I try to keep this blog tightly on the subjects of Pimlico, Renting, and Flats. It’s not too difficult because I can use the Forum to ramble about other subjects, and this keeps the blog focussed.

I thought that I would stray a little to talk about this blog, and blogging, as a way of thanking my many sources of information, and I have broken the story into three parts.

Pimlico

Renting

Property

Pimlico

Blogging about Pimlico is probably the easiest of my 3 core subjects, particularly since I define “Pimlico” as being anywhere within walking distance of Pimlico Flats – so that covers Central London, and makes:

• Victoria & Belgravia “North Pimlico”,
• Kensington and Chelsea “West Pimlico”,
• Battersea, Vauxhall, Stockwell, Clapham “South Pimlico”
• Westminster, Soho “East Pimlico”

I try to focus on free and little published events and attractions, as the bigger professional things are generally commercially advertised and known about. My biggest source of information is the weekly publication The Pimlico News and Journal which is something that I publish myself and is automatically curated from various feeds. It has been sufficiently successful that I now carry it as a page on this website which can be accessed from the menu on the left.

It’s a great Newspaper but I must give thanks to some of the contributors. There are of course the usual traditional sources of information, BBC, Newspapers, but the purpose of niche blogging is to uncover the real story, and here are the local blogs and websites which I follow in order to reach the news other blogs can’t reach:

London Blogs

• Foremost has to be the Westminster Chronicle  just because we need professional journalists and local newspapers in our lives, and if you don’t use them and pay for them we will lose them, and be all the poorer. I don’t know how the power of the internet will pan out, but printed news is under pressure from free blogs like this, and the free “Pimlico News and Journal” that I just promoted. In spite of my competition with the Chronicle all I can say is that we need our local shops, and newspapers, so please buy a copy from your local newsagent.
• Londonist  a website about London and everything that happens in it – it’s a professional publication set up in 2004 as The Big Smoker. I like it because, although it is a comprehensive London-wide reference resource, it carries this off with humour and is in touch with it’s community roots (e.g. the Hand Drawn Maps initiative). They provide everything you need to know about the capital, as well as celebrating the quirks, eccentricities, hidden and surprising bits that make up the alternative side of the city.
• Discovering London - which I juxtapose alongside Londonist because Peter’s blog is small, if not tiny, yet it is brimming over with personality, quality, and originality. Peter has yet to reach his 1st anniversary of blogging, but already his website is one of my favourites.
• Tired of London, Tired of Life began in October 2008 as a place to document those moments of inspiration for making living in London exciting & different. Doing the same thing day after day can get anyone down, but our city has an almost infinite number of things to see and do. If you’re not getting the most out of London, it is a sad truth that you have no one to blame but yourself. This site was part of a personal plan for the author to get the most out of the greatest city on earth, and it has worked.
• Going Underground Look at what the mainstream press has to say! The magic, mystery & sometimes maddening shortcomings of London’s Tube are documented with love, enthusiasm & sometimes despair by its unofficial social historian ……. The best blogs have a tinge of obsession about them … On some mornings it can feel like the only reason to be grateful that the Tube exists … one of London’s obsessives
• Young and Poor  Cheap/free events, gigs, food & drink, or sales —  never paid to mention things so it’s only things worth recommending.
• Ian Visits does NOT list the mainstream music/theatre/film events which are already so well supplied by the major newspapers and magazines – but DOES list the heritage open days, walking tours and mostly, the astonishing array of free (or cheap) lectures that the societies and universities of London provide. It’s a personal resource of remarkable usefulness.
• Boris Watch An act of frustration, at the loss to apparent personality politics, and the accusation that somehow young people are to blame …… but also a great tap into the stories that THEY don’t want you to read about.
• Laura Porter London-based travel writer & VisitBritain Super Blogger, mum, copywriter, tea drinker, afternoon tea addict & all-round London obsessive. She is a professional travel writer for About but I have recommended her twitter feed as she is a model in how to use Social Media. She does so much more than just promote her own writing, and is very generous with the links and information that she publishes. Consequently I would say – if you want to keep your finger on the pulse of mainstream London – follow Laura.

The major repairs in 71 Winchester St. proceed apace, and soon the scaffolding at the rear will be moved to the other side of the rear to finish off external works and then it can come down.  At the moment everything is on schedule so and the whole workforce and working extremely hard to achieve these goals. The boiler room has its steel beams in place and we should be able to order the equipment in the next few days.

