Project Management

We manage a project team on an entire project from inception to completion.

We have varied experience in acting as a Project Manager and have managed large and small multi-disciplinary project teams with multiple stakeholders. This has ranged from schemes on private houses from £30,000 to £400,000, commercial projects between £100,000 and £2M, right through to public sector schemes from £1M to £20M.

Typical tasks we carry out under this role are:

  • appoint an architect/designer and manage/coordinate them to produce your design
  • appoint a structural engineer for the parts needed
  • coordinate all survey work, manage the programme, monitor cost and tailor to your budget
  • liaise with planners etc.
  • tender the job to a number of contractors for a competitive price
  • appoint the contractor under a formal contract
  • manage the contract administration, monitor the work
  • carry out quality ‘snagging’ on completion
  • carry out an end of defects period inspection after 12 months and deal with any defects found through retention monies and contract provisions

We can also offer our allied services for survey work, party walls and CDM where required.

If you have a project in mind, please contact us to discuss your needs.

 

CDM Advisory Services

– to provide Client Advisory Services on projects under the Construction Design and Management Regulations, as an Incorporated Member of the Association of Project Safety.

Changes to Construction Design & Management Regulations

CDM regulations changed in April 2015 to CDM 2015, where the previous CDM Co-ordinator role disappeared and their duties were divided and absorbed by clients and designers. We are ideally placed to provide advice on fulfilling those duties. We have many years of experience of CDM on a wide range of projects from commercial and public work through to infrastructure and well known public monuments.

This link gives an overview and downloadable guides for each role: http://www.citb.co.uk/health-safety-and-other-topics/health-safety/construction-design-and-management-regulations/cdm-guidance-documents/

CDM Client Duties

We support Clients in discharging their duties under the CDM regulations, by with advice and guidance for these duties:

  • Produce CDM F10 Notification and log with HSE where required.
  • Carry out CDM competency checks on the design team and contractor.
  • Check CDM Construction Phase Plan / Arrange Amendments.
  • Check site welfare arrangements are in place.
  • Check the principal designer is upholding their CDM duties.
  • Check the contractor is upholding their CDM duties.

CDM Principal Designer Duties

We provide support and guidance for these duties:

  • Produce CDM Pre Construction Information and issue to the required parties.
  • Liaise with the design team to promote safety consideration in design stages and check they are upholding their duties.
  • Liaise with the Principal Contractor to promote safety consideration throughout.
  • Produce the CDM Health & Safety File.

You can find more detailed information on CDM here, or call us for a chat about it.

Surveys

We provide a selection of survey services to suit your project, budgeting and strategy needs – condition surveys, PPM surveys and measured surveys:

  • For use in planning an alteration or refurbishment project
  • For use in creating maintenance plans (PPM plans)
  • For stock condition records
  • For monitoring maintenance performance and upkeep by a third party

Please note we do not provide Homebuyer reports, home purchase surveys or valuations. If you wish to arrange for a home survey, you should consult the directory of RICS Chartered Surveyors at www.ricsfirms.com.

Building Survey (Condition Survey)

This detailed survey is relevant if you want to budget for works or prior to undertaking alterations or refurbishment. This fully describes the building, its defects, repairs needed and the likely costs of them, future maintenance considerations and more. This report includes approximately 60 photographs.

This report is intended to:
– Describe the building
– Describe the locality and environmental issues noted
– Identify defects present now
– Identify defects likely in the future
– Advise methods for correcting those defects
– Advise likely costs for correcting those defects
– Advise future maintenance requirements
– Advise on other issues pertinent to a purchase of the property

This report does not:
– Recommend general improvement, refurbishment or aesthetic redecoration work
– Give legal advice
– Recommend a purchase continues or is stopped
– Give a valuation of the property or comment on value for money
– Comment on the area, neighbourhood, crime or social issues or desirability of the property
– Please also see Limitations below

PPM Survey

A PPM (Planned Preventative Maintenance) Survey is used to establish the maintenance needs, priorities and costs for building repairs over the coming five or ten years. This type of survey is best suited to those responsible for budgeting for the up keep of larger buildings or estates. The survey information is collated into a PPM Plan, sometimes called a Maintenance Plan or 5 Year Plan. This is presented as a spreadsheet briefly describing the elements, assigning a condition rating, a priority rating and indicating budget cost and the years due with additional comments and photo graph cross references. Please also see the Limitations below. You can read more about PPM plans here.

