Bow River Village Noticeboard

We’re making progress with our long-term solution which we’re confident will avoid a repeat of the hot water and heating issues you’ve experienced historically.

As a reminder, previous investigations found an unexpected issue with the two plant rooms, creating a ‘balancing’ issue. It meant some buildings were ‘starved’ of heat due to too much heat being pumped into other buildings.

As you know, we’re replacing the old control valves with modern valves to prevent this issue reoccurring. These will be more reliable and efficient, particularly when it gets cold.

We’d hoped to complete this work in June. However, the parts we need are specialist parts and have a ten-week manufacture and delivery time.

This means the work will be completed by October at the latest. Importantly, it means it’ll be completed ahead of winter, when demand on the system is highest. We don’t expect any more outages and want to be clear residents won’t be charged for this work.

We’re continuing to work with residents to access all homes and check that HIUs (Heat Interface Units) are working correctly. As multiple faulty HIUs can affect the overall system, reducing the supply of heating and hot water across the building.

A programme of inspections and maintenance visits is in place, with flexible appointments available. Please allow access for these checks.

We’re aware some residents are dissatisfied with Sureserve. We’ve addressed this with them, and while improvements have been made, we’re closely monitoring their performance.

Our approach to compensation for heating and hot water outages is to look at each case individually, as the impact can vary for each resident. If you’d like us to consider compensation, please submit a request to us with details of the outage, including dates and times where possible, as well as any impact this had on you. This helps us review each situation properly and make a fair decision.

To make a request or if you need support to do so, please contact us using the relevant contact details below.

We want to ensure you clearly understand what you’re paying for, why, and what you’re getting in return.

Since our previous update, we’ve continued to make substantial progress across all outstanding financial years.

The 2022/23 year-end accounts have now completed the external audit process and are undergoing quality assurance checks before printing to ensure you receive clear, accurate and transparent statements. We’re currently aiming to issue these by mid-August, although we’re working to complete this sooner wherever possible.

The 2023/24 year-end accounts have also progressed significantly and are now in the final stages of quality assurance checks and reviews before they can be issued.

The 2024/25 year-end accounts have been submitted to our external auditors and are progressing through the audit process, ensuring we continue reducing the historic backlog whilst maintaining appropriate assurance over the accounts.

Once these final reviews have been completed, we’ll provide you with a further update on the timetable for issue by 7 August.

Duplicate heating charges identified within the 2022/23 and 2023/24 accounts have been removed. Where residents are due credits, these will be clearly identified within their year-end statements and applied to their accounts shortly after the statements have been issued. 

We’ve been looking at ways we can improve our communication with you.
We'll send you bi-monthly updates on progress we're making.

In addition, we’re exploring whether the digital noticeboards in the buildings can be restored. And we met the Chair of your Tenants and Residents Association on 25 June.

We know our repairs service has not been up to standard, and you deserve better. That’s why we’ve implemented a transformation programme, alongside increasing capacity across both our internal teams and contractor network.

We’ve also introduced weekly block inspections, enabling us to spot repair issues and resolve them quicker. We’ve successfully addressed over half of the backlog repairs at Bow River Village but know there’s still work to do to complete those still outstanding.

We can confirm the front door at Stern Court has been repaired and secured. The delay was caused by fob readers not being readily available. Although we pushed the manufacturer to speed this up, we’re sorry that this took longer than expected.

We know there have been lift reliability issues at Ashley Court and we’re taking action to address residents’ concerns.

Ashley Court benefits from two passenger lifts. The lifts have been out of action for a combined four days this year. However, our records show that both lifts have only been out of action once at the same time during this period, and one lift was returned to service the same day, when this occurred.

The independent audits of both lifts have now been completed and didn’t highlight any defects. The recommendations identified mainly relate to maintenance and operational improvements, and we'll take action to address these.

We’re also carrying out a comprehensive review of recent maintenance and repair history to assess the effectiveness of previous interventions and contractor performance.

We’ll review these findings and share the action we’re taking with you in our bi-monthly updates and on here.

We’re reviewing car access restrictions with our parking enforcement provider and safety compliance teams. We’re considering extending the permitted access duration in response to residents’ feedback.

However, as vehicle access on the estate is limited to drop-off only due to the restricted space along Bolinder Way, it’s essential that any proposed extension maintains safe conditions and doesn’t block access for emergency vehicles.

We aim to complete this review by 31 July and will share our findings with you.
In response to residents’ request to see more Southern Housing staff on site. We’ll be introducing monthly drop-in sessions, so you can speak to property management and repairs staff about any issues. The next drop in session will be held on Wednesday 29 July from 10am-1pm.

We can confirm there are no squatters currently at Bow River Village and we’ll continue to closely monitor this through site inspections.

We want to make sure your building is safe and we continue to do all we can to comply with Government guidance and regulations.

Four blocks at Bow River Village require remediation works: Stern Court, Fairway Court, Ashley Court and Hargreaves Court.

The timeline expectations are:

• By November 2026 the stage 3 report, considering the basic performance and specification for the materials being used, will be finalised
• Then, the works will be tendered to suitably qualified contractors, with the procurement process anticipated to take two to three months
• The appointed contractor then moves to stage 4, developing detailed designs, and specifications for each building. This stage can take up to six months and could require further targeted surveys and investigations
• Next, the design is submitted to the Building Safety Regulator (BSR) for approval, which can take just over 6 months.

We’ll keep you informed of progress.

If you’re selling or remortgaging your home in the meantime, please contact us. To provide reassurance to residents wishing to sell or remortgage their homes, a Fire Risk Appraisal of External Walls (FRAEW / PAS 9980) has been completed and is available on request. This provides detailed analysis of the external wall construction, identifies relevant materials, and sets out the associated fire risk with an overall risk rating. Lenders have found this information helpful. We’re also able to respond to any specific lender queries. To request an FRAEW/ PAS 9980 or Fire Risk Assessment report, contact us on buildingsafety.delivery@southernhousing.org.uk.

An EWS1 B2 rating means a building has combustible materials in its external wall system, and that remediation works are needed. To ensure safety, a qualified fire engineer reviewed the assessments and confirmed that no temporary mitigation measures are needed.

Staith Court has now been assessed and is with the fire engineer for review. Staith Court is not a higher-risk building – once the review is completed, we’ll communicate with all residents via letter to confirm the findings.

All other blocks don’t require remediation, and we’ve shared this information with those residents.