People at our heart

"At the foot of my building, there’s a children’s slide. I’ve watched three generations enjoy it in my 23 years here. And I expect my grandkids to do the same, when I finally get some.

I moved here with my husband about ten years after we got married. Buying a home was important to us, it’s the biggest investment of our lives, but one of the best. I’m not sure back then I could have imagined that my neighbours would pretty much stay the same. We’ve made great friends here. In fact, those kids I was mentioning, lots of them have ended up buying homes here themselves as adults, it’s lovely. It’s a real community.

But like anything, it needs work. So, a few years ago I joined the owners association. I’m pretty organised, I run a small corporate services business, so I ended up as chairlady, and I liaise with Chinachem and their property management team. It’s been fourteen years now and we haven’t had any arguments, which I think is a pretty impressive feat. That’s because they see things from the residents perspective, they listen, and they care.

We recently carried out a major exterior renovation. Five years from start to finish. And as I run the association as a democracy, we have nearly 700 different opinions to listen to. Chinachem are owners too, so they have a seat on our board, and I have to say, they’re fair and just. They didn’t charge us extra for the works, unlike developers in buildings nearby here. They even secured us funds from the governments Covid scheme, and unlike others, the whole amount went to the owners association to spend on upgrading our facilities. You know, maybe we should be using some of that money to buy a new slide. It’s seen a lot of use."