedial works have had to be undertaken as evidence of significant deterioration within buildings was uncovered during the project (we will share photographs at the AGM). This deterioration was due, in part at least, to past cost-cutting measures which have proved ineffective. TCD has dovetailed these additional works with those anticipated, so the overall timeline has not been too dramatically disrupted and the cost of additional scaffolding and other setup costs has been avoided. There is, nevertheless, an unavoidable increase in the overall cost of the project which will, we hope, be covered by the various contingencies in place. We will provide a fuller update at the AGM. Major works will always have an impact on the daily lives of residents. From the considerable oversight by the Board during this phase, it appears that planning, execution, review and control are all very much better in this project than that at the other end of Riverview Gardens. Despite this, there will always be niggles. Scaffolding has been properly alarmed this time – an improvement on the previous contractors – but that means alarms have occasionally been triggered. Whilst there have been shorter periods of parking suspensions, it is frustrating to arrive home and not be able to park due to coned off areas. Building works will sometimes result in debris in people’s gardens. These are unavoidable consequences of undertaking the scope of works that these elderly buildings require. We would ask all Residents to be patient with – and polite to – contractors working here. The vast percentage of feedback has been exceptionally positive about the current company and we wouldn’t want to lose them. May we also please remind Residents, and their tenants where applicable, that they must not go out onto the scaffolding. They would not be insured in the event of an incident. Finally, the Board wishes to make clear that, whilst unintended damage to a Leaseholder’s property – for example cracked paving – will be remedied by the contractor, under no circumstances will any compensation for use of demised outside space, or inconvenience or debris as a result of works, be made. In the event that builders or scaffolders leave debris on site, please advise Tideway and they will organise for this to be remedied within a reasonable timeframe.
Minor works
We advised that the underspend on the previous major works would be utilised on minor internal decorative issues across the estate. The summer isn’t apparently a good time to try to find decorators willing to take on small projects but we hope to progress this shortly. Thank you for recommendations for handypeople that may be suitable for this type of task. Any further suggestions would be gratefully received. Going forwards, the Board would like to be able to address more of this type of work locally, rather than through major works’ contractors to achieve both cost and timescale benefits. The replacement lighting in communal hallways over the summer has obviously caused much distress and annoyance to residents. One of the Board’s more difficult tasks is to find the middle ground between those who feel one solution too bright and others who feel the alternative too dark! Previous lighting had to be changed as it was not compliant with fire regulations. Emergency lighting is required in the communal escape routes of purpose-built flats more than two storeys high and there must be a light illuminating every change of level and the final exit. The new lights installed between individual front doors on each level were far too bright, both in normal lighting mode and the green diode when the lights were off. After numerous complaints, Phillip John from Tideway came to inspect several hallways after dark to see the issue. The result was that the lights were turned off and set to illuminate only in the event of an emergency. This resulted in further comment that hallways were too dark. We have spoken with Tideway and asked them to source units suitable for this style of building that are CCT (light warmth) and lumen (light output) adjustable. Our aim is to have a warm, low level light outside each pair of flats which is triggered by movement. This has proved more difficult than one might hope but progress has now been made and we expect replacement lights to be installed within the next few weeks.
Managing Agent
Residents will be aware that Daniel Kempner has left Tideway. He has been replaced by Eoghan [pronounced Owen] Dunne. In the short period since the change, communication and response to issues appears to have improved. The Board continues to hold Tideway to account in regular meetings. As part of our ongoing review of all providers, we have sought views on agents from Boards of similar blocks.
Residents’ surgery
Given that this was held in July, we were pleased with the turnout for our first surgery. Antonia and Andreas met with residents and canvassed opinion on priorities for the estate. The scope of the porter’s duties; frequency of communal area cleaning; rubbish storage and collection; and security measures were all discussed. We are working out the best way to canvass wider input on these topics, but the surgery and much outside feedback has persuaded the Board to directly approach Richmond council to implement a one-way system in Clavering Avenue and Riverview Gardens to avoid a return to residents having to reverse significant distances as two cars cannot pass on either street if there are vehicles parked on both sides. We will keep you informed.
Rubbish and recycling
The upside of living in a community has been obvious on several occasions this year, from the summer party to the number of people gathering to help a fellow resident after a flood. There are however downsides and one of the hottest topics in the info@riverviewgardens.co.uk inbox is neighbours’ rubbish and recycling.
Rubbish: poorly secured bags left overnight for collection in the morning cause odours in communal hallways. They also entice mice and pest control is a soaring cost that we need to keep down. The Board hopes to consult on changing the rules around rubbish in the future. Prior to that, residents would appear to prefer that rubbish is put out early in the morning, rather than the previous night. If that isn’t possible, rubbish must not be left out prior to 22:00; before that time, bags should be taken to the rubbish garage. All rubbish left in hallways must be double bagged please. We are aware that some buildings have negotiated individual practices between residents. Some buildings leave rubbish outside their personal doors, in others residents take it down to the communal door. Following recommendations from our pest control contractor, the Board discourages all residents from collecting rubbish together inside the front door of each block. We will continue to consult on this practice but may have to institute a formal prohibition.
Recycling: recycling left for collection by the porter needs to be segregated please. Paper and cardboard should be in one container for collection. All other recyclables (plastic, glass, tins) should be in another. Cardboard boxes should be broken down and folded flat. Food containers must be as clean as possible. This is the case whether recycling is left for collection or taken to the recycling points. A walk around communal hallways recently showed food delivery bags containing takeaway boxes, some with portions of food still in them, none broken down, mixed together with plastic and glass drinks bottles. This causes inside communal areas to smell, attracts vermin both inside buildings and to the bins next to the play area and in the rubbish garage, and reduces space in already limited recycling containers. Our porter therefore has to empty half-eaten pizza and break down its box, and separate that from the plastic and glass in the same bag, when he takes recycling to the garage or is forced to create more space in overfull recycling bins. A significant portion of the porter’s day is spent on rubbish management. If all residents could please be considerate around rubbish and recycling, that time could be better utilised on necessary works around the estate that must currently be done by external contractors, at often sizeable cost.
Food recycling: you will have seen from the circular from the council that food recycling is being introduced in this area. We are trying to negotiate with the council to deliver the recycling caddies centrally so that flat numbers can be put on them. Given the existing issues around odour and pests, food recycling will not be collected by the porter. Residents must take their caddies to the central food recycling bin which will be sited in the garage to deter vermin. This will require a reduction in the general waste and recycling bins which makes the breaking down of cardboard recycling an even greater necessity.
Fire risk
A repeat message from the previous newsletter: e-bikes and e-scooters have become a major cause of fires and fire-related deaths across London. There has been another death this summer. Please could all residents remember that no bicycles or scooters, electric or otherwise, are to be stored – however briefly – in any internal common areas across the estate.
And finally…
We will circulate the date for the AGM via email as soon as we can and look forward to seeing as many of you as possible at that meeting.