Thistle Housing ….the Axe Ready to Fall on the Guilty but Where Are Those In Power?

1,419 DAYS – 3 YEARS + 10 MONTHS +19 DAYS
since Thistle’s mismanaged Major Works Programme started on 7th January 2016
1,091 DAYS – 35 MONTHS + 27 DAYS
since 30th November 2016 when “all of the works to all of the houses in Toryglen will be complete“. Today, 26th November 2019, still incomplete, work proven to be shoddy and more importantly, dangerous and now possibly hazardous to life and limb

Thistle Housing Association Limited, the history of which is masked in mystery to most Toryglen residents (but not all), conned its way into Toryglen almost nineteen years ago in January 2001 with vacant promises.

Since then, other than Scottish Government stipulations, it has done nothing for the residents of the estate short of beguiling its then future rent paying tenants with the promise of new kitchens and bathrooms, the cheapest of the cheap, now long requiring replacement, together with government funded heating systems (which they totally screwed up in the Prospecthill high flats and what used to be the pensioners’ flats in Kerrylamont Avenue).

Of course Toryglen residents agreed. There had be no investment in Toryglen since the last properties were finished in Prospecthill Crescent in the early 60’s.

Since then, other similar areas in Glasgow, and elsewhere in Scotland, have benefited from wide scale and massive improvements to their public realm, together with totally revamped buildings, enhanced by new build properties.

In Toryglen? Not so much. New insulation, roughcast, rendering, plaster, roofs, gutters, windows and cills but done at the lowest cost by the cheapest here today – gone tomorrow untrained foreign labour under very, very dodgy circumstances and now all proven to be at risk and profoundly shoddy, faulty if not dangerous. No public realm renewal, backyards like something from the thirties, closes beyond explanation and absolutely no new built properties for up and coming families.

What have these people in Thistle been doing for the past (almost) nineteen years? Simple. Nothing but ensuring the never ending flow of loot into their bank accounts never stopped. Maybe also enhanced with ‘extras’ from the various multimillion pound contracts Thistle’s management and their compliant committee, without any technical ability, awarded to those with whom they seemed to have more than a degree of familiarity.

Then there’s the unexplained, lie sodden contract with E.ON with prices for work twice those expected and explained by others in the building trade. By any measure, there was corruption in that sewer. Whether it was by ignorance or for gain is to yet to be announced but if you’ve got a few quid to bet on that one, you might well be onto a winner.

One wonders what shenanigans went on during the first phase of the Major Works Programme some nine years ago?

There is the strange and thus far unexplained tens if not hundreds of thousands of pounds paid to Gas Cats Limited, the one man £100 company owned by the self announced “Clerk of Works”, Jeff Poulter, who was, if anything at all, no more than a mere heating engineer, not even a qualified plumber (he refused to identify his credentials), who Thistle management allowed to pontificate over all building aspects in Toryglen. As can now be more than clearly seen, an utter disgrace and a profound failure given that every single aspect of the Major Works Programme, a fourteen week build per household, now within days of being three years late, incomplete, shoddy and dangerous, neither agreed to nor signed off by residents.

Or was there a payback?

The Scottish Housing Regulator has now been investigating Thistle Housing for fifteen months  since 23 August 2018 but with little to no news made available to residents. There has been, no doubt, some work done into the investigation of Thistle Housing’s glaring malpractices but work and effort are only good when they are seen to be done. Thus far, little to nothing has been seen to explain the demise of Thistle Housing Association, other than the revelations on social media and blog sites, all of which, alas, has been founded on fact.

• Now, the Scottish Housing Regulator must ensure the results of the investigations are published without further delay and “shared” with Toryglen residents
• Now the Scottish Housing Regulator must put into place a confirmed and project managed plan to rectify the massive failures in Toryglen and, for once, give residents some peace

It is clear that those in power in Scotland and locally in Glasgow, are well aware of the circumstances and the blight befallen on Toryglen due to the shortcomings of Thistle’s dismal management. These people include:

• Nicola Sturgeon, First Minister of Scotland, Toryglen’s MSP
• Kevin Stewart MSP, Scottish Government Minister for Local Government, Housing and Planning
• Susan Aitken, Head of Glasgow City Council, Toryglen’s local Councillor
• Patrick Flynn, Head of Housing and Regeneration Services, Glasgow City Council

Why have these people allowed the corruption of Thistle Housing in Toryglen to continue for three years and more, still without end, still without any solution?

It was stated at a meeting between Toryglen residents and local politicos more than two years ago, that Toryglen residents were fortunate to have the
two most powerful women in politics in Scotland as their representatives

Can you see any results of this
political power in Toryglen? 

As of today, three years onwards, the same problems of shoddy building work remain, with the exception of the faulty chimneys and emergency repairs to some roofs, both of which took near disasters to happen before they were attended to despite pleas by residents to Thistle management stretching back to September 2016.

Bob McGuire, the expensively hired from Savills, interim and temporary Director, promised that residents’ long unanswered questions would be responded to and that the results of all investigations would be “shared” with Toryglen residents.

The results of the multitude of investigations were supposed to be revealed, in all aspects, by mid September 2019 and certainly no later than the end of October 2019. Now almost at the end of November 2019, what has been “shared”, what has been revealed? NOTHING.

The bill from the Scottish Housing Regulator’s engagement with the drastic failures of Thistle Housing, the cost of retaining various investigative firms, Savills, Arneil Johnston and others is now well in excess of half a million pounds. Added to that, is the well in excess of £2 million immediately required to rectify the dangerous roofs and the removal of asbestos Thistle management deliberately conspired to hide from residents. Then there’s the cost of the chimney repairs, gutter repairs, roughcast/insulation/render repairs and the dreadful state of the flimsy so-called window cills (which Thistle secretly retained £200-300,000 in cash from E.ON to repair but has vanished without explanation). Thereafter, the shockingly poor close and balcony paintwork will have to be addressed.

