Well despite all this we have as always dug deep and held strong to our belief in greater and better things and its all starting to pay off and new life and a presentable face is starting to emerge at St John.
In this blog ill set out and show some of the works we have actioned and completed, plus how they where done and before and after pictures.
St John Hill.
Following consecutive court case & appeal win's that all serve to properly validate the Owners Associations legal as well as moral right to manage the St John Hill section of the complex, more and more owners are seeing for them selves, that despite the difficulties the great job, the OA are doing and results we are delivering on, on theirs and you the owners behalf.
Low level walls and steps
Here we would have made much more progress & and completed in full our objective, had not a curtain party decided to be all bitter and twisted and have all the common area electrical meters removed, out right selfishness at best. However as always we find away to over come and for works at the Hill have now invested in our own mobil 240v generator, when we are committed we are committed nothing will stop us getting this place back on its feet.
In the Hill the primary course of stone cladding failure has been an inappropriate & porous sub structure and no application of stone water repellent thus water has been absorbed by the sub-structure expanded and contracted result in whats termed popping of the stone work. In repairing those areas where stone work has dislodged we have first cleaned the areas completely then properly primed and sealed the sub-structure thus offering an appropriate key on which to applie the replacement stone work, the cement used is also frost resistant and flexible to further protect the installation. The resuts i fell your agree and pretty good.
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| typical problems |
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| same for steps |
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| cleaning and peeping and are for work critical for success |
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| two of the team |
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| making ready for primer |
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| the primer and keying agent so important particularly with such a substructure |
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| thats better |
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| as is this |
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| this |
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| and this |
Around the buildings a number of rainwater down pipes had become dislodged and had disconnected them selves from the building fabric. Poor fixings and no securing method between the down pipe sections where the root course of this and where ever this is the case we re-secured and a re-fixed.
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| all present and correct |
As with the lions share of construction problem here and generally in Bulgaria the route course is in a combination of inappropriate and poor material selection compounded by un-skilled/trained and un-managed labour performing said installations.
The roof at the Hill is no different and despite the relatively simple design & construction the same finishing material selection issues exist meaning that after 5 years of neglect and zero maintenance the extreme weather has taken its toll on the roofing felt which given that its basically a shed type felt has not done a badly as it could have. the poor fixing detail had left the weathered felt exposed the hi-winds experienced here and circa 400/500sqm of felt had completely lifted off, taking with it in some areas the copper flashing.
we have completely replaced all damaged areas with a new specially imported roofing felt designed and manufactured to cope with the extreme weather and temperature fluctuations, which as well as being mechanically fixed has a special addisive that ensures secure placement.
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| large areas across most of the blocks had just come loose |
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| Slow degradation of the roofing material means it looses its integrity and finally fails leaving the wind to it blow away |
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| copper flashing also dislodged as part of the general deterioration |
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| thankful the under felt and retained re-usible integrity |
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| just rotten |
All properly repaired now, unfortunately whilst the roof looks great, the bad weather on this day don't show the balcony timber well, but does give a further indication of quiet how bad balconies are, when they blacken like this the wood is dead and serious remedial works are necessary.
Basement:
Water ingress primarily from the major mains water burst was the biggest contributer to the resultant mould growth with in the Hill basement area but as with most building basement areas are poorly insulated agains ground water ingress and the Hill is no different and rectifying this its one of the primary projects to get under way, moving forward.
The Hill basement is quiet a large space and safely removing this amour of rotten plater board and framing was no small task.
Unfortunately again the removal of common area power has significantly delayed the final completion of works here and whilst the complete strip out off contaminated material is finished and removed from site we have still to complete the doored barriers to the spaces, our new generator will enable this to be facilitated ready for the season.
Interestingly the space that we are left with down there is significantly greater than i expected and actually with proper space utilisation could be very functional in the future.
Pathway and Steps repairs:
Essentially the same issues with the low level wall cladding exist with the stone steps and we have employed the same solutions up until common area power was lost. below your also see the extended repairs we have done to the stone pathways etc in and around the reception area.
