Building Update - Same Shit Different Day

I wrote to Breamar (the management company for Alexandra Tower) in the last couple of weeks and here are some excerpts from that email:

As we know, it’s pretty much two years to the week that Thomson and Moulton were relieved as managing agents and if I had to put money on the next outcome, it will be that Zolfo will once again pin the blame on the managing agent and move on without making good on the promises they made 4 years ago? This helps nobody and to be honest, I’m sick to death of Zolfo dodging the issue.

It just seems as though there has been a shift towards a different kind of tenant now, from professional / working people, in need of parking spaces to students who couldn’t really care about the building (and its problems) and have no need for parking either. Two birds one stone so to speak.

This is now 4 years of unresolved issues and despite the assurances from Zolfo that “what ever is necessary will be done” (re the car lifts) some 3 years ago I’m sure you can understand my scepticism? Same with the safety of the glass cladding which is unofficially safe, but yet the unsightly safety scaffolding is still in place two years on?

As such, in respect of parking, I now park my car a mile away at a friend’s whom has a space but no car because I have no faith in the car lifts

Having to park my car a mile away isnt acceptable and low and behold, the first time I use the parking space I am paying for at the building, last weekend and one of the lifts was out so same shit, different day is a phrase that speak to mind with this building.

In answer to  a comment today "is it still worth avoiding this building?" I would say that the building has so much potential is in a great location but the people behind the scenes clearly dont give a shit about the quality of the building. Zolfo had not made good on a single promise they made 3 years ago and it seems, are more than happy to have a revolving door of tenants and not look to spend money on improving the building and look to build long term tenants.

If I had a choice of moving in to this building today I wouldnt move in but circumstances mean I cant really move just yet

Urgent - Flat Share Needed

Hello, I am currently living in Alexandra Tower but I am sharing a 2 bed with someone else.

This arrangement isn't permanent so I was wondering whether anyone else in the building has a 2 bed flat and would like to rent out the rooms?

 I would be happy to go on the tenancy/pay a deposit too. My number is 07447131174 or email alex_mealand@hotmail.co.uk, and I am on 7th floor

Building Update

So far there is still no word from the Management Company or Zolfo the administrators for Alexandra Tower as to when (if it is indeed safe) for the scaffolding to be taken down after the glass panel fell to the ground two years ago. Nor is there any word whether the car park lifts will be rectified once and for all, or indeed is there any word as to when the windows will ever get cleaned?

“Different day same old shit” should be Zolfo Cooper’s tag line

Pretty much two years to the week Zolfo blamed the last management company and instructed a new one in Braemar Estates and Zolfo (who control the money) gave their word that “whatever needs to be done will be done” and “if the car lifts need replacing then it will happen”.

Now I’m not one to call someone a liar but I am a person who (if required) will tell it like it is so Mr P from Zolfo, you know the conversation we had and you know what you said and everything you said would happen, hasn’t? You are clearly not a man of your word.

It is clear you are effectively happy to let the building suffer and instead of fixing problems (like the car lifts) that affect peoples lives in the form of missing work, business meetings, flights, picking kids up from school etc, etc, you are happy to let the revolving door recruitment policy of new tenants continue until you get tenants with such low expectations, they don’t give a crap about the problems.

Total Car lift Outage (again) 26/04/12

With some degree of predictability yesterday one car lift failed, and the second remaining car lift failed this morning leaving residents without use of their cars and the resultant fallout.

Yet another issue of cars stuck 05/03/2012

Sunday afternoons are when some people go to see families, keep in touch with friends, or take their family out for the day. Sunday afternoon's are also when some people have to work.

Whatever people do on a Sunday, and if they have a car, they couldnt go about their lives today for yet again, both car lifts at Alexandra Tower Liverpool were not working and the engineer could not call out until Monday morning.

Plans cancelled Sunday, taxi fares incurred for people going to work, and for people who need their car to work (and there are a couple of cabbies in the building) a day/night of lost work.

Monday morning and both lifts are still offline and as at 3pm, the issue was not resolved and people cannot use their entry fobs (in this long long long long line of lift outages) to call the lift or open the lift doors from the ground.

And still no response from the Management Company Braemar Estates or Zolfo Cooper (the buildings administrators) about when ANY of the issues affecting this building will be resolved.

Car Lift Outage (since friday) 20/02/12 AM

Bad enough that people had cars trapped in the building Friday afternoon and over the weekend through the continued inconvenience to personal lives and those who work who reside here.

But to add insult to injury, both of the car park the lifts at Alexandra Tower were still off Monday morning, causing yet more disruption to anyone with a car and a job/business to go to.

Ongoing Issues and their Resolution?
Still no response from the Management Company Braemar Estates or Zolfo Cooper (the buildings administrators) about when ANY of the issues affecting this building will be resolved.

Car Lift Outage (no shock there) 17/02/2012

The car lifts at Alexandra Tower Liverpool both went offline again this afternoon and will remain off over the weekend likely.

No shock there, and still no response from the Management Company Braemar Estates or Zolfo Cooper (the buildings administrators) about when ANY of the issues affecting this building will be resolved.

07/02/2012 - Car Outage Update 8pm

According to the concierge, the lift engineer Marciac Lift services were not available to service the lift today owing to a family funeral. As such, the fault is still not fixed and the lift fobs are not working.

This effectively means that the one working lift cannot be called to your floor. The engineer is due out shortly after 8am in the morning (8th) so anyone needing to commute some distance tomorrow can forget it.

Whilst this is obviously not ideal with the engineer not available today, we simply shouldn't be at the mercy of one single lift engineer in any case and credit to Marciac, they have done a lot to keep things going as best they can with the shitty lift/s we have.

Same with the concierge staff.

