Dilapidated Government Buildings & Their Windows

How bad is the California state building where you work? Mechanical failure has kept one building’s windows unwashed for 10 years. Some office structures lack fire sprinklers, contain hazardous materials, suffer from leak.

Fun fact: The windows on the Resources Building in downtown Sacramento haven’t been cleaned in more than a decade. “The window cleaning platform is not functional,” the California Department of General Services stated in a new report on the 51-year-old building. “The windows have not been cleaned in over ten years, and without an operable platform, the exterior tile joints cannot be maintained.”

Other problems inside and outside the building include asbestos in the walls, ceiling and floor tiles, exterior joints around windows that allow water to seep in, a “spongy” roof the verge of leaking and fire-safety systems that aren’t up to code. Those troubles and others gave the 17-story structure at 1416 Ninth St. the ignominious distinction as the most-dilapidated office building that the state owns or leases among the 29 assessed by HOK, a well-known architectural firm.

HOK figures that fixing everything, from replacing restroom exhaust fans to seismically retrofitting the Resources Building’s exterior, would cost $148.8 million. Lawmakers commissioned the first-ever survey of state properties last year. The Brown administration has said the results will guide policy for repairing or replacing government buildings. Want to check on the state building where you work? General Services has posted the results all the state building assessments by HOK. You’ll find them here.

Part of the problem is that many of the building’s 3,000 windows in the Houses of Parliament of the building on the banks of the River Thames in central London will not close properly

Deteriorating Houses of Parliament could catch fire again, warn Parliament officials: The Palace of Westminster is in such a state of disrepair that it could burn down for a second time, senior officials in charge of a major overhaul have warned. MPs are getting stuck in lifts and missing votes because of the scale refurbishment required at the Houses of Parliament, they said.

Part of the problem is that many of the building’s 3,000 windows of the building on the banks of the River Thames in central London will not close properly, further causing more damage to the fabric of the building designed by the architect Augustus Pugin. Richard Ware, the director for the Restoration and Renewal Programme at the Palace of Westminster, said the £50million a year work programme only kept the building working operationally. More fundamental work was needed to stop the building deteriorating further, referring to the last major fire in the Houses of Parliament in 1834. 

A report on the future of the Palace of Westminster concluded in 2012: “If the Palace were not a listed building of the highest heritage value, its owner would probably be advised to demolish and rebuild.” One of the major problems is that asbestos – a deadly substance which was used in the 1940s and 1950s to fireproof buildings - had been “liberally applied all around the building – not just as insulation but in light switches, toilet systems and as a sound suppressant”, Mr Barlex said.

UK Media Argue Over Window Cleaners Receipts

Tax dodge: Leonardo DiCaprio's character Jordan Belfort prepares to go to extreme measures in a scene from film The Wolf of Wall Street, which is based on Belfort's life story. Governmental tax was always initiated as a temporary measure. Just how many cherries should you give before they chop the tree down?

How did Labour spend a week about HSBC arguing over window cleaners? (By James Hutchinson). Whenever a politician declares that we 'should' do something, they'll be held to that standard; the slightest deviation will be met with cries of hypocrite. So moralising MPs need to watch out - or it's the political equivalent of the traffic warden parked on double-yellow lines.

When Ed Balls said that everyone "should" ask for receipts, it wasn't just the nonsense of what he was saying which was frustrating, although that was a problem. It's obviously not my responsibility to make sure someone else is paying tax. It was also inevitable he'd fail by his own standards. Unless he has a storage locker of receipts, obsessively alphabetised, Balls was going to have erred at least once. And The Daily Mail duly dug up his window cleaner - who Balls hadn't asked a receipt from in years, apparently.

Labour inevitably cry foul at this sort of journalism, suggesting it's one-sided campaigning from a right wing press which distorts what was originally said. They may be right - Balls was talking about cash and he pays his window cleaner by cheque, thereby creating a paper trail, making tax avoidance harder and riskier. But the fact that I've had to write those words - an actual sentence typed by my own fingers for a respected political website about a senior politician's £12 a month window cleaning bill - shows just how much Labour have been sucked into the long grass.

There are many people who think Labour's election strategy is off-piste: if anything puts the case for the prosecution it’s that Labour has made front page headlines about double glazing and some bloke in West Yorkshire who cleans them. It was self-generated - it was Balls who started the narrative.

