29 floor tower block Aragon Tower appoint AM Surveying & Block Management
A landmark instruction for AM Surveying & Block Management; appointed as Managing Agent to take over the Block Management requirements of Aragon Tower with its 160 apartments across 29 floors situated on the banks of the River Thames in north Deptford south-east London.
Commenting on the appointment Director and Head of Block Management Matthew Mackintosh MIRPM, AssocRICS said "Aragon Tower is an exciting instruction for AM, a building that will touch all areas of our range of services from our office based Property Managers at mission control, through to our in-house Building Surveyors, Cleaning Operatives and everyone in-between. All will come together to add value to the building as we deliver the shared visions of team AM and our client to make the building better. We look forward to serving the building and its leasehold owners".
AM act on behalf of the tower's recently incorporated Right to Manage (RTM) Company, a company set up by leaseholders of the building to act as vehicle from which management functions of the building transfer from the building's Freeholder to it upon completion of a prescribed legal process. The RTM Company having recently learned it successfully acquires management of the tower as of early 2022, appoint AM Surveying & Block Management as its Managing Agent, taking over from the incumbent Agent.
"We selected AM because they demonstrated sophisticated sector knowledge, backed up by dynamic leadership and strong infrastructure and technology."
Satwinder Sandhu, RTM Company Chairperson
Aragon Tower was originally completed in 1962 at a height of 26 floors. Previously built and owned by the London Borough of Lewisham, the riverside tower was sold to developers Berkeley Homes and redeveloped in 2006. With its redevelopment in mind, the building has served as positive catalyst for regeneration of the wider community that surrounds it and of which it forms part, the Pepys Estate and wider Deptford area.
14 Penthouse apartments were added to the top of Aragon Tower as part of its redevelopment taking the building up to 29 storeys and cementing its position as one of the tallest residential towers in London at 92 metres, with only a handful of residential towers boasting taller credentials.
AM Surveying & Block Management's Anthony Allder is the Property Manager assigned to Aragon Tower and will lead on day to day matters along with a wider support team and senior management. Along with Anthony the building has a small team of site based staff to be integrated into AM, made up of Concierge and an Estate Manager. Working collaboratively the team will deliver service to the building's leaseholders and residents.
Chairperson of the RTM Company, Satwinder Sandhu, related his experience on the selection of AM Surveying & Block Management: “We decided it was time for a change at Aragon Tower and wanted a Managing Agent who would be passionate about doing a great job as well as working collaboratively with the RTM Company.
AM were impressive from our first round of interviews with nine candidates and this impression was consistent through the different stages of selection. They were one of three agents invited to formally tender.
We selected AM because they demonstrated sophisticated sector knowledge, backed up by dynamic leadership and strong infrastructure and technology. We think this will be a great fit with our vision as a Board and add great value to our development in the longer term.
AM have both Building Surveying and Block Management services, and can take on our on site team, all of which make for a really great comprehensive package. We are looking forward to a new era at Aragon Tower”.
Adopting Latest Communications Technology
A first order of business upon commencement of Block Management services to Aragon Tower, AM are excited to bring multiple internet enabled digital communications notice boards into the communal areas of the building. Powered by 30 Seconds Media the digital notice boards allow AM Surveying & Block Management instant access to publish value-adding information to key areas of a building giving occupants visibility to anything from maintenance updates, service outages and community news. The communications tool allows our team, via a remote portal, to publish notices in a matter of seconds, providing timely information to residents as soon as they need it, resolving an existing pain-point currently felt by such a tall tower block relying heavily on its passenger lifts for access up and down the building.
Matthew Mackintosh continued: "As advocates of technology, we are really pleased to bring this exciting new service to buildings within our portfolio, which I expect will become commonplace around blocks of flats in the not so distance future so we are keen to be early adopters in the London area".
AM Surveying & Block Management is seeing healthy and steady growth within the stable sector of Block Management. To maintain service levels to new and existing clients we are recruiting for a range of positions including in our Property Management, Building Surveying and On Site Services divisions, visit our Careers page to start or progress your career in Block Management.