GNTOWER UPDATE
june 09
This update has been produced
by a group of leaseholders and
residents who have a positive
commitment to the Great
Northern Tower
making Great Northern Tower safer for all
We all depend on our home being a
secure and safe environment for us, our
family and friends. The boundaries of
that environment - our homes - don’t
stop at the front door s of our
apartments. We are a large community,
with over 250 apartments, and that offers
some challenges in managing the
building and its spaces.
A fundamental principle must be that we
accept that we have a duty to each other
as fellow residents to demand and
implement the highest possible standards
of security. This duty of care also
extends to the concierge, care-taking and
maintenance personnel working in the
building.
Security is a major topic of discussion at
every resident meeting. Effective access
control is a key element in maintaining
the safe and secure environment we all
expect. We want the standard of security
at GNT to be unparalleled when
comparing the development with other
city centre residential buildings. We all
know that the reality has been somewhat
different, with the building being
1
subjected to numerous and consistent
breaches of security. These have
included the extremes of violent attacks
on both concierge personnel and fellow
residents alike, and the persistent
tailgating of legitimate key-holders
through the main entrance.
The view from the top of the building
has proved attractive - people with no
connection with GNT have been
“popping up” for a look - and leaving
cans, bottles and fag ends, which
leaseholders have to pay to clean up.
And that’s apart from the noise, nuisance
and fire risk, and the damage we seem to
be getting to the lifts.
We’ve also, like other city centre blocks,
got a few anti-social owners making a
quick buck through apart-hotel style “by-
the-night” lets. These have been a major
source of noise, damage and security
worries - and are entirely in breach of
the terms of every single GNT lease.
We have discussed the matter with the
police, who agree that action should be
taken and have pledged to support our
efforts to improve the block and its
security. Indeed, with the political
conference season starting again in the
autumn, the police will be taking a very
active interest in the GNT, and will
require to know exactly who is entitled to
enter. We will be working closely with
them over coming months.
We are looking at security on a broad
front. First, we will be reprogramming
fobs for both the front and parking
entrances in July. In parallel, we are
reviewing the possibility and costs of
building an extra security “layer” to the
main entrance area and/or the lifts,
using electronic fob access.
We’re also assessing ways to strengthen
the ability of the concierge team to deal
with unauthorised access, through
making physical changes to the ground
floor layout. If you have any ideas,
please do let us know - as usual, though
Alex at Stevens Scanlan, please.
SEE OVER: security and parking: timetable for
all fobs to be withdrawn and reprogrammed -
what to do and when...
GN TOWER JUNE 09 update

GNT Head
Concierge Mark
will be working
closely with Ivan
Hewitt from
Greater
Manchester Police.

On 14 July Mark
will reprogramme
fobs ONLY with
the go-ahead
from Stevens
Scanlan,
confirming that
they’ve seen the
required
documents and
stating the name
of the person to
whom a
reprogrammed
fob can be
issued. Mark Scholes with Ivan Hewitt

security improvements deed/lease agreement together

update: all fobs to be
withdrawn and
reprogrammed
As a direct result of the ongoing security
concerns, all entrance and parking fobs
will be withdrawn and reprogrammed
in the coming weeks. This is what to do
to make sure you don’t have any access
problems once this takes place:
1. Post or email a copy of your
apartment lease or tenancy
regarding the security improvements individual metering might be
agreement to Stevens Scanlan by
July 1st.
2. For those with a parking space, be
sure to post or email a copy of your
with the plan that shows the location
of your car parking space by July
1st.
3. Hand in ALL entrance and parking
fobs on 14th July for
reprogramming.
4. N o t e t h a t a n y f o b N O T
reprog rammed won’t work
from that date, whether it has
been handed it in or not.
If you have any enquiries or comments
please contact Alex Normand at Stevens
Scanlan in the first instance:
0161 236 3066 or
alex.normand@scanlans.com
resident and
leaseholder meetings
At the last meeting we discussed
maintenance, water metering and
charging, electricity costs, and the
constant topic of concern - security.
It was good to hear that United
Utilities had acknowledged our
requests, and visited the building to
look at the current installations with a
view to advising how and when
achieved. We’ve also had some
common-sense communication from
Scottish Power - thanks for all the help
on both of these.

showing “one night lets”
the red card!
An issue receiving increased media
attention over recent months has been the
hotel style “by-the-night” lets of city centre
apartments - usually accompanied by
headlines about wild partying wrecking the
lives of city centre residents.
As well as being a breach of the terms and
conditions within the lease agreement, the
associated anti-social behaviour is, in fact,
the direct responsibility of the absentee
owner. This practice has been an
unpleasant recurring feature in GN Tower,
with blocks A and B being particularly
badly affected. If you have any problems
whatsoever, or suspect that an adjacent
apartment is being let on a short term/
nightly basis it is imperative that you report
this to Alex Normand at Stevens Scanlan:
0161 236 3066 or
alex.normand@scanlans.com
Once an initial warning has been issued,
any repeat infringement can then be
pursued with legal proceedings by Stevens
Scanlan on residents’ behalf.
We also talked a little about how best
to communicate within the building -
we have the notice board, and this
newsletter - but wondered whether a
web forum would be useful. If there
are any views we’d be keen to hear
them - and if there are any webmasters
out there who could offer to contribute
their expertise - that would be brilliant!
The next meeting date hasn’t been
fixed yet, but contact Alex for details if
you’d like to come along. The venue
will be arranged when we have an idea
of numbers.