Working to improve Abbey View and Munden View

• Communal heating – we are replacing the existing communal heating system with a new system which will provide you with a reliable supply of heat and hot water all year round. You can find out all the details about this in a further FAQ. Our low-rise blocks, Coldharbour House, Foxtree House, Maple Court and Peartree Court, will also benefit from the new ground source heat pump.
• Ventilation – we will be replacing the central ventilation system with an individual system in each apartment, so you will have more control over how your home is ventilated.
• Windows and insulation – we are replacing all external windows and installing internal and external insulation. This will upgrade the thermal performance of Abbey View and Munden View, making your home warmer and easier to heat, as well as improving the appearance of the buildings.
• Lighting – the lighting in your home will be upgraded to LED lighting, which is more efficient and lasts longer.
• Fire safety – we are extending the existing sprinkler system to further improve the fire safety of Abbey View and Munden View.
• Roofing – we are carrying out waterproofing works to prevent leaks and insulating the roof to make homes more energy-efficient.

Following preliminary works carried out in August, Kensa Contracting have now been formally appointed as our contractor to install the new ground source heat pumps, which will provide reliable heating and hot water for residents. You can find out more about this in the next FAQ.

From 23 September 2024, Kensa will begin drilling boreholes in the ground of the car parks for the low-rise blocks. We will keep you updated with progress and we will let you know when works will start near Abbey View and Munden View. While the works are ongoing, we will need to block off some areas of the car park and you may need to move your car for a short period of time - thank you in advance for your help with this.

Please be assured that all the car parks will be returned to use once the works are completed – you will not lose any parking spaces. The drilling works will be completed on one small area at a time so that as many car parking spaces are kept available as possible during the works.

We will also start putting up scaffolding on Abbey View and Munden View in the coming months. The scaffolding will take about three months to go up, and both blocks will be done simultaneously. Scaffolding is necessary for the works to upgrade roofing, windows and insulation. We are aiming to carry out most of this work between February and September 2025.

We will be engaging with the building safety regulator and Herts Fire and Rescue Service throughout the whole programme to ensure that the buildings remain safe while we do the works.

We are replacing the existing communal heating system with a new system which will provide residents with a reliable supply of heat and hot water all year round.

It will be a ground source heat pump system, which will extract renewable energy from the ground via boreholes that can last for 100 years. Because it will use renewable energy, it will significantly reduce the carbon footprint of their homes.

In addition to upgrading the radiators, we will install a quiet but powerful heat pump in the home, along with controls – it will be small enough to fit in an airing cupboard or kitchen cabinet. This means residents will be able to control their own heating and will only have to pay for what they use.

Once the installation works have finished, there will only be minimal maintenance required, thanks to the safe, non-combustion technology of ground source heat pumps.

Here is a video explaining how the ground source heat pumps work, and how they have benefited residents in similar high-rise buildings in Essex.

Works began in late summer 2024. We anticipate that the whole package of works will take until autumn 2025 to complete. We will keep residents updated throughout the works including any changes to timescales. 

We don't have confirmed timescales for the individual work packages yet as there is a lot planned, but we will continue to update residents on progress and expected timescales for different elements throughout the works. 

• Design - Constructive Thinking, ECO Surv, NECO Service Design and WarmFront
• CCTV - Focus Group
• Ground source heat pump installation - Kensa Contracting, part of The Kensa Group 

This list will be updated as we confirm the appointed contractors. 

We are pleased to have secured government funding to help finance these works. This government funding has come from the Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund as well as other funding schemes.

If you rent your home, there will be no additional cost to you. If you are a leaseholder, we will contact you to advise you of any costs in advance. 

We appreciate that these works will cause some unavoidable disruption to residents, because of the scale of the work being carried out. However, we will do all we can to keep noise and disruption to a minimum.

We will be putting up acoustic barriers, a temporary sound-proofing material, around the site and on the scaffolding to alleviate noise disturbance.

We will be placing our site compound – a hub that includes a temporary office, toilets and equipment storage areas – on the Hertfordshire County Council land to the rear of the blocks.

We will need to remove a few trees from the car park to create an access point to the compound. Please be assured that we have chosen the location of this access point carefully to ensure that we remove as few trees as possible, and we will be planting new trees once the works have been completed.

All our contractors will be asked to park considerately – if you have any concerns, please contact us.

As there will be an increased amount of contractors working at the bottom of the buildings, please be mindful of leaving loose objects on the edge of your balcony.

Building sites can be dangerous places for children and people who have not got the appropriate protective clothing and training. We make every effort to secure spaces and ensure that there are warnings in areas where children shouldn't play. Please make sure that you supervise children in your care when near the site. 

We will send residents of Abbey View and Munden View, and the low-rise blocks, a regular newsletter with all the latest updates on the improvement works. It will let them know more about what the works involve and how they are progressing. We will also be holding drop-in sessions to discuss the works, and any queries residents have, and will post updates to the information screens in the entrance area of each block.

Kensa has appointed a dedicated Resident Liaison Officer, Rachel Rose. Rachel started on 16 September and is based on site at Abbey View and Munden View, so she is available to answer your questions during working hours. You can contact her using the details in the FAQ below.

Please also keep an eye on this page - we will keep it updated with all the latest information throughout the programme of works. 

Throughout February 2024, our contractor Focus Group installed 94 360-degree CCTV cameras on each floor of Abbey View and Munden View in order to make the blocks safer and more secure. 

They are covering the bin chutes, the fire doors leading to the central lift corridor, the lifts, and the car park barriers. The footage will only be looked at when an incident has been reported, such as anti-social behaviour, fly-tipping, shopping trolley dumping, and to ensure proper use of the bin chutes. We will then work with Watford Borough Council to fine or prosecute the perpetrators who are fly-tipping, as per our Estates Services Policy.  

Warren Bennett, Head of Asset and Sustainability, is happy to discuss any questions or concerns you may have. You can contact him directly by emailing warren.bennett@wcht.org.uk or you can contact our Customer Services team to arrange an appointment. 

You can also contact your Housing Officer, Shalim Hoque, at shalim.hoque@wcht.org.uk with any general queries or concerns about your block. 

To contact the Resident Liaison Officer, Rachel, please email rachel.rose@kensaengineering.com.

Emergency lighting is in place to ensure access ways are lit in the event of a loss of power in your building. The lights are tested monthly and are serviced annually.

A dry riser helps the fire service to get water up to your floor quickly in an emergency. Dry risers are checked and maintained every six months.

Your flat contains a sprinkler system which will be tested monthly. No access is needed for this test. It will also have an overall service annually. The system will activate in two stages. When a temperature of 57°C is detected the cover plate will remove itself and, if the temperature increases further to 65°C, the system will activate. 

This is the red box stored on the ground floor of your building and contains information to assist Herts Fire and Rescue Service should they need to attend in an emergency.

Fire doors are in place at the entrance to your property and in communal areas throughout the building. Each door provides 30 minutes of protection against fire and smoke whilst closed. The doors have an automatic closer installed which should not be tampered with.

Your building has been designed so that each flat is its own fire resistant 'compartment', which delays the spread of fire throughout the building. Compartmentation in communal areas is inspected annually.

Vents are located in the stairwell of each block and help to clear smoke in the event of an emergency.