Major Works, Managed
From survey to sign off. One adviser for your major works programme, with the leaseholder consultation handled properly throughout.
Overview
Major works on a block are rarely one job. They need a survey to define them, a specification and tender to price them, a Section 20 consultation to carry the leaseholders with you, and Contract Administration to deliver them. We package all of that into one accountable appointment.
Why it matters
A planned maintenance report identifies the liability; a managed programme delivers it. When survey, tender, consultation and delivery are split between parties, the gaps are where programmes go wrong and Section 20 positions are lost. One adviser keeps the decisions joined up.
One Accountable Adviser
Survey, specification, tender, consultation and Contract Administration under a single appointment.
Tenders Compared Like for Like
Tender returns normalised to a common basis and assessed for conformance, so selection is on merit.
Section 20, Evidenced
Section 20 run as a formal, evidenced process, with written updates to each leaseholder as the works proceed.
What the programme covers
- Survey and prioritisation: every element graded, urgent items separated from planned works, building on any existing PPM report.
- Specification and tender: a full specification, a competitive tender, normalised returns and a reasoned recommendation.
- Section 20 consultation: the statutory notices and a documented trail of leaseholder communication.
- Contract Administration: the contract let under the appropriate JCT form, inspections, a dated photographic record, documented variations and certification through to completion.
- Principal Designer: the project’s health and safety duties under the same appointment.
Who it is for
Managing agents, block and estate managers, freeholders and residents’ management companies delivering and consulting on major works to a building’s common parts. If you already hold a planned maintenance report, this is the natural next step: the plan becomes the programme.
Any part can also be instructed on its own, for example Contract Administration on works someone else has specified, or a specification and tender for works you will let yourself.
The RICS standard
RICS Black Book
RICS guidance for construction professionals, from tender to final account
Appointment: RICS Building Surveyor Services, under the RICS Standard or Short Form of Consultant’s Appointment.
A major works programme draws on several Black Book guidance notes: Tendering strategies for how the contractor is chosen, Interim valuations and payment and Valuing change for what is certified as the work proceeds, and Defining completion of construction works and Final account procedures for how the contract is closed. Where the programme comes out of a planned maintenance report, the survey behind it follows the RICS standard Planned preventative maintenance of commercial and residential property.
Leaseholder consultation is a legal requirement rather than an RICS one. Section 20 of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985 and the Service Charges (Consultation Requirements) (England) Regulations 2003 set the notices and the timings. If they are not followed, each leaseholder’s contribution to the works is limited to £250 unless the First-tier Tribunal grants dispensation.
Key terms
- Qualifying works
- Works to a building that would cost any one leaseholder more than £250, which brings Section 20 consultation into play.
- Notice of intention
- The first Section 20 notice, describing the works and inviting leaseholders’ observations and contractor nominations.
- Statement of estimates
- The second stage, setting out the estimates obtained and answering the observations received.
- Notice of reasons
- Where the contract does not go to the lowest estimate or to a leaseholder’s nominated contractor, the landlord must give reasons within 21 days of entering into it.
- Interim valuation
- The contract administrator’s assessment of work properly done, on which each payment certificate is based.
- Practical completion
- The point at which the works are certified complete and the rectification period begins.
- Final account
- The agreed final contract sum once every variation is valued, closing the contract.
How this maps to your RICS appointment
Major works are appointed as RICS Building Surveyor Services for construction, which covers the whole project, pre and post contract. The headings below follow the RICS Building Surveyor Services schedule, used with the RICS Standard or Short Form of Consultant’s Appointment, so the services you see here are the services you tick in your appointment.
Preparation
The brief, surveys and site investigations, feasibility, outline and detailed design, and statutory applications.
Tendering and procurement
Tender documents, tender lists, tender analysis and recommendations for appointing the contractor.
Enabling works
Strip-out, investigation and enabling works procured and managed before the main contract.
Health and safety
The client’s CDM 2015 obligations explained and our own complied with.
Appointing the Professional Team
Selection, terms and insurance of any other consultants the project needs.
Executing the Project
Contract documents, site meetings, inspections, interim valuations, variations priced before they are instructed, and handover.
Contractual services
Extensions of time, loss and expense and dispute support.
Technical services
Maintenance manuals, records, licences and consents, conservation and Building Regulations advice.
Case studies
A period block in a conservation area
Survey, tender to three contractors, Section 20 and Contract Administration under JCT Minor Works 2024, with conservation repairs in lime and reclaimed slate.
Two mansion blocks, one programme
Ten year plans identified around £3.8 million of liability; the external repairs that followed closed about eleven per cent under the contract sums.
31 valuations
Administering a brownfield redevelopment
Thirteen new flats on a former central city fuel station site, administered from tender documentation to the final certificate.
Our major works run from small conservation repairs to phased estate programmes and whole developments. See all case studies
Avalon Surveyors Ltd is regulated by RICS and has been in continuous practice since 2000. Major works are appointed as RICS Building Surveyor Services under the RICS Standard or Short Form of Consultant’s Appointment, covering the project end to end, pre and post contract.
Discuss your major works programme
Tell us about the building and the works you are facing, and we will come back to you within two business days.