User:Simon pengelly/Arlington House, Margate

Arlington House, Margate is an eighteen storey residential apartment block with shop units under and around it (at ground level). Mildly interestingly, this solves the confusion caused by different floor-numbering conventions: in some conventions, the ground floor is numbered "1" against the UK convention that "1" refers to the floor above the ground floor. The Southern part of the plot of land currently has a two-storey car park built on it that has recently been brought back into operation by 'Dreamland' after decades of being kept empty by the head leaseholder. It has a ramp from the upper deck giving access to the dedicated residents' car park.

As recorded on marble tiles on the walls of the main entrance to the building, Arlington House was designed by Architects Russell Diplock Associates and constructed by Bernard Sunley & Sons. The inscription states that the owners are Bernard Sunley Investment Trust - the legal registered lease, however, quotes Bernard Sunley Investments (Margate) limited.

The site on which it was built in 1963 is land that, until the early 19th century was a salt marsh. A sea wall was built in 1809, causing the land to be reclaimed. A Southern Railway Company terminal railway station was built in 1846 which operated until 1926 in conjunction with a second terminus to the West (neither to be confused with the railway station built to the immediate East which never received approval by parliament).

The freehold of the land is currently held by Thanet District Council by virtue of a Conveyance dated 25 August 1927 made between The Southern Railway Company (Company) and The Mayor Aldermen and Burgesses of the Borough of Margate (Purchasers). It is leased at an annual rent of £7,500 for 199 years from 1961, by means of a lease dated 19th May 1965 by The Mayor Aldermen and Burgesses of The Borough of Margate to Bernard Sunley Investments (Margate) limited (and successors in title). Land Registry Title number K248788 and others refer.

A Transfer of the lease dated 31st March 1969 effectively transferred control of the property to Metropolitan Property Realizations Limited, a company in the Freshwater Group. Metropolitan Property Realizations Limited has Benzion Freshwater as a director, a very wealthy landowner.

The apartments were initially available to rent with car parking spaces provided.

From the summer of 1976, individual apartments were leased for a period of 114 years from 1st October 1961. Apartments re-sold still have this 2075 end-date to the lease.

A notice in THE LONDON GAZETTE, dated lst August 1977, states that on Friday 2nd September 1977 at 10.15 o'clock in the forenoon there will be a General Meeting of Bernard Sunley Investments (Margate) ltd for the purpose of having an account laid before the Members showing the manner in which the winding-up has been conducted and the property of the Company disposed of, and also of determining by Extraordinary Resolution the manner in which the books, accounts and documents of the Company and of the Liquidator shall be disposed of.

The building fronts onto All Saints Avenue and lies along an approximately North-North-West to South-South-East line. Most of the apartments (excepting some of the lower-floored) have views over both sea and country. Higher-levels having further-reaching views. The West side gets the afternoon sun and sunsets; the East has sunrises and views (where not blocked) over the Main Sands beach, harbour and the Margate Roads. The Northern (G and H) flats have a window in the end wall giving views directly to the beach and sea.

Each apartment above the first floor is built with a two-sided angled window, giving access to the sea views without having to lean out. The windows are narrow-framed sliding aluminium windows that (except for one fixed panel) have a 50% opening without obstructing the internal space. The windows will slide past each other, allowing cleaning from inside with a little care, effort and planning. A narrow glass panel protects the interior from direct draughts and rain if the window is open only a few inches.

There is a central corridor between the West and East apartments on each floor except the first; this having an external pathway past the apartment doors (these apartments have no bay and extend from one side of the building to the other). At each end of the building is a stairwell, the Southern stairwell is separated into two sections: one from the ground floor, via a mezzanine to the first and from the second to the eighteenth. The Northern stairway ends at a fire door the first floor,externally. There is a pair of lifts in the South-East corner, serving all floors (when they work). The apartments are referenced by the floor number and a letter from A to H: West side apartments above the first floor are A, C, E, G (South to North); those to the East are B, D, F, H (again, South to North); first floor apartments are sequential A to F (South to North). The first floor was originally planned to be an upper floor for the commercial units below but was built as flats instead. Flats range from one to three bedrooms but all those above the first floor have similar floor areas (A, B, D, F, G and H being very slightly reduced because of risers and stair well intrusion. The first floor flats are bigger and run from one side of the building to the other, so are the only flats to get both sunrise and sunset and both morning and afternoon sun.

Following a fatal fire on the 16th floor in 2001, the gas supply within the block was removed. Electricity (and solar gain) now being the only form of heating (pedantically, body-heat and other forms must contribute!). It is rumoured that some residents use gas cylinders.

A number of aerials have been installed on the roof, serving mobile phones and network carriers. There were no domestic broadcast receiving aerials communally serving the apartments until 2011, when a satellite aerial pointed at the Astra location (Sky) was installed. Originally, television was available via the Rediffusion cabled system. The satellite distribution system runs down a riser opposite the 'c' flats, each floor installation comprising a pass-through tap and two eight-outlet boxes. This enables a typical two cable feed for each of the eight flats on the floor. If more feeds are needed, a further multi-way outlet box could be installed. On installation, feeds to flats were only installed on subscription to Sky but can now be cabled by a local installer.

The construction is of steel-reinforced on-site-cast concrete and was carried out without scaffolding of the sides of the building - a central tower crane providing access and lifting of material and scaffolding was erected only on the end. Plastering of walls and ceilings is directly onto the structural concrete form. Fixing through to the structural concrete requires a seriously heavy-duty hammer drill. A number of vertical risers house plumbing, ventilation trunking, electrical feeds, sprinkler feed and a waste-chute. Two risers run through each apartment: one serving bathrooms; the other, kitchens. Each riser contains a foul pipe and a vent pipe - the flat pipework feeding into a stub between the foul and vent pipe. Oddities exist, reflecting the build being intended purely for the rental market: the electrical wiring for the lighting in the flats is embedded in the screed of the flat above; some plumbing from flats (eg G kitchen waste) is taken through to the next-door (E) flat riser.