Have you ever asked your window cleaner for a receipt? Me neither. Nor, it appears, has the shadow chancellor Ed Balls, at least not in the past 17 years, according to the man who has cleaned his windows for almost two decades. Reporters tracked down Balls’s window cleaner after the shadow chancellor urged people at the weekend to keep a record of cash payments handed to tradespeople.

Aiming to make political capital over the furore surrounding HSBC’s Swiss banking activities, and pledging that Labour would crack down on systemic abuse of the tax system, Balls claimed that, as shadow chancellor, he was “extremely careful” about these things himself. The ploy backfired, although, as Balls pays for his window cleaner’s services by cheque, he does not appear to be guilty of aiding and abetting tax evasion.

His opposite number in the government, George Osborne, has also found himself exposed in the growing row over tax dodging in the wake of the explosive HSBC revelations. Embarrassing footage from 2003 has been unearthed, showing Osborne, then a lowly MP, recommending the use of what he called “pretty clever financial products” to help reduce care costs, although he did admit that he “probably shouldn’t be advocating this on television”.

HSBC and those who used the services of its Swiss private banking arm will no doubt welcome the diversion of political point-scoring involving window cleaners and the like but the fallout from the scandal shows little sign of abating.

What was Ed Balls thinking? Was he thinking at all? Between Chancellor and Shadow Chancellor, we have two men who have made a complete mess of handling the tax-avoidance issue. At some political debacles you want to weep, and at others you have to laugh, but with Ed Balls And His Odd Job Receipts the emotional reaction is different. At this fiasco, you cannot bear to look. You want to leave the room, because this is like one of those Ali G interviews which delicate souls like myself find too excruciating to endure. It is the comedy of gross embarrassment without the comedy. With any self-inflicted disaster on this scale, the temptation is to recycle a shtick of yore. In this case, it must be resisted. Equally futile is asking what Balls can possibly have been thinking. He cannot have been thinking at all. His diktat about the duty, for tax purposes, to demand and keep receipts and personal details from window cleaners.

It took the Daily Mail a day to unearth one John Durning of Pontefract, who has cleaned the windows of the Balls-Cooper West Yorkshire home each month since the year Osborne told “Bill” how to avoid tax. The Mail learned that not once in those dozen years has a receipt been requested from John the Window Cleaner, who may become this election’s Joe the Plumber. Meanwhile the Daily Telegraph raided its MPs’ expenses database to discover that the Balls-Coopers have reclaimed £2,640 for unreceipted odd jobs. It would overegg the double standards pudding to mention that Balls seems as lax in giving documentary evidence as in demanding it. When he drove into another car last year, he famously departed the scene without leaving a note on the windscreen. Careless prangers are under a strict legal obligation to leave their name and address. The hirers of odd job people are under none at all.

How much for cash? - Blogger of the Year Peter Rhodes on tax-dodging: So Labour is going to get a grip on tax dodging. Good luck with that. The snag is that, while there will always be a small percentage of millionaire families (take the Milibands of Primrose Hill, for example) who use clever, and entirely legal, strategies to keep their tax liabilities to a minimum the biggest form of tax dodging is the sort used a million times a day by small businesses. “Knock a few quid off for cash?” asks the customer, and the plumber / window cleaner / electrician gladly agrees. Now, the tradesman may be using cash payments to dodge VAT and income tax. On the other hand, he may simply prefer cash because it saves him the bother of taking yet another cheque to the bank. So over to you, Messrs Miliband and Balls. How do you sort the wheat from the chaff, the bona-fide from the fiddlers? The Balls answer, revealed this week, is for customers to demand a receipt for all work done. So that's higher prices for the customers, more paperwork for the traders, battalions of tax inspectors to monitor every bank account and crawl over every scribbled receipt, and, presumably, some penalty on customers who don't keep their receipts. Is that what the two Eds want? If so, do let us know so we can all get the house rewired or painted before May 7, General Election day.

Most British workers and savers 'avoid tax', not just the super-rich: The tax dodges you can feel good about - and the ones you can't. What is the difference between tax planning, avoidance and evasion? It’s not just a financial issue - it’s a moral one, too. Tax planning is a sensible part of looking after your finances, and some schemes are set up because the Government wants consumers to reduce their tax bills.

