Welcoming in the New Year Crown Style

Since 2005 we have been here in Bansko for the Winter Season but Never has it been so, so busy crazy busy and the City is in an amazing buzz, huge numbers and people of all nationality i have meet and talked with South Africans, Australians, Chinese Japanese really no joke along with the usual Macedonians, Serbians, Romanians, Russians here in there droves plus half of Greece or thats how it feels, the Rich and Fashionable of Bulgaria, from Sofia, Varna and Plovdiv in massive numbers more S class Merc's Range Rovers and Cayenne's than ever and off course the good old English contingent.

All in all a great start to the 2012/2013 season, obviously there are the usual queues at the Gondola but worst i am sorry to say much worst. Our Ski hire partners actually run out of equipment and their quota of lift passes for the week.

But never fear Crown is here, and for our IPM Clients we arranged a mini bus and other transportation up the mountain and passes via an inside friend ;) and great skiing has been had by all, up top weather is stunning and ski conditions fab.

However the numbers and Gondola queues have as if by design, added huge weigh to the credibility off the recent local protests that closed roads to the town and local business petitions (of which we where part off) to the government for permit's to start the next Gondola so pressure mounts all round and we believe these are the political shows that will see soon the start of construction.

More new and exciting business are opening including a great specialist wine's spirits and Cigar shop with just a stunning and exclusive selection of beverages and for all Crown IPM clients there is a 10% discount.

Really a great selection 

Wines, Whiskey, Cognac's Port Champaign and cigars if there your thing

A new Italian designer shop owned by a Milan design house, (Yana went mad, forth coming birthday present already chosen) a fab French owned and run, French Sandwich Shop Le Retro (http://www.le-retro-bansko.com) serving sandwiches and quiche's to die for really, a pre order and delivery can be arranged and delivered to the Park reception either direct or via reception. 

Thus far the new restaurants and hang-outs have proved to be great and constant in their food quality and service and our favourite remains Euphoria, great atmosphere good food lovely service. The mehana's remain as always a lovely tourist adventure with the potential for great food but a possible down on service and sometime price so please be carful.

For New Year we have a lovely number of owners in both Hill and Park and have arranged for everyone a great Crown New Year bash at Euphoria with transport to and from the complex, should be a great night watch out for the pictures on the blog.

So all that remains it to do is thank everyone for working with us during this last year and we hope the coming New Year brings everyone Good fortune, health, Love and wealth and that together we can continue to take the complex forward along its road to a more solid and sustainable future where everyone can enjoy and benefit form the potential it has to offer.

HAPPY NEW YEAR ONE & ALL

Winter & the 2012/13 Ski Season Well & Truly Here

Looking Fab Bansko's Town Centre, Winter Wonder land 

Its been snowing hard for 3 days now and the slops are open, and by end of the week even the run down to the town will be fully operational a great start to the season and the Town is a buzz, as reported in our last post lots of new clubs bars and restaurants and even the existing ones have upped their game with major improvements our current fav place to be is Euphoria, food greatly improved on from last year, great friendly staff and a cool atmosphere, lets see how they hold it together through the season.

Chateau Antique open and looking great, the Friendly bar now Penguins (the name doesn't do the interior justice) not sampled the delights of either yet but will and will let you know our thoughts. But considerable time and money has been invested and serious people are at the helm of each endeavour.

Château Antique

Penguins

Also improved finally is the road leading up to our region YES its been properly made and tarmaced finally, no more 2 mile an hour through it in the Crown Smart, and yes the corner hotel (no release as to whats its to be called yet) is nearly complete and they have done a great job a million times better than that concrete eye-saw that been there for so long.

Roads done and what an improvement 

Opening soon.

At the St John Complex we have been seriously busy also, at the Hill the mains water pipe has been properly repaired and path way re-enstated, still some small finishing works to do but the weather beat us, and we will pick up these in the spring, UBB came to the party and properly contributed their share of the funds necessary to complete the works.