Measured Survey

A Measured Survey is undertaken to create a scale drawing of a building when there is no previous drawing or dimension information. The surveyors attend and physically measure the building, collecting all the measurement data as they go. This may be by use of traditional tape measures, modern ‘Disto’ laser measures, or cutting edge scanning equipment. The data is then taken back to the office and plotted into AutoCAD, the industry standard computer drawing software.  The resulting plans are provided to scale, and sent as an Adobe PDF format file which is widely accessible with free viewing software available. Paper plans can be provided if required.

Limitations

These surveys cannot identify hidden defects within construction or which are hidden from view by fittings, furniture or personal effects, but the surveyor uses their experience to identify any signs or symptoms of hidden defects where appropriate and possible.

The surveyor:

– visually inspects the building from ground level in the accessible grounds, public areas and from the freely and safely accessible interior spaces
– uses a portable ladder to access low roofs for closer inspection
– inspects upper roofs by binoculars from ground level
– opens loft and eaves hatches to access the roof spaces, but does not enter unless it is safe to do so
– lifts drain covers which are lightweight and operable, but not heavy or seized covers
– does not lift floor coverings
– does not move fittings, furniture or personal effects
– does not do any other opening up or breaking into the construction
– does not break into locked areas
– does not enter areas which are unsafe, such as confined spaces or un-boarded lofts
– does not access private land adjacent
– does not undo, dismantle or test any services installations, pipework or drainage
– does not open and operate every window or door, item of ironmongery, drawer or cupboard in the property

The surveyor is not an engineer. If you have particular concerns about the services in a property, including the plumbing, you should engage an engineer to inspect it. You should always have the electrical installation inspected by a qualified electrical engineer or electrician. You should always ask your legal adviser to obtain copies of the gas installation and servicing records. You should only have gas supply and appliance work carried out by a registered Gas Safe engineer.

We are happy to discuss a bespoke service if you have a particular requirement.

If you still have questions, just call for a chat or email us.

If you would like a quotation, please request a quote.

Specification and Schedules of Works

– to detail proposed works in technical documents suitable for tendering or use in delivery by a contractor.

We have many years experience of creating written specifications and schedules of works. These can be done in a number of formats:

  • Drawing-based Schedule of Works; where the instructional text is placed directly on the technical drawings.
  • Simple Schedule of Works; where a single document concisely lists what is to be done, where, how and to what quality.
  • Full Tender Documents; very detailed specification documents arranged into three parts:
    1. Preliminaries, detailing the applicable contractual arrangements, rules and procedures
    2. Pre-ambles, detailing the quality of materials and workmanship required
    3. Schedule of Works, detailing what is to be done and where
  • We support any of the above with technical drawings produced on AutoCAD as required.
  • Any of the above can be provided within a standard contractual framework, such as a JCT from of contract among others.

Budget for planned and preventative building maintenance – get a PPM Plan…

With many years of experience in maintenance operations, We are expert in surveying and planning for it. If you are the person responsible for setting budgets for your building(s) upkeep you have three key areas to allow for:

  1. Reactive maintenance costs – to cover unplanned damage and breakdown events
  2. Planned & Preventative Maintenance – expenditure scheduled in advance and designed to repair items as they wear out or to renew them before they breakdown.
  3. Project work – capital expenditure on refurbishment, alteration or improvement.

Dealing with the second of these, Planned & Preventative Maintenance (PPM), can be complex. Do you do your painting or roofing? Deal with safety problems first or protect your business operations?

