The buildings
Two neighbouring mansion blocks of the early 1920s in the City of Westminster, seven storeys each, with shops trading at street level and around 180 homes above. Steel and concrete frames with solid brick infill, stone dressings, brick and stone parapets, timber sash windows and external metal stairs to the rear.
The plan
The managing agent instructed Avalon to survey both blocks and prepare ten year planned preventative maintenance reports. Each element was inspected, graded and costed, including fees, VAT and inflation.
- The smaller blockAround £109,000 of immediate work and a ten year liability of around £1.1 million.
- The larger blockAround £2 million of work needed in the near term, within a ten year liability of around £2.7 million.
- One pictureTogether, a ten year liability of around £3.8 million, set out in a form the agent could budget, consult on and recover.
From plan to works
Within months the external repairs identified in the plans were specified and out to tender, as one programme across both blocks.
- Specification and tenderA full specification for each block, priced competitively by three contractors, with the lowest compliant bid recommended on both.
- ContractsTwo JCT Minor Works contracts, around £424,000 and £911,000, run as one phased programme with Avalon as Contract Administrator and Principal Designer under CDM 2015.
- Working over shopsScaffold licences, protection over trading shopfronts, and a programme of letters to residents and commercial lessees throughout.
- The fabricStone crack repair, cleaning and protective coating; brick cleaning, repointing, lintel repairs and partial parapet rebuilds; sash window repair, reglazing and sealing; repairs to rear stairs, rainwater goods, bay roofs, main roofs and leadwork.
- Cost controlAround twenty variations on each block, every one valued and documented, across nearly forty interim certificates.
The standards
The plans followed the RICS professional standard Planned preventative maintenance of commercial and residential property. The works were administered under JCT contracts in line with the RICS Black Book on interim valuations, retention and final accounts, with leaseholders consulted under section 20 of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985.
Two buildings, one methodology, one programme: the plan, the price and the final account all came from the same desk.
The outcome
Both blocks reached practical completion together, with a six month rectification period and final certificates following. The combined final accounts came to around £1.18 million against contract sums of around £1.33 million.
Read more about our planned preventative maintenance and Major Works, Managed services.