To match the stone work we had to source from the Strandza mountains in the far south of Bulgaria near the Turkish boarder 

In the Park the big project has been the roof repairs, major works there and when we set to it what a mess, but with the right people proper materials and me being on the roof far to many time for my liking , not the easiest roof to get a round on, it looks beautiful and dramatic form the ground and believe me its pretty dramatic up there also. With the weather closing in rapidly and temperatures dropping fast it was a bit of a race against time and conditions but we got all OA areas properly secure along with Block entrance lobby roofs and now they have the required integrity, i believe we did a proper belt and braces job and even worked in Vaka Flex as a finishing element to pick up the excess movement potential between the existing materials and new, its a wonderfully resilient roofing material suitable for the extreme temperature differentials the Bansko region endures.  

a remade valley

Remade double pitch valley

Some of what we had to deal with

Just got the lobby roofs done and complete before the first snow came.

One of the more difficult areas of repair the construction joint between blocks

Moving forward we are testing emergency lighting to all common areas Friday, pre season common area glazing cleaning well under way, IPM winter watch in place, test running lifts for winter operation small issue with hydraulic oil temperature, on first morning operation floor levels are out of sink working with supplier for solution this will be a temperature control system in the motor rooms and adjustment controls setting, other wise very happy with the lift and when emergence call system put in place confident full operation can be had across the complex.

Working on a number of cost effective and efficient heating and hot water solutions for apartment please contact for information, as well thermal efficiency ideas for apartments. Heating solutions will consist of 20, 25 and 50% consumption saving options for hot water 40% saving potential.

Our G4 internet and TV solution is just about to get better with a smart TV conversion solution for all HDMI ready TVs, so no need up grade the TV to get all the benefits of G4 technology, watch this space.

Other Big news for the resort and region the NEW Airport starts construction summer 2013 YES you heard it right Pirin Airport the former military airport near the village of Musomishte in the municipality of Gotze Delchev start summer 2013 see web site http://www.hwreit.eu/en/contents/pirin-airport for more detail.

Also big changes around the access to the gondola which will now be, for foot and vehicle access via the Glazne river bridge entrance at BRT, and sets the precedence for what we are told will be the new and exciting location for the next Gondola which if true will set the stage for the next evolution of the resort, including additional ski runs etc, when we here your hear it next.

The new mayor and his team have started to put in place proper resort management  structures and this has included the introduction of proper blue zone parking areas in place through out most of the town and active from 7am to 10pm at 1.2 leva an hour not bad value and perhaps finally we can move around the town properly with out having to worry for crazy parking antics of our European friends, we as always remain excited for the future and believe the resort is starting to make it way towards being a real and serious contended amongst other more well know and well established resorts, and we believe and are working towards taking the St John Village complex along that road also.

100 Years

Its my first blog for some time i know, and its not because i haven't wanted to, nor that i have nothing to say (i always have something to say, ask the wife) but since the success of the AGM in August and all that was achieved during at that time and since, and believe me despite what you may or may not have been told or may or may not believe, your Owners Association all the owners involved and the committee have by Bulgarian and actually any standard, particularly given all the many complications that exist at the Village, have done remarkably well, and for this period we have chosen, “as felt it was right” to step back a little and let the wheels turn and the OA establish its mark and rightful position at the Hill and Park. During this time we to have been extremely busy preparing our strategy for the coming season plus planning and prepping the essential repair works program necessary to get the complex to the next stage, that has meant designing and establishing repair solutions and selecting appropriate materials required to properly expedite the works. Which as you can imagine is not a straight forward task given the extent of the issues, the poor original material selection and the even worst application of said materials this combined with the limited funds available has meant that following on from our LCR (location condition report) a carefully planned remedial works strategy has had to be put together between ours selves and the OA, that best improves the integrity of the buildings and serves the needs of the owners, and this month we are happy to advise that we have commenced the process of rolling out this program of remedial works activities. 

To be honest i am not the best self publicist, and as a rule preferring to DO rather than TALK.

Whilst i love the written word, as a dxlexic it frustratingly, does not come easy for me and for me to get things from my mind to the page, it has to in the first instance just feel right. This is why i choose now and why i choose to title this blog 100 years, as this week past saw Bulgaria and Bansko celebrate 100 years since the end of 500 years of Ottoman / Turkish rule / slavery, yes 500 years you read right and when you also remember that during this last 100 years 44 of them, from 1946 to 1989/90 where spent in communism that means as a nation, out of the last 600 years only 56 years where enjoyed as a free people! and only 23 years have passed since the end of communist oppression. Think about that! 