So far we have three kitchens in situ just the carcasses in preparation for templating the worktops.  The shower rooms in flat 4 and 3 are definitely taking shape and the sliding door frame for flat 4’s shower room arrived at the end of last week.

Templating Kitchen Worktops

We had fun with the delivery of kitchen door fronts, end panels and plinths for three kitchens as they tried to deliver all of these to the builder’s home address!  Luckily the carriers phoned to advise that no one was in and so the delivery was aborted last with the promise of redelivery to Winchester Street the following day.  When no delivery was made a follow up call was told that the delivery had been made on the original delivery day and they had a proof of delivery signature.  Needless to say the driver had signed for the goods and they had gone missing ….

Finally in a new venture Pimlico Flats have started managing and maintaining property for other local landlords. We will offer an alternative to letting agent services where the managing agent acts as a go between, and responds to tenant complaints by telephoning the appropriate tradesman. By using our own workforce to maintain properties, we hope to provide a management service which is both better and cheaper.

April featured a long holiday break due to Easter and the Royal Wedding which meant that most of Bradley Construction’s workforce seemed to disappear for around 2 weeks! Nevertheless the work has continued with all beams now in place and plastering ¾ of the way finished.  All plumbing and electrics first fix have been completed and with the workforce back in full swing the soundproof flooring will be ordered in the second week of May, door frames are already in place in half the flats so doors will be ordered soon and so can some of the sanitary ware.

There have been reports of problems with the wifi – whenever we have investigated this we have found no problems connecting ourselves.

I have set up a Pimlico Flats Channel on Youtube in which I will be uploading various informative videos of Pimlico. If anyone has any contributions to upload they would be gratefully received, likes and subscriptions appreciated.

Generally no news is Good News!

Image via Wikipedia

Pimlico is a village. You might think that an unusual statement to make about a Central London neighbourhood, but nevertheless it is true. It is a village with a village green, three markets, corner shops and an atmosphere and character. Consider the areas: City of Westminster, Westminster, London SW1, Central London, and Pimlico.  Now whichever definitions you chose for those geographical labels, you will end up in pretty much the same area – maybe some are bigger than others or don’t exactly fit, but the biggest difference is a social one. Pimlico is the village, the society, the place with character – the place people want to live.

One of Pimlico’s villagers who wanted to show the world what a characterful home Pimlico makes, and put his video on Youtube:

Image via Wikipedia

On Friday 29th April HRH Prince William of Wales will marry Miss Catherine Middleton at Westminster Abbey. The Royal Wedding Procession will take in the capital’s most prestigious sights, promising a truly memorable event in the most picturesque surroundings London has to offer. Pimlico Flats have serviced accommodation available for the Wedding, at £300 2 nights or £600 for a full week in London. We are ideally placed being only a ten minute walk to either Buckingham Palace or Westminster Abbey – see the locations below and a Google Maps fly by of the event.

View Royal Wedding in a larger map

The Royal Wedding HotelMap connects in real-time to the reservation systems nearby hotels, and shows that there is still availability and very attractive rates; as low as £129 for a double room with river views at nearby 4 star hotels within a 5 minute walk of Westminster Abbey. A good deal any time of the year. You can see availability of every room at each hotel, live, all presented on an attractive and easy to navigate map; without the limitation of viewing just the rooms available that a particular agent may have been allocated, the HotelMap sees everything and sees it in real-time.

Tenants can find out a lot more about a flat by watching a video than by any other means, and I have been meaning to start videoing our flats for some time. Now I’m really going to do it, this Australian Estate Agent has finally convinced my of the power of video.

Pimlico Flats

The repairs to 71 Winchester St.  is continuing apace with 3 flats now fully plastered.  The remainder of the steel arrived last Friday and is now installed first fix electrics and plumbing are well over ¾ of the  way done and stud walls are constantly going up. From the outside – the scaffold has had to be extended due to ventilation holes having to be drilled at second floor level. All the demolition is now complete so there should be no further dust, and little noise, however if anyone has any concerns please feel free to talk to the Bradley Construction Site Manager Trevor Seenan who is present whenever work is going on, either On Site or in the Pimlico Flats Reception at 75 Winchester St. from 08:00 till 16:45 Monday to Friday, and on Saturday mornings.

Additionally George is available at his usual hours 09:00 till 12:00 Monday to Friday, and on Saturday & Sunday mornings.

April is of course the month of The Wedding. Pimlico Flats will be renting vacant flats to tourists in town for the celebrations, and if any tenants wish to rent out their flat through us please let me know.