What to do when and for how much?

The only way to do it properly is to have a PPM Plan. This plan is a schedule of all the major components and the forthcoming years in which expenditure on their upkeep will be needed. It details the likely repair action that will be required and the costs to budget. The plan can allocate priorities to the works; e.g. a safety risk would be top priority, business continuity issues high, asset value protection could be medium and aesthetics or ancillary areas might be a lower priority. The plan also takes account of the current condition of the components and when they will reach the end of their life. The works can then be put into the corresponding year. In this way you regain control and can budget accordingly.

An accurate survey is the first step

A thorough PPM survey is the first step in creating a good PPM Plan. An inspection of the building, recording item type, condition, works required and allocating priorities is made and is the basis for creation of the PPM Plan.

Gain strategic control

With your PPM Plan in hand you can take strategic decisions. For instance, you might choose not to paint the windows for an extra year or two to help save money for a project which will renew them in a self finished material and then never pay to paint them again. Or leave a whole area or building vacant and out of maintenance because its cheaper to use and maintain another. There are many ways you can use the insight a PPM Plan will give you. The key is putting the right information in it.

We’ll be delighted to help you plan for the future.

Contact us for more information and a quote.

Contract Administration

– to arrange and control building works through the use of a formal contract for a fair and equitable outcome for all parties.

We have delivered many projects through the use of standard forms of contract, where we have been the named Contract Administrator, responsible for applying and overseeing the contract. These have mostly been JCT forms of contract, though we have some experience of other organisation’s forms of contract if required.

Condition Surveys

– to establish the current state of the building, defects present now or forthcoming and recommend works for repair or upkeep and to confirm the work needed in a project.

We undertake a range of condition surveys, which can be used for different purposes:

  • For use in planning an alteration or refurbishment project
  • For use in creating maintenance plans (PPM plans)
  • For stock condition records
  • For monitoring maintenance performance and upkeep by a third party

Please note we do not provide Homebuyer reports, home purchase surveys or valuations; this article gives advice on the benefits of getting a proper survey from a Chartered Surveyor who offers those services. If you wish to arrange for a home survey, you should consult the directory of RICS Chartered Surveyors at www.ricsfirms.com.

 

Independent Inspection and Certification

– to objectively and independently verify the completion of works to required statutory, contractual and reasonable best practice levels.

We have acted as an Independent Inspector and also as an Independent Certifier for a number of organisations.

In these roles we can verify and report that buildings or works are:

  • free from defect or shortcoming
  • meet design criteria
  • meet Employers Requirements
  • compliant to regulations
  • have been completed to a particular stage or milestone
  • have met another specific criteria as required

Please note that this role is different from building control inspection which is only carried out by local authorities or approved inspector organisations.

Quality and Progress Monitoring

– to independently inspect works on site during construction and provide written reports to highlight adverse issues.

We can carefully monitor works during construction and provide reports to the client which describe the works organisation, progress, quality and safety issues seen. The site visits can be daily, weekly or monthly as required.

For reporting, if the client is local to the work, a face to face update on immediate issues is invaluable. Written reports can be supplemented with photographs which record and illustrate points of note, again this can be done at intervals as required and agreed.

We will also highlight issues arising to the  contractor’s management, especially where a safety issue is seen or where a defect might soon be covered over or be part of works on which later stages rely. Most reputable contractors are very receptive to constructive feedback and early warnings of issues which save them having to come back or undo work later to resolve.

Good monitoring and communication can avoid, manage and reduce conflict between the client and contractor.

Commercial Acquisition Surveys

– to survey and report on description, condition, statutory compliance, likely significant costs and risks and other matters in relation to a prospective leasehold or freehold acquisition.