My Dad always told me (and he traveled a lot, he was a merchant sea man) when in Rome do as the Romans do, i also have been lucky enough to have traveled well and worked abroad extensively and have taken my Dad words and advise further and believe that to enjoy a country, any country best and to get the most from it you must understand and respect its people, not just turn up and expect a mini England, get immersed enjoy it for what it is, this doesn't mean forgive the waitress / waiter for being either rude or generally miserable nor trying to rip you off, or the developer that took you money and run, no amount of oppressive and dreadful history forgives this, but more understand and more knowledge about the place in which you have invested and like to visit cannot be a bad thing, to this end i have put a number of links below which you might like to read, like us English its a nations History that shapes us and makes us who we are.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bulgaria

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bulgarian–Ottoman_Wars

http://www.mongabay.com/reference/country_studies/bulgaria/HISTORY.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ottoman_period_in_the_history_of_Bulgaria

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/People's_Republic_of_Bulgaria

http://www.victimsofcommunism.bg

To celebrate this 100 year the Bansko municipality has erected a very appropriate and quiet elegant memorial, with a lovely sculpture that depicts a contemporary image of the mountain flower Edelweiss

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leontopodium_alpinum a wonderfully interesting flower that is quite prevalent and very well protected here. Chantal with her school attended the unavailing which was presided over buy the Bulgaria parliamentary speaker.

Complex General repair works activities moving forward:

With the massive swing in temperatures we have experienced in Bansko last season 2011/12 withtemperature down to -35deg and this year summer up to + 40deg then again as the autumn has drown in during the day temperature reaching over 20deg but at night in the minus the Buildings and there materials as the Park and Hill and right across the region have suffered massive movement in expansion and contraction stretching to the limit even the best and most well built developments to the limit with most suffering fabric break down in some shape or form. Here at the Village most of the problems have occurred with the tiling systems both internal and externally floor and cladding the roof also have suffered significantly. The problem is that its never practical nor cost effective to replace everything and start again thus we have been working with our partners and friends at Baumit (baumit.com) the number one german building material supply specialist to select the absolute best materials necessary to fix each issue we have before us, this means one solution for in side, one for external, one for floor one for wall one for roof etc, etc 

Our first target was the Hill Main Steps which have become a right mess and more than a little dangerous, this presented a great test for the products we have selected and if you see the images below we feel looking good, we even re-done the timber hand rails and re secured them. 

A vast improvement and a good place to start in ernest the
remedial works program.

We are now moving internally and from next week will be working through each block intern at both the Hill and Park, repairing all common area floor tiling. In our survey of the works we found movement in some instance in excess of 15mm huge in construction terms.

Reinstatement of the mains water pathway area. 

Further to our repair of the Hill 4 inch mains water pipe outside reception we are this week coming  starting the ground works and reinstatement project, again carful and considered planning was required as in the process of uncovering the damaged pipe serious flaws in the construction of the reception steps where uncovered and under pinning of these was considered necessary as part of the ground works, proper support of the main pipe will be engineered in and allowance for suitable expansion made, further the area of reinstatement we be future proofed as correct footing will be put in place such that this section will suffer no further subsidence. Also to be built in to the project will be  correct drain away provision and detailing in order to minims potential for further water ingress to basement areas.

Progress and update images during the project will be posted.

The next major project to get under way and will also start during next week will be the roof repair at the Park serious project here also, with the majority of the issues arising out off the typically poor initial, material selections and bad installation practices and detailing. 

By working in new BS type construction detailing and installation methods we will by the end of the project regain the necessary roof integrity currently missing from the complex.

Just love this time of year the sky and mountains provide assume sights.

One beautiful early morning sky from the balcony 

Along side all this and as most of our IPM clients are already aware our pre winter season checks and reports are going out making sure that not only is the complex in as good a shape as we can get it but also the apartments with in it.

