The property
A flat within a Grade II listed conversion in west London, where the owner proposed a substantial scheme of alterations including a new mezzanine structure.
The brief
Works to a flat in a listed conversion answer to more parties than most projects: the owner’s budget, the freeholder’s licence to alter, and the consent regime protecting the listed fabric. The owner needed a realistic, itemised construction budget early, both to make their own decision and to support the licence to alter discussion with the freeholder.
What we did
- Elemental cost planBuilt item by item rather than by rate per square metre, including the structural interventions and the proposed mezzanine.
- Uncertainty shownProvisional sums stated as provisional sums, so the owner could see exactly where the uncertainty lived.
- Moved with the designRevised through design development rather than lagging it.
- Whole project budgetCompleted with the licence to alter, professional fees for contract administration, structural engineering and health and safety, and VAT.
The RICS standard
The cost plan followed NRM 1, the RICS rules for order of cost estimating and cost planning, which give the client a consistent, recognised basis for the budget and for tracking it as the design develops.
The building’s listed status meant the consenting path mattered as much as the price, and the scheme’s heritage dimension was carried through the subsequent planning and Listed Building Consent applications as the project developed.
A provisional budget with no hidden categories: construction, consent, fees and tax, itemised and revisable.
