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The chap whom the managing agent asks to turn the water on and off is going to be on-site at the same time that my plumber is here, so can supervise. I've told him exactly what we're planning - he's also somewhat taken aback at the email charge, so understands why we're doing what we're doing.

Then we have a problem, for sure. I imagine the plumber would have some ideas.

I'll print the notices out myself at work, put them through the letterboxes of the other flats and get the plumber to turn the water off. It's a gate valve in a man-hole, when I last saw it operated the chap used a tool made from a length of scaffold that had had the end squared off.

Developments: the managing agent has agreed to turn the water off. There is no charge for them to do this, but they will charge me £214.50 for them to warn my neighbours that the water is going off for 30 minutes. I have said that I'll do it myself - I can print 62 notes for less than £214.50...

Of the three plumbers who I've used over the past few years every one of them is convinced that there will be stop-cocks for the vertical distribution of mains water on the roof - there's no basement of cellar, so the water pipes are run horizontally around the flat roof. However, the managing...

There's (in theory, more on this to come) one main stop-cock for the whole block, then each flat has it's own stop-cock somewhere inside the premises. In my flat there's a steel pipe that comes out of the floor-slab, turns through 90 degrees and there's a brass stop-cock, rotating the handle of...

I have to shut off the water to all 64 flats, by lifting the manhole cover that's in the middle of the drive. My plausible deniability is low, if I'm found standing in said manhole with a spanner in my hand. I've asked for permission to do this, and been rebuffed. The plumber who came out this...

That's entirely possible. I'll get the knackered stop cock removed (somehow!), and then retest. If that has not resolved the issue then it has to be as you say I guess.

An update, plumber visited this morning - we have 3 bar of pressure, but 4.5 litres/minute. Plumber suspects that the non-functioning stop-cock is actually partially closed, and that resolving that would see a sudden increase in flow. However, the managing agent is refusing permission to turn...

I don't think so, always seems uniform in pressure. I've started a conversation with a local plumber about checking these things - will report back.

It's under an inspection hatch/rectangular manhole cover in the middle of the drive. That doesn't rule out mischievous children, but sets the bar quite high.

There's been some back and forth on meters - none of the flats has them, the water company would like us to have them, but there's a single (large) stopcock for the whole block, nothing at a floor or flat level for the supply side of things. We do have a stopcock, and I'm sure that it is fully...

We do indeed receive an individual water bill. Thames Water (back in 2015) were very keen to state that their responsibility ended at the property border, from what you are saying this was not accurate?

When I spoke to the managing agent about this last he said there was no room to put the kit, and that that was the end of the matter as far as he was concerned (for serving all the flats).

It'd be quicker and easier to move, but if we stay what you say is true.

We do actually own the freehold, which is then managed on our behalf - there is a group of directors drawn from the owners who work with the managing agent. It's a great example of Regulatory Capture. https://www.investopedia.com/terms/r/regulatory-capture.asp

I had a chat with the tech chap at Stuart Turner pumps, his opinion was that the 60 litre mainsboost would be insufficient, as it holds circa 30 litres of water, and the 9lpm shower head would burn through that in short order (4.5 lpm from the mains, 4.5 from the tank to give the 9lpm required...

Any sort of pressure test would involve dealing with the managing agent, and I'd rather run head first into a brick wall after setting fire to a bin full of tenners - both cheaper and more enjoyable. And quicker to accomplish. When I dealt with Thames Water back in 2015 they tried to work with...

4.5 litres/min (based on the time it took to fill a .5 litre measuring jug). Space is very, very tight - it's a flat, with very little storage space. We have a combi boiler, I can't think where we'd put the storage tank for a vented system. I could remake a storage unit in the utility room to...

Here's what Thames Water said when they delivered their report: On the 10.08.2015 a logger was deployed at the nearest hydrant to the property which is at the junction of Taymount Rise and Grassmount. I have attached the data and graph; the graph shows a pattern of the pressure increasing and...