Very pleased with the Hill sign, i surprise my self some times

You know when you have got something right when people use it, particular when its the locals 

Up dated Park sign

Our new and Exciting IPM packages will also be released very soon with full details of our Internet and Smart TV packages bring G4 streaming internet and TV direct and wireless to your apartments. Plus many, many more great initiatives exclusive to Crown IPM clients.

Crown Interiors has also been very busy and over the next few week we will be reviling some of the wonderful project we have completed and are currently working on.

Bansko what's going on: 

Having just finished what was the best summer season ever in Bansko certainly in my 7 years here (summer here being my favorite period, so much to do and see) Ulen excelled with their summer program and extra facilities plus making the gondola fully open all summer. And yes THE BUZZ is back in Bansko and the town is a wash with new investment and new investors, Both home grown and international with at least 10 project that that we know of that have sat dead for years springing into action and not insignificant project either at the start of the hill coming to the St John Village, a Bulgarian invest from Varna is completing this project and a good job there doing of  it, our friend in the Russian Villas opposite us have re-kick of there development planning to complete their spa and conferencing facility for march next year, and many many more in and around the town. 

A vast improvement, i feel we will be one of the first regions to complete construction in Bansko

New restaurants that are promising an additional diversity to the Bansko night life will be ready for this season (more details soon) a new improved super market at the beginning of the town, that is selling a vastly improved range of products. the golf course is just a different place now and alive the new hotel with is great restaurants and wonderful boutique spa, which my girls all 3 of them said was like chilling in Paul Getty’s personal spa, bless them. 

A very interesting new build restaurant, the interior also interesting done in the style of an old church

The narrow gauge railway has a new investor a swiss/uk group looking to make a proper tourist attraction out of this amazing and unique line, the second highest in Europe and one of very few operating narrow gauge lines in the world.

  

New improved Super market at the beginning of the Town and a good improvement at that

Additional shop units added

Why you ask and why now, well its like this Bansko is a beautiful place Mother Nature saw to that and that has, and will never change, but the word on the street and thats local street, is those with the money always know when to spend or can pay for the information necessary to know when to spend thats the same world wide and right now the word is something big will be announced very soon if not per season certainly in the new year and that something is very important to the future success of Bansko and the region, you must remember that some very important and very powerful people have invested heavily here and see this resort as there legacy, and what we do know is that a collective of these very powerful and influential people have placed a petition on the desk of the prime-minister pushing heavily to sign off on the new Gondola, now its never over until the fat lady sing as they say, but with one major investor sinking in the region of 600 million into the town over the last 18 months you have to think it might just happen!      

Who wouldn't  like it here

Thats it for now, thank you for choosing Crown and thank you for letting us serve you.

What's possible at the St John Village

You all know and hopefully love already Crown FM, and you might know a little about our Interiors division, over the next week or so your get a look at exactly what we have been up to at the Village with our Interiors and furnishing, you will have seen a couple of apartments (via face book) but your going to get a load more of where we see the future, and yes its the same vision as you all brought into when you first invested at the Village be it Hill or Park.

LUXURY & Life Style

Accept now you have a company that can deliver for you Crown.

Before:

Great potential uterly undelivered on

AFTER: Until now

Not a 100% finished yet, but we are loving it, however a 100% of what you see, is Designed, Manufactured and Installed in House @ Crown Interiors, YOU WANT ONE DONT YOU

Millionaire row, the first proper luxury resort and the most sort after place to be in Bansko / Bulgaria thats our Vision.

Good for us great for you

Watch this space 

No water at the Hill

As advised currently there is no water service at the Hill we have been pushing the water board for action, and we are advised Monday 23rd July they will be on site to dig up an area out side the complex biuldings around S block, to check / search for what is believed to be a broken pipe.

Obviously we are pushing as hard as possible but relationships with the water board have been seriously undermined buy the unnecessary shenanigans and unwarranted behaviour of ill meaning and selfishly driven parties that it appears would see the complex in ashes in the pursuit their own ends.

Crown however in-spite of no water service have had there cleaning team working from water bottels all weekend to ensure that as soon as normal service is resumeed we are a head of the game in getting things properly prepared and ready for owners and guests during August.

This is called Commitment not to be confused with being committed.

