Swiss Cottage library

• WE congratulate Camden Council and Cllr Adam Harrison in particular for the decarbonisation and heating upgrade, currently under way, at Sir Basil Spence’s (listed Grade II) Swiss Cottage library, (Why Swiss Cottage library is wrapped up in scaffolding, March 18).

Camden is the owner of many other iconic buildings, including Neave Brown’s Alexandra and Ainsworth Estate (listed Grade II*).

We residents get requests all the time to use our visually striking estate as a location for big-budget films, advertisements, fashion shoots, and music videos. CNJ readers will have often seen it used as a setting for TV dramas.

At the last Open House London event, there were 200 people (from all over the world) queueing outside one of the flats to see what the interior was like.

Now, as with Swiss Cottage library, the A&A requires renewal of its 40-year old heating system.

Like the library, our new heating system should reduce CO2 emissions and running costs, minimise heat loss while also improving the thermal performance of the building, and generate a significant proportion of its total energy consumption from the latest new technologies, including solar panels on the roofs.

As the TRA we have been pressing Camden, for many years, to work with us on this. But regrettably Camden’s technical staff seem to be stuck in heating technologies that belong to 40 years ago.

Despite our many objections they are doing everything they can to persuade us to accept a gas-burning replacement system that belongs in the 1970s, and that will continue emitting tons of CO2 until 2040 and beyond; not to mention the escalating price of gas and the ruthless regimes that sell it to us.

Camden has already installed the same type of system on other estates. These have failed right from the beginning, with frequent equipment failures, loss of heating and hot water, and endless repairs.

We would like to think that Cllr Harrison (and the other councillors) would agree this old technology is not the best way forward for Camden.

Inspired by the success of the library upgrade, we hope to meet him soon so that we can discuss a better, more sustainable and forward-looking strategy for our heating system.

ALEXANDRA & AINSWORTH TENANTS’ & RESIDENTS’ ASSOCIATION