Residential or Commercial
We are able to offer you a tailor made Project Management service for your project depending on the level of help and assistance you require. The Practice strives to offer value to all of our Clients and the earlier we are appointed on the project, the more we feel we are able to value engineer your project without affecting the quality.
We have over twenty five years of experience in project managing individual house refurbishments through to new doctor’s surgeries and large residential projects. If we are appointed at the outset we are able to assist in preparing the project brief, advise on the budget and assist with funding arrangements. We will advise and liaise with the selection of other consultants and take the lead role on the project ensuring your goals are achieved throughout the project.
With our in-house Quantity Surveyors we are able to assist, or undertake, the tender process and advise on the selection of the suitable contractor and the different routes of undertaking the works on site. In conjunction with you, we will then agree on the start and completion dates with time critical dates agreed, to enable the project to meet the required dates.
We are able to offer full management of the project ensuring that the work is undertaken on time, to the correct standard and quality. In conjunction with this, we can manage and control the financial aspects of the project to ensure that your budgets are adhered to all the way to completion. We believe this ability to offer all of this in-house helps us to add value and cost certainty to our valued Clients.
The project management role will also ensure that all statutory approvals are in place before, during and on completion of the project. We will organise and arrange the formal handover on completion and ensure that you are fully conversant with how the project functions and the building operates to maximise your enjoyment of the end product.
Many thanks for your prompt attention to my request regarding works to our property. Work is now proceeding at a pace and my wife is already grumbling at the dirt and noise! Thank you one again. more
The Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2015 (CDM2015) came into force in 2015, with the key aim to integrate health and safety into the management of a project and to encourage everyone involved to work together.
HSE must be notified of projects where construction work is expected to:
(a) last more than 30 working days and have more than 20 people working simultaneously at any point in the project; or
(b) involve more than 500 person days, for example 50 people working for over 10 days.
In the case of notifiable projects, clients must appoint a competent Principal Designer as soon as practicable after the initial design work. Those clients without construction expertise should rely on the Principal Designer’s advice on how best to meet their duties, but the Principal Designer will need the client’s support and input to be able to carry out their work effectively. The client remains responsible for ensuring that client duties are met.
PWH has extensive experience in all aspects of Health & Safety in construction across a wide range of projects. As a practice we also have principle members who are registered members of the Association for Project Safety (APS).
A summary of the duties for notifiable projects and how they are applied is shown below:
Principle Contractors, Contractors and everyone else involved in construction activities all have duties and responsibilities under the 2015 regulations.
The ability to understand how a building works and has been constructed is integral in being able to undertake and complete a thorough building survey. The expertise of Chartered Building Surveyors and a Building Conservation Surveyor helps us to understand historic buildings and structures in depth. This enables a thorough report to be produced that will detail how the building has been constructed, the techniques used, any defects that are apparent, and the most sympathetic methods of repair and/or restoration which benefits you as the Client.
A Condition Survey will look into all of the individual issues, including the structure and damp. The report is usually prepared on a room by room basis and gives a full and thorough record of the building and its individual rooms. This report is of significant benefit if maintenance is planned for the building and advice is needed on where priorities should be given. The other significant time this should be used is in conjunction with a new lease as it will determine the condition of the property at the commencement of the lease. This report is also provided with plans and photographs where it is required to demonstrate an issue with the building.
PWH is able to offer you, as the Client, a full range of services with our experienced team of in-house surveyors. The team have over twenty five years of experience in surveying and recording properties, structures and features to produce reports and plans that will accompany statutory planning applications, conservation management plans, and tenders for restoration and consolidation works.
The on-site recording is carried out with the use of traditional tape measures and the backing of modern lasers and a total station. This enables us to offer you a full range of services in-house which reduces time delays on projects and ensures a certainty on the quality level of the work that is undertaken. The on-site surveys include the full measurement and recording of buildings, structures and features on a site to enable the production of a CAD drawing in a digital format. The recording of the buildings and features will be fully detailed and photographed to enable scaled drawings to be produced in accordance with English Heritage guidance on the measuring and recording of buildings and structures. The drawings, photographs and recording information will all be able to assist with the submission of any Statutory consents.
