Case Studies (all competencies) Flashcards
West Thurrock - Design and Specification
General
- Cat A refurbishment – wanted to retain as much of the existing finishes as possible as they confirmed that they would be selling the property within the next year – therefore kept all existing sanitary ware, doors etc, Decorated the cladding but only to 3 elevations that were observable and just deep cleaned the floor slab after removal of the large mezzanine.
Precis of Work
Roof:
- Spot corrosion.
- Jet wash rooflight and roof.
- Spot corrosion.
- Option cost – treat all edges with cut edge corrosion (early onset).
- Option cost – Treat gutters with Delcote GS.
Elevations:
- Overhaul all external doors.
- PS for cladding trim repairs.
- Decorate all elevations except rear.
Internals:
- Remove tenant fixtures.
- Used new LED panel lighting from undercroft of the mezzanine and installed to top floor ancillary so only GF was replaced.
- Replace all carpet and floor coverings.
- Steam clean existing toiles – minor grouting repairs and replaced taps.
- Clean existing stair nosings.
- Retained all ironmongery (option cost included to replace).
- Service existing extracts.
- Service boiler.
- Remove mezzanine and core drill racking bolts.
- Tested and retained existing warehouse lighting.
Budget Cost Plan
- Client confirmed the exact works required – then prepared the BCP.
- BCP came to £115,000.
- Used rates from BCIS and our internal document (has itemised works with average tendered cost received over past 12 months).
Project Particulars:
- Contract sum: £100,000
- Contract: JCT Intermediate Contract with Contractor’s Design.
- Design portion: M&E design – for replacement of one extract fan to WC and new LED panel lighting and electric heaters to ancillary.
- Programme: 10 weeks.
What items did you specify in your specification West Thurrock - Design and Specification?
Roof:
- Tata steel roof aluminium roof sheets (patch repairs) - Specified as they matched the existing profile and materials and had LPBC approval to LPS 1181 Part 1.
- Specified that existing roof should be not washed with high pressure jets to prevent delamination of PVF2 coating.
Internals:
- Entrance matting - Gradus - Boulevard secondary matting.
- Gutter coating - HD Sharman Delcote GS - 10 year guarantee.
Unit 5 Eurocourt - tender queries, tender report, appointment of AI, contractors’ CPP - Design and Spec
Tender Queries:
- Cost for weather seal to RS door £350!
- Cost for redecoration of cladding expensive - £9,000 - was actually £7,000 when reduced. Should have been circa £32 sqm.
When did you advise that the AI be appointed for West Thurrock - Design and Specification? What part of the works were they required for?
- Needed to appoint approved inspector in time for them to be able to serve initial notice on the council that is validated 5 working days before works commenced.
- Fireboarding works to the portal frame and new lighting.
What did you ensure that the contractor’s CPP had in it for the works at West Thurrock?
- The works stated they were carrying out were correct.
- Emergency out of hours contact and site team - foreman, manager, contracts manager etc.
- Arrangement for COVID measures - staggered breaks, washing down and sterilising of surfaces and break out areas, thermometer checks for all entering site.
- Arrangements for new site personnel - toolbox talks, competence and licence checks and site inductions.
- Welfare arrangements.
- Prevention of falls from height - netting of rooflights, scaffholding etc.
What are the remedial options you suggested for the corroded guttering for Wandsworth - Design and Specification?
Decided to go for a gutter lining system as they were very corroded - would take a lot of prep to allow adhesion of the liquid system.
Plygene Liner System (HD Sharmans Plygene Gutterline System)
+ Arguably longer lasting than other systems.
+ Seamless - gutter joints cant fail which is common.
+ Flexible - can adjust to thermal movement of the building.
+ Non-bonded - can be installed in a range of conditions.
+ Quick installation.
- Expensive (double cost of liquid applied system).
Liquid System (HD Sharmans)
+ Cheaper - almost half the cost.
- Increased labour / installation time.
- Reduced life expectancy.
- Can’t be applied to gutters with too much corrosion.
Replacement:
+ Long warranty.
- Cost.
How was the schedule of dilapidations adjusted for the property in Leatherhead? What did you advise the client if they did not abide by the regulations and lied? Client Care
- The landlord had confirmed that they wished to demolish part of the ancillary accommodation that had been extended in the past and was demised to the tenant under the terms of the lease so costs for decorations and plaster repairs works would fall away to these areas.
- Additionally, they wanted to replace the existing roller shutter door with an insulated sectional door, therefore the repair and decoration works to the door could not be claimed for.
- Finally, the roof was to be oversheeted hich would supersede cleaning work to the asbestos cement roof valueless.
- The reduction in the cost of the claim was £8,000 - £5K cleaning asbestos roof sheets, £900 decoration to the roller shutter door and £2,000 for the portion of the ancillary being demolished.
- Further to appointing a contractor for the works, I issued the pricing document along with a revised schedule of dilapidations with the confirmed costs and items removed the items that would be superseded. The preliminaries were calculated on a pro-rata basis of the contract sum which I confirmed to the tenant’s surveyor.
Reasoned professional advice:
I advised the client that as their intentions for the property were now confirmed they would need to update the schedule. I advised that failure to do so intentionally would mean that there would be legal implications which would involve being investigated by the proper authorities which could lead to them committing a criminal offence under the Fraud Act 2006 due to misrepresentation.
Leatherhead (Client care) - for your dilapidations settlement why did you manage to achieve a settlement high than anticipated? What was your estimated recover compared to the contractual sum? How did you check that the works were undertaken in accordance with the lease?