Everything and anything in order to get the job done

  

Balcony Refurbishments

For some time now there has been a lot of pressure to haphazardly repair weather beaten and ill maintained balconies at the Hill and Park, however unlike a number off other parties Crown have held back on a rush repair that might impair the long term good of the complex, potentially ending up with a patchwork quilt effect on the out side of the complex, no good for any one. In steed we have been working with branded suppliers and specialist to find a proper and considered solution thats right for the repairs we need now, making balcony safe and secure, protects them for the future summer and winter and when the time comes enables a complex wide coordinated finish worthy of both the original intent and the complex as a whole.

To this end we have started a program of works mostly with owners who at best have been hood winked by others and parted from good money to either receive nothing or a part of and an incorrect job.

We at Crown dont do this, we despite the balls up left by other have rescued a number of balcony and have both properly repaired them and set them in place for the future, this means removing from site proper factory repairing filling and replacement of area's not suitable for restoration, correctly primering and impregnated with both weather protection and UV protection, then securely re-enstating.

THE RIGHT JOB

See the difference 

A proper job, weather board looking great
and will not bow in the future

You can't see the join between old and new

As it should be

Correct filler selection is essential in order the
wood doesn't reject it, we have imported a
Finnish  product, custom made for extreme enviroments 

For all Crown FM / IPM customers/clients we have derived a liner meter rate for this services and its related works, individual prices per apartment available for everyone upon request.


WHAT NOT TO ACCEPT
How another party left a balcony refurbishment job.

Cowboy Job at best (being polite) and a right mess, courtesy of you know who! that now needs to be sorted out properly.

 

St John Village / Locus Amoenus

From the latin for a pleasant place it is a term which generally refers to an idealized place of safety or comfort. A locus Amoenus is usually a beautiful, shady lawn or open woodland, sometimes with connotations of Eden. A locus Amoenus will have three basic elements: trees, grass, and water. Often, the garden will be in a remote place and function as a landscape of the mind. It can also be used to highlight the differences between urban and rural life or be a place of refuge from the processes of time and mortality.


When i first started to visualised the garden project for the St John Village and when i considered my vision for where ultimately i wanted to take it and what i wished it to become, i drew on what i felt about the area and location in which the complex sat, asking my self what was it that drew me here and why does it have such a emotional hold on me; as with all things untangible and difficult to define, the latin language manages to define both perfectly and poetically, and thus we endeavour to create our own Locus Amoenus and a project was born.  

Good garden centres are few and far between here still, and i wanted
something different i wanted to plant indigenously and with a twist an
Asian twist, given that this is the cross roads between east to west, friend
told us of this place right of the beaten track and boy was it of the beaten
track but what a place run by a mad man but what plants, here's Chantal
posing as a gardener. I love Acer's and they had a species i never see
before a flamingo acer and i got 2  

It is said that to be happy for an hour get drunk, to be happy for a year get married, to be happy for a life time make a garden, boy am i one happy bunny i have a 19000sqm garden to make.










As you all know already Yana, Chantal and me now live on the complex and our apartment project will be subject to a separate blog, obviously part of our obligations as the FM prover is to tend to and care for the gardens however we wanted to develop it, and it will probably come as no surprise to those that know me that gardens and plants are one of my many passions, and to kick things of and start our vision for the future Yana and I decided to invest our own money and time in to kicking of this vision, why i here you ask when so much more needs to be dealt with, i tell you why, this place was dead in the water and looked like a collection of derelict building with no soul, no feeling no nothing, so our phylosiphy is that with some love and attention a little well conceived and planed planting and the beginnings of a proper management/maintenance process for the garden and thus the complex will come to life and so it is and now it feels alive and some where you would want to go/be, so much so that many locals and other development owners come bye and visited to have coffee and chat and say what a great job we are doing (yes i will blow our own trumpet) even the local police have reception down as a drop of and chat destination (and not just because of Yana's legs :)) even the developments around us have started to lift their game and have ask us for advise and praised us on how things have dramatically improve. The Bank Security have asked if they can work for us, workers at other complex ask if there are jobs available etc etc, St John Village is starting to be back on the map and because we are putting it there.