But when you start making deliberate or contrived attempts to lower your tax bill, that’s when you start getting onto dodgy ground. As shown by last week’s fracas around the deed of variation taken out on the will of Ed Miliband’s father, it’s all about interpreting what the law intended from a tax break. Put simply, evasion is stone-cold illegal — and could land you in prison. This is deliberately hiding income, earnings or investments from the Revenue in order to reduce your tax bill.

Avoidance is not illegal, but means bending the rules of the system to gain an advantage that Parliament never intended. It is within the letter — but not the spirit — of the law. It often involves artificial transactions that serve little or no purpose, other than to cut your tax. However, that doesn’t mean that it won’t land you in trouble. HM Revenue and Customs takes an interest in schemes it thinks are suspect and can pursue them in court. If it’s ruled they could be classed as avoidance, you will have to pay this money back. The problem is making the distinction for yourself. And it largely depends on your own code of ethics.

Here, we try to get to grips with the rights and wrongs of tax planning. Cash in hand to cut odd-job bills, from window cleaning to a bit of gardening or trimming a hedge once a month, paying cash in hand is good for you as it saves on the bill because your odd-job man is not charging VAT. And it’s good for your odd-job man because it can allow some of their earnings to slip by under the counter. For low-income workers struggling to make a living, avoiding VAT and some income tax can mean the difference between paying fuel bills and being broke. It has been suggested by the Conservatives and Labour that these under-the-counter payments should be clamped down on, but it’s no concern of yours. Your odd-job man’s tax affairs are his own — it’s their job to pay due tax and not your responsibility.

UK Officials Claim Blu-Tack Could Make Glass Explode

Shattering ... officials claim Blu-Tack could break glass

Bizarre health and safety ruling claims Blu-tack makes glass windows explode: Pupils and teachers were banned from sticking their art work to windows with Blu-Tack by school health and safety officials claiming it could cause the glass to explode.

The officials claimed that the sticky blue substance could combine with a chemical in the window to make glass shatter. They ordered all artwork to be removed from the windows. But the demand was debunked by the Government's new Myth Busters Challenge Panel – and the edict reversed. The panel, set up to probe over enthusiastic use of health and safety laws, checked the claim with Blu-tack's maker Bostik and were satisfied it was safe. 

The Myth Busters told the private firm that runs the primary school in Perth and Kinross, Perthshire to remove the ban. "Whatever the reason for banning Blu-Tack, it is not on health and safety grounds," it was reported in the Sun to have ruled. "The manufacturer's website makes clear that the product can be used on glass. "We see no reason why the children's creative work should not be displayed for everyone to enjoy." The Blu-Tack case is one of 28 rulings made in the Myth Busters' first two months.

One council was blasted for claiming that villagers wanting to hang flower baskets from lampposts must have every one checked by a structural engineer — costing £70 each. And a parish council ordered a mother to take down a swing she put up for her kids at an allotment. The panel was set up by Employment Minister Chris Grayling to fight the growing nanny state.

He said told the newspaper: "I'm amazed by the amount of nonsense talked by health and safety jobsworths. "Good health and safety is about protecting people from death and serious injury — not this kind of nonsense. The Myth Busters panel is helping the public fight back against stupid decisions." The 13-strong committee includes an ex-police officer, a magistrate and an insurance boss.

It is led by Health and Safety Executive chair Judith Hackitt, who said: "The amount of cases the panel has taken on clearly shows the extent to which health and safety is being misused as an excuse for banning almost anything. "We've received outrageous examples of decisions being made in the name of health and safety. "By publicising these ridiculous cases we hope to encourage more people to challenge jobsworths and make them think twice about using health and safety as a convenient excuse for unpopular decisions." The panel can be contacted at www.hse.gov.uk/contact/contact-myth-busting.htm

A teacher was banned by elf and safety ninnies from using Blu-Tack on classroom windows — in case they exploded. Officials claimed that the sticky blue gum could combine with a chemical in the window to make glass shatter. And the petty penpushers ordered that the children’s artwork be removed from the windows. But the bizarre edict — made by the private firm that runs the primary school in Perth and Kinross, Perthshire — was conclusively debunked by the Government’s Myth Busters Challenge Panel.

