The foul mess at The Woodman

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Deep Sigh
Posts: 10
Joined: 1 Oct 2012 11:54
Location: Sydenham

The foul mess at The Woodman

Post by Deep Sigh »

I gather Wooster & Stock read this forum. I hope they do anyway, because they need to have their attention drawn to rubbish (pun intended) behaviour of their builders.

How long does it take to renovate an office? Aside from the scaffolding and signs being left up on a historic building far longer than can possibly have been necessary, they just seem to be uninterested in completing what they're supposed to be doing. I've seen done in a month what it's taken them a year to do and still not finish. They just stand in the doorway smoking, or are in the cafe down the road all the time. Every so often you'll see one of them listlessly touching up a bit of paintwork or something but honestly they are taking W&S for a ride. One of them spat a fat wad of phlegm right in front of me as he stood in the doorway puffing on his rollup today. Gross, to say the least.

That's not the real problem, though. The real problem is that the Woodman's back yard is now a junkyard. It's piled more than 6 foot high with rubbish, mattresses, all sorts of foul stuff, spilling over the wall and highly visible. Is there any way to stop this happening? There will be rats everywhere if there aren't already, and it's just invitation for other people to flytip. W&S are supposed to be trying to make the Kirkdale area nicer - so what excuse have they got for their builders turning it into a tip?
owlwise
Posts: 230
Joined: 21 May 2012 13:54
Location: Upper Sydenham

Re: The foul mess at The Woodman

Post by owlwise »

It's such a shame that it was taken over by an estate agent...

I wonder if they're going to move out of the shop opposite once the work at the Woodman is finished?
marymck
Posts: 1579
Joined: 9 Feb 2008 16:30
Location: Upper Kirkdale

Re: The foul mess at The Woodman

Post by marymck »

I join you in sighing ...

I honestly just don't think they care at all. Planning permission has been blatantly infringed. Door on Kirkdale replaced with plate glass window. Lovely door on Halifax Street has had the bottom section concreted over. I give it one year before the water that will collect as a result of that "renovation" rots the door and it too gets replaced by a plate glass window.

We were originally told that the current W&S office would be a W&S "antiques" shop. This from the people who covered over perfectly sound antique glass with "antique effect" stick ons.
Deep Sigh
Posts: 10
Joined: 1 Oct 2012 11:54
Location: Sydenham

Re: The foul mess at The Woodman

Post by Deep Sigh »

Well as if by magic, the bulk of the waste in the back yard was cleared the very afternoon after I posted that. I'm sure it was coincidence, but gratifying nonetheless.

Still doesn't detract from the shabbiness of the whole enterprise. How can W&S expect locals to take their "Kirkdale Village" project seriously when their work is so consistently slipshod and slapdash and leaves such an awful bloody mess, hmm?
multisync
Posts: 282
Joined: 5 Sep 2007 06:12
Location: upper sydenham

Re: The foul mess at The Woodman

Post by multisync »

Because money talks, so do estate agents
Deep Sigh
Posts: 10
Joined: 1 Oct 2012 11:54
Location: Sydenham

Re: The foul mess at The Woodman

Post by Deep Sigh »

If it was about money, they'd hire efficient and half decent workers rather than chucking £££££ at a bunch who take forever and make a bloody mess.

This raised a grim smile yesterday: they had a welder working on the brass coatings for the doorsteps there yesterday. Each time I walked past, he was idly tinkering with something, and chain smoking - while surrounded by various pressurised gas containers. It's like the world's shabbiest sitcom over there.
owlwise
Posts: 230
Joined: 21 May 2012 13:54
Location: Upper Sydenham

Re: The foul mess at The Woodman

Post by owlwise »

Direct your complaints to the owner luke@woosterstock.co.uk :evil:
Deep Sigh
Posts: 10
Joined: 1 Oct 2012 11:54
Location: Sydenham

Re: The foul mess at The Woodman

Post by Deep Sigh »

Oh I will.

In the meantime, the youth with the welding torch made such a hash of those steps - leaving jagged shards of metal jutting out and holes in the brass cladding that they had to bring two more welders in to repair his 'work'. Unflortunately these two, who looked and smelled like tramps, and also chain smoked the whole time, seem to have been just as incompetent and spent two (EDIT: now three) days solid redoing the joins over and over, leaving it looking like a war-damaged tank's cladding. Where do W&S find their workers - clown school?

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Last edited by Deep Sigh on 15 Oct 2012 17:50, edited 3 times in total.
ALIB
Posts: 1553
Joined: 12 Oct 2006 21:34
Location: East Sussex

Re: The foul mess at The Woodman

Post by ALIB »

We used to have a motto in our school of engineering.

"buy cheap,....buy twice"

It seems W&S have paid over the odds for a job that is still not completed.

It would seem todays young "Managers" cannot organise a social in a brewery,.... :(
marymck
Posts: 1579
Joined: 9 Feb 2008 16:30
Location: Upper Kirkdale

Re: The foul mess at The Woodman

Post by marymck »

Yet another planning application. DC/12/81559/X
this one is to demolish the old stables and squeeze in a two bed detached house, thus scuppering forever any chance that this locally listed building may ever be restored as the community asset it used to be.

A similar application was rejected both by Lewisham and, on appeal, by the planning inspectorate.

W&S will feel more confident about this one due to Lewisham's failure so far to enforce against W&S's ignoring planning decisions relating to the main building.

Deadline for comments on this one is 16th Nov.

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