I love a hanging basket dont you

If we are to have any hope of attracting future investors people to let and holiday here it has to have kerb appeal and people have got to want to come here and something a simple as a great garden does this if only to start people realising that its not a white elegant any more or at least starts the ball rolling, yes probably there are great more pressing issues on paper but we are looking beyond this and using what resources and skill we have to start to make this place what it can be.
   
The design intent with the two parts of St John Village whilst connected are conceiver to reflect not only the feeling of the area but also the Architecture and in this they have as they do architecturally there own personality. With the Park it is essentially a blank piece of paper the Hill however is more about developing and enhancing its existing presence and personality.


Architecturally there is more drama inn the Park with its stunning roof line and so i was able to visualise a more diverse planting and integrate more unusual planting and a related scheme, here i will be as the project develops integrating a lot of my own personal items, brought over for my UK garden, which aside form my other 2 girls in England was one of the hardest thing to leave, i had had the opportunity to work with Dermot Gavin on it and it had been fettered in own of his books as well as a TV show, these have been housed at Yana's Nan's since we can to Bulgaria so its exiting for me to final have a place to put them.

The Hill has a more classic architectural stance and also an establish planting infastructure that like the Park (all be it not as bad) had just been totally neglected and dreadfully maintained. As with the Park (which it must be remembered has had the benefit of the end of last years summer and a 4 month head start on the Hill under our care) the Hill need a well considered and strategic plan to get it back under control and starting to look like the Locus Amoenus it could be. The dreadful weather we have had these past months the wettest in living memory (great for the new planting at the park) no good for starting a planed mantenance regime for the Hill, however at every given break in the weather we did our thing and it started to pay off this week.

Not looking bad ah

Still loads to do but getting there

The Hill brick patios have been a major issue as has been the path ways, weeds have been allowed to establish them selves, and the only way to deal with these is weed killer and dam good weed killer, obviously the rain has severely delayed the application of this and we need the weeds body in place to have max effect on the dam things, so we had our window a week or so ago what a difference.

Many more areas to cover but proper and planned management of the process always delivers results and results that last.  

For additional planting at the Hill we are taking a very organic approach and seeding with indigenous mountain foliage and wild plants in those areas not designate for leisure i.e: severely banked areas close to the Pirin Park border, such that we blur the border between urban and wild life. 

We all know the Park signage and i am really pleased with the plant we have put in place to complement it, which as it establish its self with further serve to blend the organic nature of the sign in with the nature, in from the sign we have transplanted from the forest wild foliage and herbs these can all be harvested to make Chi (Bulgarian for tea, very cool, and available at reception on request. 


The Hill signage has been a little more challenging for me, as i wanted a similar feel as the Park but the architecture of the Hill is less cohesive with such and i needed something a little more grounded, and during my walks in the mountains with Ronin (my Husky) i found it the perfect rock.

I know its difficult from the picture but the natural line of the rock almost mirrors that of the building roof line, we will add some timber uprights as with the park and the signage will link with the build, will look fab.

It must be said that in the moment at the Hill payments are very, very slow at best and this makes it difficult for us to do our job and also for us to invest as we would like to and as you can see we have, please all owners that have not payed PLEASE PAY its in everyones interest and to everyones benefit, and those that know owners that have not joined the OA and are not part of the FM initiative, get on their case, as not only are they harming their future there are harming yours and the complexes future. 

Friends with machines help; see in the images, a brief visual snap shot of the Hill stone's journey from the mountains to its proper place in life.


There is as you can imagine a long long way to go and as things unfold and the project develops at the Village (Hill and Park) we will post for everyone to see. But finally we really will have our own Locus Amoenus 

Acer's along side indigenous Plum trees and some strategic solid architectural elements 

In the Park we are able to give each entrance its own character  and as and when cash flow allows hang baskets will be place across the complex Hill and Park, just adds that little something and a welcome splash of colour.

my Flamingo Acer's happily taking hold after much care and attention, and actually the biggest problem we have had is the unusual amoute of wind which Acer dont like as burns their leaves, however we are through the first 4 weeks and all plants are liking there new home and all showing growth and new shots, i do talk to them a lot, as like the dog they listen, alway agree with me and never answer back.