The panel, set up to probe killjoy officials’ orders, checked the claim with Blu-Tack’s maker Bostik — which even advertises its product’s use on glass. The Myth Busters ruled: “Whatever the reason for banning Blu-Tack, it is not on health and safety grounds. “The manufacturer’s website makes clear that the product can be used on glass. “We see no reason why the children’s creative work should not be displayed for everyone to enjoy.” Dozens of angry Brits have bombarded the panel for help in beating mean-spirited bans by the health and safety jobsworths.

The Blu-Tack case is one of 28 rulings made in the Myth Busters’ first two months. One council was blasted for claiming that villagers wanting to hang flower baskets from lampposts must have every one checked by a structural engineer — costing £70 each. And a parish council ordered a mum to take down a swing she put up for her kids at an allotment. The panel was set up by Employment Minister Chris Grayling (pictured) to fight the elf and safety culture. He said last night: “I’m amazed by the amount of nonsense talked by health and safety jobsworths. “Good health and safety is about protecting people from death and serious injury — not this kind of nonsense. The Myth Busters panel is helping the public fight back against stupid decisions.”

The 13-strong committee includes an ex-police officer, a magistrate and an insurance boss. It is led by Health and Safety Executive chair Judith Hackitt, who said: “The amount of cases the panel has taken on clearly shows the extent to which health and safety is being misused as an excuse for banning almost anything. “We’ve received outrageous examples of decisions being made in the name of health and safety. “By publicising these ridiculous cases we hope to encourage more people to challenge jobsworths and make them think twice about using health and safety as a convenient excuse for unpopular decisions.”

Mixed Messages On Water Ban For UK Window Cleaners

Seven water firms are introducing hosepipe bans from April 5.

The Federation of Window Cleaners ((FWC), Ionic Systems & now the defunct APWC were all active in persuading the Government to let window cleaners carry on using their water fed pole systems during hose pipe bans. With the latest news, it's best to contact your local water provider in your area to find out your status. If you are a registered business & carry water for use in your business, then you should carry on work as normal.  As always, please check with your local water company, links have been provided below for the seven water firms.

Price hike fears as hosepipe ban introduced: At present, the ban will only apply to domestic use of hosepipes for things like gardening, washing cars and windows and filling paddling pools. Businesses and other commercial operations are not affected. But there is a postcode lottery over who will be hit by the ban. It will affect the majority of customers in the region, apart from a triangular region between Aldeburgh, Great Yarmouth and Eye covered by Essex & Suffolk Water, who has confirmed it will not be introducing restrictions for now. “It’s the earliest time we have had a hosepipe ban but Essex and Suffolk are one of the driest regions in the UK,” said Prof Colbeck. “I cannot see the hosepipe ban being lifted even if it rains all over the summer unless we get a long period of persistent rain.”

The South East of England and East Anglia are officially in drought, according to the Environment Agency and DEFRA. Seven water companies within this area are affected, including Veolia Water, who supplies water to the St Albans area. As of today, 13th March 2012, Veolia Water will be applying for a Temporary Use Ban, which will come into effect from 5 April 2012. This means restrictions on the water use of all domestic customers to help conserve water and a hosepipe ban will come in to play. The ban on hosepipes will mean that they will not be able to be used domestically for gardening, cleaning cars, bikes or boats, topping up garden ponds, path or garden cleaning, or home maintenance, such as window cleaning. The use of watering cans will still be permitted. Those who choose to breach the restrictions could be prosecuted and fined up to £1,000.

What the ban means: At present, the ban will only apply to domestic use of hosepipes for things like gardening, washing cars and windows, running sprinklers and pressure washers, and filling paddling pools. Businesses and other commercial operations are not affected. People can still water their gardens if they use a watering can, not a hose, and can still clean their cars, provided they use a bucket. There will be a small number of exemptions “to protect jobs and livelihoods and the infirm”. People have until April 5 to contact Anglian Water to suggest they should be exempt.

A hosepipe ban is set to hit Colchester. Seven water companies in the South East, including local provider Anglian Water, announced the decision on Monday. It will affect domestic customers from Thursday, April 5, just before the Easter Bank Holiday weekend. Customers have been advised to water their gardens using a watering can and wash their cars from a bucket. The ban will only apply to domestic use of hosepipes for things like gardening, washing windows and filling paddling pools. Businesses and other commercial operations are not affected. The step is being taken following the driest 18 month period in more than a century.

The ban is primarily aimed at domestic users and Thames Water said commercial users, such as car washes and window cleaners, were exempt from the ban, while national and international sporting events would be similarly spared.

