- Luciana Calderon
- 4 hours ago
Following investigation into the issue affecting the gate, here is an update on the current status and the proposed next steps. We appreciate your understanding and would like to reassure residents that we are working to identify the most effective and sustainable solution for the community.
The main Castellain Road gate has been out of action due to a fault with the central control system. In some past instances this type of failure has been resolved by a software reboot and reloading access credentials. Over the last two weeks there have been a succession of site visits and attempted fixes, but the issue has only now been conclusively diagnosed: the control board itself has failed and will need to be physically replaced.
Replacing the board would be the quickest route to restore the existing system (with a lead time of around a week for the part).
However, remaining on the current platform is proving both unreliable and disproportionately expensive to maintain. For that reason, the Directors are looking to bring forward the move to a modern access system now, rather than patching the current one yet again. The downside is that a full replacement is likely to take longer than a board swap (potentially around two weeks), and it will require a managed changeover of keys. Contractors are on site and starting their work today, 4 of February.
The benefit will be a more reliable system in place ahead of the spring and summer months and given that an upgrade was expected in due course, avoiding the cost of paying to keep the legacy system alive now only to replace it later.
Further information on timing and next steps will follow. Thank you for your patience while this is resolved.
The main Castellain Road gate has been out of action for well over a week now, during which time a succession of contractors have been in and out of the Garden trying to identify the problem. It's finally been diagnosed as water damage to the main control panel, which unfortunately is now beyond repair & will need to be replaced.
Our Managing Agents have apologised for the ongoing inconvenience to residents but are hopeful that the new part will be delivered in a few days' time.
Meanwhile freeholders are reminded that My Blockman is the prime channel of communication with the Agents & it is freeholders' responsibility to ensure that lease-holders are kept in the picture.
As we start the year, this blog shares a few important updates and reminders from the Board with residents, as our next full Newsletter will not be sent out until the beginning of April.
We hope you had a lovely break and are looking forward to the year ahead. We’re excited for another year of enjoying our shared garden together and hope you've already spotted some of the new plans such as the mini orchard.
As was communicated to all freeholders, the garden gate has not been functioning for the past few days. Contractors have been on site for the past days attempting to fix it. We hope for an update tomorrow morning and will communicate as soon as we do.
We’re happy to confirm that our Bonfire Night celebration will be happening on 7th November, and we’re already looking forward to it.
Sadly, our traditional Summer Party cannot yet be confirmed, as we still don’t have any volunteers to help organise the event, which puts it at risk of being cancelled. We’ve asked in the past and haven’t had any responses so far, so we’re once again putting the call out. If you’d like the Summer Party to go ahead this year and could spare some time to help, please do get in touch via the Contact Us section of our website.
We’d also like to gently remind everyone of our managing agency’s nuisance policy, which has been in place since they took over management of the garden. This helps ensure our space remains enjoyable for all.
From this year onwards, the Board will be operating with a new rotating Chair, whereby the role is held by a different Director every year. This year, Marc Scrimshire will be taking on the role, following Peter Cross stepping down a few months ago. We’d like to thank Peter for all the time and work he put into the role of Chair for so many years - fortunately Peter has offered to stay on the garden committee.
As always, thank you for being part of our garden community, and we look forward to another great year together!