However, despite not being their fault, it’s not the lift engineer or the concierge staff that make the decisions but they do get earache for it. That responsibility and the direction at which the earache should be given falls firmly to the feet of Zolfo Cooper (the buildings administrators) who oversee the building on behalf of the final owner, which is still Barclays Bank we believe. Secondly, the management firm Braemar Estates who run after the day to day stuff.

They can be contacted on the following:

Neil Roberts

Managing Director Braemar Estates

Richmond House Heath Road Hale Altrincham Cheshire WA14 2XP

0161 929 2300

And

Laith Dajani

Zolfo Cooper, The Zenith Building, 26 Spring Gardens, Manchester, M2 1AB

0161 838 4542

Good luck getting a response as 3 years on, most residents don’t hold much respect for either party. They used to talk a good game and 2 years ago promised that if the lifts needing replacing, than that’s what they (Zolfo) would do, but now emails and phone calls from residents and owner landlords largely go unanswered.

All that can be done is to stop the revolving door of new tenants, unaware of the problems, but whom, in general don’t renew their leases.

Perhaps when City Residential report that people do not want to even view the building owing to its history, maybe then life for all current and future residents will become better.

7th Feb 2012 – cars stuck in lift outage, AGAIN

For the residents of Alexandra Tower, Liverpool, this morning was a cold and misty one with fog still hanging over the Mersey and yet if there wasn’t enough to contend with, the ever failing car park lifts at the building both failed, leaving residents unable to get in or out of the car park.

Yet another incidence of residents being denied use of their cars to go to work, take the kids to school or go about their busy lives or self employment!

That the lifts have been failing like this for 3 years doesn’t seem to motivate the buildings’ owners/management to act when two years ago, assurances were given by Zolfo Cooper, that “if need be, the car lift system will be replaced”. Still waiting on that one....

This blog is now getting hundreds of visits per month, and is currently sitting on the first page of Google for all relevant search terms, right along side the very agents that are marketing this property.

Somehow, and despite a legal obligation to inform potential future residents viewing the building, about its problems, who in all honesty thinks that the letting agents are being upfront in their disclosures of information, which would otherwise have a bearing on the decision whether to live here or not?

Its not so easy to ignore Google when it places this blog (written without spin or misrepresentation of facts) alongside the very estate agents websites marketing the property. This building has so much potential to be a prime residence of the Liverpool waterfront, but with the current management, many feel it is destined to become nothing more than waterfront student accommodation and weekend party rentals as many working professionals are leaving the building, never to renew their leases.

*ps nothing against students but this isn’t a halls of residence or party building, hence the recent notice in the lobby from the buildings management, about noise complaints.

Falling Glass from Alexandra Tower Liverpool - update

This was in the press March 10th 2010

The managing agents of the Alexandra Tower building in Princes Parade were last night ordered to undertake the task after a 100kg glass sheet shattered and fell to the ground.

Liverpool Echo story here in full

Now the funny thing is, nearly two years later and the safety scaffolding around the building, preventing more 100kg glass panels hitting the ground with full force is still up and only yesterday, a letter was delievered to all occupants, that the safety inspection (ordered 2 years ago) is now taking place.

If the bulding was safe from more falling glass, then wouldnt it be logical to remove the eye sore that is a ring of scaffolding around the building?

Another question for would be residents is this:

Do you want to live in a building that when 100kg glass panels fall off it, those that manage and own the building have so much respect for the residents, and their safety that after two years, no progress is made?

If the powers that be dont seem to be too bothered to act and reassure residents about 100kg glass panels falling, do you think that they give a damn about smaller issues which dont mean life or death, but whether you enjoy living in the building?

View from Alexandra Tower Liverpool

This is the lovely view from the river facing floor to ceiling windows of Alexandra Tower Liverpool

Great for NOT being able to see the river view you thought you were getting

Alexandra Tower Liverpool / Dec 2011 Car Lift Outage - update

As per the last blog post (Fri 30th December) and for which every resident at Alexandra Tower, Liverpool are all too aware, there was a complete outage to the car park lifts on Friday 30th December, 2011.

It is now Tuesday 3rd of January 2012 and for most people, a day to get the kids back in school, the first day back at work, and the first day back to their own businesses. It is also the 5th day of consecutive outage for the car parks at the building, and denial of use for their cars.

From people wanting to have any sort of private/social/family life over the New Year, to a couple of self employed cabbie’s not able to use their car on New Years (resulting in serious loss of earnings), the loss of use was frustrating, but add now the holiday period is over, the misery is still there and cars remain stuck in the building.

Resolution?
Most residents, including myself have long since given up any hope of either the management company Braemar Estates or the administrators Zolfo Cooper overseeing the building post liquidation dealing with the issue now in its 4th year. Both parties have a stock excuse involving “our hands are tied”. Braemar Estates say they can only do so much and blame Zolfo Cooper saying that Zolfo make the decisions, and Zolfo Cooper in turn blame the banks saying the banks (with Barclays possibly as the largest stakeholder) control the purse strings.

One has to wonder if Braemar Estates mention to Zolfo Cooper that no tenants seem to want to remain past their first 6month lease and if in turn Zolfo Cooper communicates this to Barclays?

Only certain route to resolution?
Perhaps the only way to get the message across is in having potential residents see this blog, and report to the likes of City Residential (the principle agent) that they have no desire to move in with so many high profile issues, and with no resolution in sight?

Who would want to move in knowing what is reported in this blog? I wouldn’t and I live here now, have done for over 3 years, but my resolve is being tested.

It also has to be said that there is no spin or glossing over of detail in the writing of this blog. If you are thinking of moving in, ask the agent about the issues, ask the onsite staff in the office. They may not volunteer the info unless you ask, but if you ask, they cannot lie as to do so is a criminal offence.