- I managed to negotiate a settlement of £90K compared to an estimated settlement of £85K. This principally due to the tenant agreeing to pay for the carpet replacement which was initially thought to be contentious (they were in good condition).
- Prior to inspection I reviewed the tenant’s repair and reinstatement covenants to ensure I was clear on their contractual obligations - to keep the property in good and substantial repair and condition and to reinstate and make good.
- I inspected site principally to inspect the removal of the mezzanine. This reduced the contractual claim by £9K but the tenant had not made good the floor slab from removal of the floor bolts so the associated cost remained.
Wandsworth - Communication and Negotiation- can you explain the negotiation process following service of the schedule?
- Issued amended Scott schedule to the tenant’s surveyor with superseded items scored through further to landlord appointing my firm to undertake refurbishment works. This was accompanied with a covering email explaining the landlord’s intentions for the property and what items had been removed due to supersession - issued within 2 weeks to ensure compliance with dilaps protocol.
- Items superseded:
- RS door (being replaced with insulated sectional door).
- Timber window repairs - being replaced with UPVC units.
- Quantified demand was also issued as the lease had ended - this included information including:
- Landlord, tenant and the property.
- Recoverability of VAT.
- Summary of monetary sums owed: loss of rent, loss of service charge.
- Confirmed the landlord and their professional advisors will attend meetings under section 7 of the potocol.
- Tenant elected to undertake works - I inspected afterwards but number of items not completed (new vinyl floor to WC + had not removed tenant installed wet heating system and mezzanine not removed + rear cladding not repaired).
- Issued residual Scott schedule and confirmed contractors costs for these items + preliminaries and cost for landlords dilapidations professional fees (preparation and service of the schedule).
- Came to commercial agreement at £10,000.
- Formally documented the settlement with my firm’s settlement letter.
Marlborough Grove (Health and Safety) - What advice specifically did you give your client at with regards to their duties under the Control of Asbestos Regulations?
- I advised that the regulations state that the duty holder is responsible for managing asbestos: I explained that the duty holder is the owner of the non-domestic premises or the person that has clear responsibility for the maintenance or repair of the non-domestic premises. As the unit was untenanted, they were the duty holder who had responsibility for the managing asbestos and as the unit was constructed prior to 2000 it was likely that additional asbestos would be present in the premises.
Southampton (Inspection) - What was the EPC rating of the ? What advise did you give within the Vendor’s report regarding the EPC?
- B41 and didn’t expire for another 5 years.
- Advised that the property’s EPC was compliant with current regulations as it was way above the required rating of E and would not be affected by the changes imposed on 1 April 2023 (all properties even with existing leases will need to achieve an E).
Talk me through how you approached your site inspection for the vendors survey in Southampton from the point of arriving on site
- Met with the site contact to ensure they knew I was on site and signed in.
- Requested for any on site information the contact had so they could gather while I undertook the inspection.
- Had the contact confirm all site risks and any areas that were prohibited and whether I would need escorting (I didn’t).
- Walked the site externally to gather bearings.
- Inspected the building from the top down - started with roof.
- Elevations - elemental breakdown and description of main elements, form of construction and finishes. Then noted any significant defects (£5K or more) and looking for any health and safety issues / fire issues. No M&E engineer instructed so elemental breakdown of services from a building surveyor’s point of view - high level description, visual condition and age.
- Hardstandings, boundaries and means of access - elemental breakdown and description of elements (parking provisions, lighting etc), any major defects, checked for any legal / title issues with regards to access e.g shared access or presence of UKPN power station on site, noted accessibility generally and and issues, any environmental issues - checked for any invasive species etc.
- Same process but working from top down again. Opened up easily accessible areas to gain insight into construction - lifted ceiling tiles to conclude a insitu cast concrete floor to the FF ancillary and then inspected the main open plan retail area.
What defects did you find during your TDD inspection in Southampton? Explain the causes of each of these
- Widespread peeling and delamination of the PVF2 coating
- Gutters choked with vegetation and mud / silt
- Widespread delamination of decorative coating to purlins internally
Southampton - Inspection - what was your reasoned professional advice with regards to the report?
- Recommendation - no reason to advise a prospective purchaser against proceeding with the purchase of the building.
- Key survey findings - Key findings which are colour coded to give easy assessment of associated risk. Key risks included: PV2 coating at the end of serviceable life (widespread delamination) and needs to be recoated to prevent corrosion of exposed steel sheets - cost included in year 1 (recoverable from tenant), no issues reported with M&E installations, although inspection only undertake from building surveyor’s perspective.
- Energy Performance Certificate - B41.
- Solicitor’s enquiries - Confirm access and third party rights in relation of the east site boundary wall and brickwork piers that support a drainage run that comes from the adjacent property, confirm whether the sprinkler systems is in operation or has been decommissioned, request asbestos register as one was not viewed / available upon inspection.
Georgian Manner House, Sunningdale, Berkshire (Inspection) - were any parts listed? Provide some background on the property.
- The Property is Grade II listed. The entire building is Grade II listed and therefore according to listing practice the listing includes both the structure itself and any object or structure fixed to it (whether inside or outside) as well as any object or structure within the curtilage of the building.
- For these purposes, to be included within the curtilage of the building, the object or structure must have formed part of the land since before 1st July 1948.
- Grade II listed neo-Georgian mansion.
- Built in 1931 by Sir Hugo Cunliffe-Owen where it replaced a former mansion.
- He was a Director of an American tobacco company.
- The estate was sold to the crown then the building used as a Civil Defence College until 1950.