Work started on the refurbishment of 71 Winchester St. on 1st February 2011 and we have been demolishing the interior of 71 Winchester Street and basically all that is standing are the main walls and the mansard above.

The staircase is still in situ but most of the internal walls have been removed to make way for new stud walls after all the steelwork is put in.

The steelwork started to arrive as from 1st March and the first fix electrics and plumbing have commenced. We hope that we are not being too noisy to upset any of the tenants or neighbours Winchester Street.

If there are any complaints please let Trevor Seenan the Site Manager know so that we can resolve the problem.

Any standard maintenance problems should follow Pimlico Flats standard procedure:

• See George in Reception 09:00 – 12:00 Mon – Fri. Also other times, and Saturday & Sunday mornings (fleetingly)
• Leave a note at Reception
• Telephone 07947 777575
• eMail maintenance@pimlico-flats.co.uk

Pimlico Flats offer our tenants a managed service with a central reception to report & discuss problems as a minimum Monday to Friday 09:00 – 12:00 (although often before and after these times too), and a presence 7 days a week. We also accept deliveries, sign for parcels, and do everything that enables you to go to work leaving the management of your home in our hands. Statistics show that the average UK citizen loses more than three (annual leave) days each year having to wait for an parcel or bathroom and kitchen to be delivered, or a plumber to resolve a leakage or heating problem. Also, on average, companies made people wait twice as long as originally promised. So our service, included in the rent, is an important and valued component of renting from us.

Not all tenants or home owners are as lucky, and ‘We Wait For You’ is a new business which has spotted this gap in the market and is aiming to service the cash rich and time poor. They provide a luxury waiting service in most areas of London, for when customers can’t be at home because of work, sports, children or social activities. It is a relatively new service which requires some explanation.

We Wait For You provides security vetted and insured staff that can pick up the keys or meet you at home, in most areas of London. They then wait for deliveries or tradesmen and can wait until the job is finished in an acceptable fashion. Alex Hoff, director, says: ‘Because this is a new business with a new idea it is very important to deliver a smooth and trustworthy service. Word of mouth publicity, a good reputation combined with a friendly service help us build our brand and business’. This is why we are so keen to obtain feedback and references after the job is completed. This ensures we meet our objective of building a lasting relation with happy customers who we saved Time, Costs and perhaps most important: Inconvenience.’

A new service has recently been added to the list.: ‘Re-delivery’. Customers have their purchases or parcels delivered at the ‘We Wait’ office in Wimbledon. These will then be re-delivered at a time, date and place which are suitable for the client.

A quote or order can be placed online, via the www.wewaitforyou.co.uk website, and mentioning this article will get a 10% discount on prices quoted.

We Wait For You is available via the following (social) media:

Web: http://www.wewaitforyou.co.uk
FB Grp: http://on.fb.me/hgwTCd
Blog: http://wewaitforyou.blogspot.com/
Twitter: http://twitter.com/#!/wewaittwits
Google Places: http://ow.ly/3yFAX

One of the problems about news is that when there is lots of news I am too busy dealing with the news to produce a newsletter! I hope that if you have been involved in the “News” you are happy with how it was dealt with ……..

Well in the last month the worst that life has thrown at us is a burst water main which flooded a basement flat & required the help of the Fire Brigade.

71 Winchester St. is now due it’s overhaul and repair and this will require all the tenants to evacuate. During December the require tenancy termination notices were served and I discussed with each of the tenants their personal options for when their tenancy ends. Westminster City Council haven’t been terribly helpful, even going as far as to put in writing that they are not responsible for rehousing homeless people – something that I don’t think is legally correct, but certainly betrays a certain mindset!

During the last building work Bradley Construction proved themselves to be considerate and respectful to tenants and neighbours alike, consequently I have appointed them as builders again. The repair work commences on Monday 31st January with the erection of scaffolding at the front.  The Scaffolding will carry plywood sides and mesh screens to secure adjoining properties against dust, dirt and access by burglars. The work will take 6 months in total and during this time any problems should be addressed as follows:

In the first instance:

Managing Architect: Simon Whitehead Architects

Simon Whitehead Architects

Unit G2
Trowbray House
The Leathermarket
Weston Street
London
SE1 3ER

T: +44 (0)20 7183 1063
F: +44 (0)20 7691 7242

E: london@simonwhitehead.com

Out of Hours Emergency:

Krystyna Perez 07790 728245

George Mooney 07947 777575