We have experience of providing commercial acquisition surveys to various clients. A typical scope is as follows, but is not exhaustive and could be tailored to your needs:

  • Address
  • Location
  • Environmental risks
  • Statutory rights
  • Building description
  • Building construction
  • External condition
    • Roofs – pitched
    • Roofs – flat
    • Flashings
    • Chimneys
    • Parapets
    • Gutters and downpipes
    • Structure
    • Walls
    • Joinery
    • External works
    • External decorations
    • Signage and lighting
  • Internal condition
    • Roof spaces
    • Tenants accommodation
    • Public areas
    • Cellar
    • Kitchens
    • External areas condition
    • Boundaries
    • Car park
    • Soft landscaping
    • Hard landscaping
    • Service areas
    • Outbuildings
  • Services
    • Electrical systems
    • Gas
    • Water
    • Drainage
    • Heating and hot water
    • Ventilation
  • Statutory compliance
  • Facilities for people with disabilities
  • Fire protection
  • Asbestos
  • Licensing issues
  • Miscellaneous issues
  • Adjoining land and buildings
  • Opportunity for development
  • Advertisement board opportunities
  • Conclusion
  • Budget Costs

 

Schedules of Condition

– a written and photographic record of the state of the building at a point in time, for protection against loss or claim. Particularly useful for Landlords and Tenants and in Party Wall matters.

It may be important to make a record of a building prior to undertaking works. This is generally done for a Party Wall Award, but may be useful for many building situations. In these cases a Schedule of Condition is taken; this is a descriptive and photographic record of a property at a point in time before the work starts. It can be used later to confirm or reject any claim that damage or defect has arisen as a result of the works.

We can provide this service, including providing a printed hard copy of the photographic schedule for each party if required.

Project Programming

– to determine and monitor the timing and sequence of operations for optimum delivery of a project.

We use project management software to create project programmes in text and graphic form. The most common type of these is the Gantt chart, which shows the sequence of operations and their inter-dependencies.  This allows the project to be seen in new ways and this insight allows management and re-arrangement of tasks to achieve savings in time and cost. In some cases the whole strategy of a project is re-thought because of critical factors not appreciated before.

Due Diligence and Peer Review

– to independently inspect, review and report on agreed technical matters in contracts, projects and agreements, providing an objective check of compliance.

We provide a Due Diligence service for clients who have an interest or prospective commitment to a property or project.

We provide a Peer Review service for project teams and members who require an oversight by a third party to uphold quality and compliance.

Both these services enable us to check on a project through a number of aspects:

  • regulatory compliance
  • planning compliance
  • design competency and quality
  • safety issues
  • environmental impact
  • neighbourly issues
  • business or operational impact
  • others as dictated by the client

Defects Inspection and Resolution

– to investigate and diagnose a specific defect, recommend a remedy and if required, specify and oversee it being carried out.

We will inspect your building defect and use our experience of building pathology to analyse the symptoms, mechanics of the failure and identify the causes. We can then report and recommend the solutions required or, if you prefer we can provide a detailed specification for a contractor to quote for and undertake the required repairs. Furthermore we can give you peace of mind by overseeing their work and checking the end product.

SPAB – The Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings

The Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings was founded by William Morris in 1877 to counteract the highly destructive ‘restoration’ of medieval buildings being practised by many Victorian architects. Today it is the largest, oldest and most technically expert national pressure group fighting to save old buildings from decay, demolition and damage.

SPAB bases its work on the manifesto written by William Morris in 1877, which is still relevant today. It’s important to note the distinction made between restoration and protection. This educational manifesto is well worth a read and can be found here: http://www.spab.org.uk/what-is-spab-/the-manifesto/

Dorian Burt MRICS is a Member of the Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings.

Full Project Delivery

– to survey, specify, procure, administer and monitor a whole project (scope as agreed)

Instead of picking from individual services, you may wish to have an entire project delivered by us. This could be for:

  • Alteration and Improvement Works
  • Refurbishment and Fit Out
  • Defects Repair Works
  • Planned or Preventative Maintenance Works

We can provide you with a bespoke service to deliver this from start to finish.