The production of a full topographical survey can also be undertaken by our experienced team, using our own total station. We are able to survey your site or grounds and produce a digital survey drawing referenced back to Ordinance datum. This will record all of the significant features on site including buildings, footpaths, rivers and trees and is invaluable when considering existing and future uses of a site.
The understanding of building techniques is also a specific requirement for any of our surveyors to enable us to help you to understand your building. The team are experienced in the use of cob, thatch, stone walling and the use and application of lime on traditional buildings. This enables us to be able to specify the correct use of materials, diagnose defects due to the use of inappropriate materials and professionally manage the use of traditional materials and techniques on site.
A Conservation Management Plan should be developed and prepared so that it will help you, as the property or land owner, programme and budget manage the maintenance of the buildings, structures, footpaths, waterways and other features on the site.
The Management Plan will be structured to suit your needs as the property custodian and will be designed to be used as a valuable everyday reference document by you when you are running or managing the site. The Management Plan should include reference to all necessary documents that will enable the daily, weekly and yearly functions to be prepared and budgeted by you, the end user.
The Management Plan need not be lengthy or complicated, but will be developed by us in a format that you will find to be easy to use. A good Conservation Management Plan should be user friendly, a valuable reference tool and take into account all aspects of the site from maintenance to public access.
The Management Plan may need to incorporate other surveys of the site to enable the plan to be fully developed. We are able to undertake a full range of these surveys from structural surveys, public access audits, site condition reports and topographical and measured surveys, all in-house. We are also able to undertake archaeological, tree, ecological, hydrological and wildlife surveys through other consultants that we use on a regular basis. Interaction with the public is an essential part of the preparation of the plan and we are able to undertake, organise and host public consultation events, drawing this valuable information into the end plan.
The Management Plan can also be used to support a Heritage Lottery Fund Application.
The ability to obtain the necessary statutory consents is imperative for you, as the property owner, before any works are carried out to either the building or the site. We have significant experience in discussing and negotiating with both the Local Authority Conservation and Planning Officers and the representatives from English Heritage with the aim of achieving a satisfactory outcome.
Listed Building Consent is required if you, as the owner of a building that is Listed, wish to demolish, alter or extend it in a way that affects its character or appearance as a building or site of special architectural or historic interest. This may involve the preparation of scaled drawings, reports and specifications of work that will need to accompany the statutory application. The application will be submitted to the Local Authority and we will help aid the process through negotiations with the Planning and Conservation Officers. We have a good working relationship with Councils throughout the South West and believe this helps us to achieve a successful outcome.
Scheduled Monument Consent is required from English Heritage before any work on a scheduled monument can commence. The submission of fully detailed drawings is required along with detailed schedules and specifications of work to enable English Heritage to determine and issue Consent. We are experienced in discussing the needs of your site with English Heritage and finding a way that meets the requirements of all the interested parties. We are also able to assist with obtaining consent for emergency works when a scheduled monument is at high risk and recently, in conjunction with English Heritage, undertook and obtained consent for emergency works within an eight week period. This close working relationship helped protect a scheduled monument from significant risk and collapse.
PWH has extensive experience and knowledge, with the broad skills of Chartered Quantity and Building Surveyors, of the specification and procurement of all types of contract.
The preparation of project and site specific detailed conservation specifications is able to be produced for the benefit of you, the Client. The specifications can confirm exactly how the restoration and conservation work will be carried out on the project. This can include the sequence of events that need to occur, the programming of the works to suit your specific requirements and the tolerances and performance requirements of the materials to be used on site. The specification can include the exact details that you require for the materials and mixes to be used and this could include the quarry that a particular sand has to be sourced from. This is all to aid the benefit, quality and authenticity of the restoration work to match the original materials.
The production of a measured schedule of works can be included which will quantify the exact extent of work. This document, in association with the detailed specification, will help ensure cost certainty of the project which benefits the Clients with budgetary controls. Tenders will be issued to a maximum of six carefully selected contractors who are deemed suitable to undertake the specific project. A full tender report will be produced on receipt of the tenders, this will include checking the quality of the tender and the deliverability of the rates stated.
The tender report will recommend to you the preferred contractor and the contract details. These details can be included in the formal contract documents that we will produce for the project for the safety and protection of you as our Client.
Thank you for your works with Hill Steps and Stile Field – we have received a number of compliments which is always good to hear.