Water firms confirm hosepipe ban from next month: A hosepipe ban will come into force across the south east in an effort to combat the continuing drought. Southern Water, South East Water, Thames Water, Sutton and East Surrey Water and Veolia Water have all announced that restrictions will be imposed. A hosepipe ban will be enforced on customers just before the Easter weekend, on Thursday, April 5. "We know these restrictions will be unpopular, but they will save a lot of water," said Martin Baggs, chief executive of Thames Water."A garden sprinkler uses as much water in an hour as a family of four uses in a day, and when water is in short supply the needs of families must come first. "We want to encourage everyone to continue to voluntarily save as much of this precious resource as possible, so there is enough to go around all our customers, however long it stays dry," Mr Baggs added.
The Temporary Use Ban is being used to combat the effects of a severe drought in the south east, which was officially confirmed by Environment Secretary Caroline Spelman on February 20. Since March 2010 the region has had 35cm less rain than normal and groundwater levels across parts of the Thames Water region are close to the lowest ever recorded. The restrictions include using a hosepipe for domestic purposes, such as watering a garden, filling pools, cleaning paths or patios and privately owned cars.
However, there are exemptions allowing those with mobility problems who hold a Blue Badge to water plants and gardens on domestic dwellings, for some commercial use such as window cleaners and car washers and for national and international sporting events. Under the terms of the ban, customers can still water their gardens and clean their cars provided they use either a watering can or a bucket. Mr Baggs added: "Anyone who willfully breaches the terms of the water-use bans can be prosecuted. And we will do that if necessary. "But we would much prefer to get results asking for people’s help, understanding and co-operation."

Hosepipe ban - Key facts and figures on the drought: Water companies across southern and eastern England are bringing in hosepipe bans in the face of drought conditions, it was announced today. Here are some key facts and figures about the potential drought, following two unusually dry winters which have left reservoirs, aquifers and rivers well below normal levels:

:: A total of seven firms are introducing water restrictions - Southern Water, South East Water, Thames Water, Anglian Water, Sutton and East Surrey, Veolia Central and Veolia South East are all bringing in restrictions on water use in the drought-stricken South East and East Anglia regions.

:: Water companies across England and Wales leaked 3,365 million litres a day in 2010/11, according to Ofwat, the economic regulator of the water and sewerage industry.

:: In 2010/11 six companies failed their leakage targets - Anglian, Dwr Cymru, Northumbrian - North East operating area, Severn Trent, Southern and Yorkshire.

:: Water UK has warned that customers are used to using 150 litres of water per day which, with industrial processes and other demands for water, leading to UK water demand of around 17.5 billion litres a day.

:: The Thames Valley and London has received below-average rainfall for 18 months of the last 23 months.

:: 2010-2011 was the third driest two-year period in the Thames Valley and London since records began 128 years ago.

:: Across East Anglia, the last six months have been the driest since records began in 1921.

:: Anglian Water is imposing its first hosepipe ban for more than 20 years, but said the move was the "most sensible and responsible action" to safeguard customer supplies this year and beyond.

:: Flows in the River Lee, which goes through Hertfordshire and north east London, are less than a quarter (24%) than the long-term average for the waterway, while the Kennet in Wiltshire has seen flows of less than a third (31%) of average levels.

:: The Portsmouth area received below average rainfall in eight of the last 12 months.

:: Significant numbers of rivers have low flows for the time of year, making it difficult for fish such as salmon and eels to migrate upstream. The current situation is therefore likely to have an impact on fish populations in a number of rivers this year.

:: The 26m deep well at Martin Down that supplies the National Nature Reserve on the Hants and Wiltshire border was dry from the beginning of July 2011 until January 2012. This is unprecedented in the National Nature Reserve's records, as the well is normally only dry between August and November, in drier years.

:: Groundwater levels Thames Valley are close to the lowest ever recorded, and many tributaries of the River Thames are running very low, particularly the River Pang, which is running at a third of average flows in Berkshire. The river, home to Wind In The Willows' Ratty, has dried up entirely upstream of Bucklebury for seven miles north to its source at Compton.

:: One of South East Water's key reservoirs at Ardingly, West Sussex, is less than half full, while Bewl Reservoir, in Kent, from which the firm takes a share of water, is at two-fifths of capacity.