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Date updated: 9/05/2024

Call 020 7029 3909 or email the Repairs Service Desk

This service is available Monday to Friday 8am-5pm.

Telephone calls to the Repairs Service Desk are recorded for monitoring and training purposes.

The City of London Corporation is a data controller, and processes personal data and special category data that you provide to the Repairs Service Desk, in accordance with the General Data Protection Regulation and the Data Protection Act 2018. We will only do this when we have a legal reason to do so. We will keep your personal data such as telephone calls for six weeks.

For full details of how and why we process your personal data and for information about your data protection rights, please refer to the full privacy notice, or contact us to request a hard copy. Please direct all data protection queries to the Information Compliance Team.

Repair priorities

The time taken for repairs will depend on the type of repair you need.

Certain Service Level Requirements are currently going through a consultation and review process with representatives of the residents of the Barbican Estate. It is therefore possible that the categories below may be expanded and or response time amended.

Response time within four hours 

Repairs necessitated by an immediate threat to the health, safety and security of residents, visitors or staff. This category includes such items as broken glass in communal areas, clearing blockages or repairing leaks that are causing severe flooding, dangerous structure which could collapse, no electricity supply in tenanted property, no lights in shared areas.

Response time within Twenty four hours 

Repairs necessitated by an imminent threat to the health, safety and security of residents, visitors or staff. This category includes such items as making safe any loss of heating cracked glass in communal areas, clearing blockages or repairing leaks which do not cause severe flooding, damage or disruption.

Response time within three working days

Repairs requiring attention to maintain the high standards of security, safety and comfort of residents, visitors and staff but which do not pose an imminent threat to health, safety nor security.

This would include such items as repair or replacement of defective security equipment, repairs to entrance doors, etc,. as long as these defects do not pose an imminent threat to the health, safety and security of residents, visitors or staff.

Response time within 20 working days 

All other works such as cosmetic repairs to communal areas necessitated by wear and tear or repairs undertaken under other categories or those required to restore communal facilities to the recognised high amenity standards.

These would include decorations necessitated by other repairs and routine maintenance tasks.

Out of hours emergency service

Monday to Thursday 5pm to 8am and 5pm Friday to 8am Monday

On-site staff are available 365 days a year

Repairs necessitated by an immediate threat to the health, safety and security of residents, visitors or staff. This category includes such items as broken glass in communal areas, clearing blockages or repairing leaks that are causing severe flooding, dangerous structure which could collapse, no electricity supply in tenanted property. Out of hours emergency service is managed by the Property Services Officers and where additional assistance may be required, they will use the contractor.

For the out of hours emergency service call 020 7029 3953 or contact your local Estate Concierge or Lobby Porter.

Once you have reported a repair you will be sent an order acknowledgement form which will include the details of the repair, the order number and a deadline for the repair to be completed within. The form also contains a satisfaction survey which asks for your comments on the completed job and how satisfied you are with the repairs service.

As your landlord, the City of London Corporation is responsible for effectively maintaining communal areas and inside your home (our fittings). Tenants are responsible for their own fittings or improvements that have been made within their home. The City Corporation is not responsible for repairing or replacing any item that has been damaged on purpose or neglected. If we carry out works which we are not obliged to do, the cost of such work will be recharged to the tenant and is called a rechargeable repair.​ View the rechargeable costs to residents which clarify the procedures and reasoning for recharging certain aspects of work carried out by contractors working on behalf of the Barbican Estate Office.

The following information is to clarify the procedure and reasoning for recharging for certain aspects of work carried out by contractors working on behalf of the Barbican Estate Office.

Water penetration

When water penetration (i.e. water ingress to a flat) is reported, the Repairs Service Desk will raise an order for an investigation. This is usually the same day and involves our contractor making safe and isolating the water supply. It is only when the inspection has been carried out by the contractor, that the Repairs Service Desk will be advised on whether their investigation is rechargeable to the resident. If the leak is from plumbing which the leaseholder is responsible to maintain, e.g. shower, washing machine, dishwasher etc, it will be recharged.

Both this resident and the resident who has suffered water ingress will be notified by way of a letter from the Repairs Service Desk. The former resident will be advised in the letter that the investigation is rechargeable to them. The resident will also be asked to carry out any necessary repair work. If repair work is not carried out within a reasonable time-frame the estate office will review requesting access to carry out the work and recharging the cost to the resident.

If a leak affects City of London tenants’ flats, and if it is from one of their appliances e.g. washing machine it will be the tenants’ responsibility and they will be recharged for the contractor’s visit. They will also be asked to fix the appliance. If the leak is from their bath or sink, i.e. any of the fixtures inside a tenanted flat, the Barbican Estate Office will arrange for our contractor to fix this and there is no recharge made to the tenant.

Broken windows

Broken windows should be reported to the Repairs Service Desk and the officer will ask how the damage was caused, and if the crack is internal or external. If the crack is internal and accidental, the resident may be able to reclaim the cost on the building insurance. If the damage is external the Barbican Estate Office will arrange the work as a service charge item. Most damage to windows is accidental and this can also include damage to privacy screens which can get broken during periods of high winds.

Residents should be encouraged to report broken windows/privacy screens as soon as possible, to avoid accidents to themselves and contractors.

Blocked sinks

Both City of London tenants and leaseholders are charged for these blockages. The exception is if there is a blockage in the communal stack and this goes against the service charges for the block. It should be evident if there is a blockage in the stack as usually more than one resident is affected. If there is a blockage in the stack, the estate office contractors will be asked to attend and deal with it.

Lock changes

Both City of London tenants and the leaseholders will be recharged for lock changes if they lose their keys. The estate office will not arrange for the lock changes for Chubb and other security locks which always remains the responsibility of residents.

TV/Broadband

If you have an issue with TV reception (either Freeview, Freesat or Sky) or broadband please call 4th Utility on the dedicated Barbican Estate hotline 0800 102 6223 or their main customer care line 0800 066 2833.

When the fault is identified to be on resident’s equipment and not the landlord’s, the attendance of the engineer will be recharged to the resident.

Lifts

The lift maintenance and repair services are undertaken by a specialist contractor who provides a response to lift trappings and lift failures. (The duty on-site engineer will provide an initial response to 'out of hours' incidents). If you become trapped in a lift, for assistance press and hold the alarm button.

If spare parts are available, general lift failures will be attended to within 24 hours, or earlier where possible.

Public Lifts Associated with the Barbican Estate (1MB)
Date submitted: 23/06/22

Background underfloor heating

To report issues with the background underfloor heating, email Barbican Repairs. Response times for heating repairs are as follows:

  • total loss of heating - 24 hours
  • partial loss of heating - three working days

Background underfloor heating is provided during the "heating season" which runs from 1 October to 30 April. The system is designed to provide heating to 15.6C/60F where external temperatures are down to 1.7C/35F. If external temperatures fall below this level the target internal temperature target may not be reached.

Background underfloor heating practical information PDF (90KB)
Date submitted: 24/06/20

Garchey

To report issues with your Garchey email Repairs Service Desk. Garchey engineers will be available to attend to problems within flats between 8am and 4pm (Monday to Thursday) and between 8am and 3.30pm (Friday).​

Garchey practical information PDF (100KB)
Date submitted: 24/06/20