Project Details
- Client Name: Notting Hill Genesis
- Project Value: Total refurbishment value of circa £8.9m from 2017-2022
- Sector:
- Services: Building Surveying, Architecture
- Key partners: Power Building Services Limited
- Contact: Craig Woodley – 020 8294 1000
We were appointed to provide building surveying services and perform contract administration for the purchase and repair (P&R) of circa 200 properties (to date) with an average value of £45,000. The properties typically consist of three-bed, traditionally constructed houses built between the 1950s and 1980s. They have been purchased off the open market, refurbished and let to Notting Hill Genesis (NHG) tenants. Part of the P&R programme is to also purchase and provide accommodation under the G15 ‘Homes for Heroes’ initiative which aims to provide good quality affordable homes for key workers.
The two key parts of our commission were to carry out and provide a pre-acquisition survey report, including cost estimate of works and
provision of floor plans, followed by a full contract administration role post purchase of the property. We have recently been appointed on NHG’s Framework for a further 4 years (minimum).
At an early stage, our building surveyors identified any potential properties of non-traditional construction including wider building defects. Through early reporting, we ensured that abortive costs were avoided and re-evaluation of interest in a property could be established at the earliest opportunity. As a multi-disciplinary consultancy, we were able to include an architectural technologist in the project team to appraise existing layouts from an architectural perspective. This allowed us to establish if NHG’s minimum space standards were met and consider opportunities for updating layouts to maximise space. Where we encountered properties that did not meet the minimum space standards, through early notification we instigated a collective review to establish if deemed unsuitable or if they could be accepted by relaxing some of the output requirements.
As part of our commission and to support future maintenance and life cycle planning, we developed a cost component matrix which indicated the amount spent on each building component that also aligned with a life cycle. This key data was then used internally by NHG to update their asset management database with respect to compiling accurate as-built data to enable future repair and re-investment works to be budgeted, planned and programmed effectively.