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| As a direct result of the below ground mains burst the sub soil suffered a subsidence and the main path sank, in the repair works we under pinned as much as was possible but where left with a clear sink line. |
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| we cut back the existing tile line and re-set to fall between the old and new levels |
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| we did this all the way through and did quiet a nice job of it |
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| main reception and spa area steps repaired |
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| Block steps repaired |
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| again |
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| we also significantly tided up this area also |
St John Park
Roof repairs:
At at the Hill poor material selection bad detailing and unskilled installation works are the primary course of all the latent defects evident in the buildings, however in the Park the roof issue is compounded by the magnificent architecture as really the build was not up to delivering on the Architects vision. Repairs to this roof really took some effort and a whole to off input and management as everyone now's its more expensive and difficult to put right a bad job than do it right first time.
The elegant gothic nature of the roof line made access and works complicated at best and at times more than a little hairy.
We used a variety of specialist materials designed to offer the requered interiority but also the latent flexibility to retain that flexibility through significant temperature changes.
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| getting to where we need to be |
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| no wonder it leaked just a small example of the dreadful workmanship we had to deal with |
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| fixing the problem with superior materials and detailing |
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| no thats a proper installation |
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| you have no idea how much we had to put right up there |
This has been the biggest visual success thus far as the amount of cladding that had fallen away from the facade was conciderible and gave a feeling of the complex being derelict well no more we have successfully repaired all the lower level stone cladding areas and what a difference, the problem was for all the usual reasons plus an overt amount of stone cement had been applied to compensate for walls being out of square floor to floor.
What made the process most successful is we managed to secure a very good quality primer and keying product and german manufactured light weight stone cement and with our properly skilled stone mason performing the works the park has a brand new face.
In the spring we tackle the high level areas above the lobby entrance which have until then been made safe with all loss material have been removed.
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| a proper mess all round |
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| the a mount of cement used originally in the application of the stone cladding is mind boggling |
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| the prima and keying gadget we sourced was a real winner and was fundamental in the success of the repair works |
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| work n progress |
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| filling out the large voids left by dislodged section of sub structure |
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| making sure it all stays in place |
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| WIP (work in progress) |
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| not posible to make more of a mess of the original installation |
And now to the finished product, ill not make any individual comments as I feel the pictures speak for them self, transformation! and these are jus a small part of the works
Fire officer:
Further to the installation of the fire extinguishers we have now completed the process of compiling with the statutory requirements for emergence escape signage through out the Park complex blocks A to D.
Signage:
Make the complex ever more functional through out new directional, and level signage indicating apartment to each floor has been designed by my self and placed logically around the complex blocks A to D, it might be a small job but its non the less important in getting a felling of sustainability and order around the place plus a little splash of colour.
Lifts:
But by far the biggest step forward in bring the complex to life and making it function is the lifts project which right now is in the final stages of commissioning, and believe my this was no small task.
Firstly in the Park the lifts had never been run and we had found no evidence that they had even been commissioned, that said I have had considerable experience with lifts during my career (i had been involved in the R&D of the Ottis GEN2 lifts many years ago) both in respect to design and installation and a informed inspection of these hydraulic units told me that what we had at the Park and Hill where a reasonable product with the parts in the main coming from Italy and being assembled here in Bulgaria.
So we set to work with a local lift company in running up one of the lifts to test it and see what we where contending with, and actually i was pleasantly sup prised aside for the fact that contrails wise they are very basic making floor levelling immensely labour intensive and laborious, really given that they had sat here for 5 years they where in remarkable condition with only the obvious things failing like seals, and the oils needing to be completely changed.
Comfitable we could make then run the big issue was that there was not emergence call system installed and to run them in the service of the owners and the complex a solution to this had to be found. No mean feet in a country where such a basic health and safety requirement is really seen, i my self had been trapped in a lift in a sofia office block with out such, only getting rescued when i managed to get a signal on the mobil and connect with my college.
Most companies we spoke with did not wish to get involved, then good old EU legislation came to the rescue making the legal requirement of emergence call systems in lifts compulsory as of 2015 in all lifts, if you wish to operate them and thus the door opened to engineer a solution, i want bore you with the nitty gritty but nearly 18months later we are now able to install and operate said solution.
Given the time energy and money spent to deliver on operational lifts we though it only far that usage should be managed such that only paying OA members are able to benefit from lift operation and so have again engineered the solution in an elegantly simple smart chip that when passed in front the retro fitted in built controller will enable lift operation.
and so for the season 2013 / 2014 we have fully operation Lifts.