Millions and millions of pounds. A “fixed price contract“. Yup, it sure was.

None of this, not so much as a penny, would have to have been spent had Thistle management, backed by their lackey committee, done the job for which they were so handsomely paid. Then again, it’s not their money and they were happy and extremely adept at spewing lie after lie to cover their own endless faults …until it all came out.

Apologies for repeating the list of investigations, as per the blog post here, but as no information has been forthcoming from Thistle, they are:

• An investigation into the thus far unexplained Thistle contract with E.ON for the Major Works Programme, including costings, especially where Glasgow City Council advised residents that the wall insulation would be “at no cost to owners” and the charges for the now faulty roofs which were priced at approximately twice the figures per close quoted by other roofing contractors
• Included in the above, an investigation into the hundreds of thousands of pounds paid to Gas Cats Limited, a one man company, the one man being Jeff Poulter, a heating engineer falsely claiming to be a Clerk of Works, who certainly did not carry out his vastly overpaid function of overseeing and rectifying the shambles and proven shoddy work undertaken by the foreign, untrained labour gangs and why he was retained after the contract was supposed to end on 30 November 2016
• An investigation into the faulty chimneys (supposedly overseen by Jeff Poulter which had been notified to Thistle by residents in September 2016 and ignored)
• An investigation into the faulty and potentially dangerous roofs (supposedly overseen by Jeff Poulter which had been notified to Thistle by residents in September 2016 but ignored)
• An investigation into the faulty rendering/roughcast/insulation (supposedly overseen by Jeff Poulter and which had been notified to Thistle by residents in September 2016 and many times thereafter but ignored)
• An investigation into the misplaced gutters allowing rainwater to cascade down building elevations, as highlighted by the independent BBA report and ignored by Thistle management as only “advisory” on the word of a painter, Paul Nolan, another self titled but fake Clerk of Works 
• An investigation into the substandard window sills, which are merely bits of flimsy plastic, the original sills having, mostly, been removed by the unskilled labour gangs and supposedly overseen by Jeff Poulter. Thistle denied all of this but retained somewhere between £200,000 to £300,000 from E.ON to rectify faults, money which seemingly has disappeared and certainly was not highlighted in the latest Summary of Accounts
• An investigation into the £560,000 supposedly spent rectifying 300 gardens, at an average of £1,867 per mythical garden, when few gardens were touched and where there is not even 300 gardens existing
• The residents’ opinion survey undertaken by Arneil Johnston which, it is understood, does not ‘favour’ Thistle Housing

It is understood that the poison in Thistle Housing is even more corrosive than previously believed. It is understood that the practices adopted by management have been even more corrupt than previously believed. It is understood that the financial cost to rectify the gross errors of Thistle’s failed management are greater than previously believed.

And still these management failures continue to draw their huge and undeserved salary packages.

Senior Management
Paid beyond their abilities and worth, well past their sell by date:

• Daniella Sprott, Operations Manager (failed), inarticulate, now laughingly ‘moved’ with a salary ‘adjustment’, into “compliance”. In other words, now positioned to find ways around and out of the mess she caused in the first place but, alas, with no success. The true cause of the bullying, arrogance, ignorance and problems, way, way beyond her meagre,”ah’m no technical” capabilities.
• Jim Naismith, the failed bookkeeper who attempted to manipulate the millions of pounds of losses and to hide the financial woes conjured up by his sidekicks who he was afraid to question.
• Lorraine Quinn, no particularly negative comment but seems to kick the baw in different directions, as required.
• Grace McColgan, ex Director now booted but without explanation to  shareholders, a situation not acceptable in a so-called limited company. Ultimately the fall guy but she was paid to accept responsibility, never took it, manipulated the management committee and eventually, after almost a year of convenient ‘illness’ (but still pulling in the loot), paid the price of her gross failures.
• Brenda Wilson, an illiterate compliant rubber doll serial committee goer in the locality but singularly without any ability in any field, a long term failure, does what she’s telt by Thistle’s management.

Plus

• Bob McGuire, expensively hired on a very part time basis, interim Director, temporary hatchet man and seemingly hated by all but refuses to answer residents’ questions and yet to “share” the outcomes of the many investigations into Thistle’s corrupt mismanagement with Toryglen residents.

..and the supporting cast of staff, some rather good, some OK but the majority too used to getting away with a lax administration and treating residents terribly, such as Larry Kilkenny, a doddering old man, supposedly expert in all things but knowledge of nothing other than being nasty to residents, who has caused Thistle Housing well in excess of £100,000 to replace illegal and unsafe plastic doors to flats which he, in concert with his senior management, attempted to hide and ignore …as well as his illegal handling of asbestos requirements, in conjunction with Miss Sprott, which will cost hundreds of thousand of pounds to put right.

None of this, not a single penny, was required to be spent if only Thistle management had done their job correctly.

There is more to come, more to be told and much more to be revealed of the malignancy which has destroyed Thistle Housing and, effectively, cost Toryglen millions of pounds which could have and should have been used to better the estate, not that Thistle Housing ever had any of that in its written-with-crayon plans.

Again, none of this was necessary if only Thistle management had been capable, less arrogant and listened to and involved Toryglen residents. Any association should be better than the sum of its constituent parts but only if those parts, in this case, Toryglen residents, were properly considered. But no. They thought they knew better and now, they have fallen on the sword of their own hubris. Plainly, not fit for purpose.

Thistle Housing, like an unloved book, soon to be remaindered.

Meantime ….

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