Capital acted Contract Administrator, Structural Engineers, Clerk of Works, and Principal Designer for the project and were responsible for managing the initial investigation works, options appraisal, formulating an outline design proposal for final detailed design by the contractor and appointing third party consultants and statutory bodies for independent sign off (i.e., Fire Engineers & Building Control)

We were also responsible for developing and formulating the employer’s requirements, contract documents, formulating design solutions, Contract Administration, quality assurance and control and handover procedures on site.

The scheme came about following the issue of the Consolidated Advice Note from the Government which stated, “Balconies including combustible materials may not meet an appropriate standard of safety and could pose a risk to the health and safety of residents and other building users”.  The client therefore decided to replace the existing combustible decking and cladding materials within the balcony areas with non-combustible replacement materials of Euroclass A1 / A2 materials across a number of affected sites within its housing portfolio including both general needs and sheltered housing.

The design and statutory solutions were developed through a process of investigations during the peak of the Covid pandemic which presented difficulties for accessing properties to undertake pre-inspections, however this was overcome using a variety of techniques in order to finalise the specification and pre contract estimates for the works. The project started on site in Feb 2022 with works completed in August 2022.

The project was procured using a single stage traditional lump-sum contract procurement route, due to the difficulties presented by the Covid pandemic, many contractors were hesitant to even bid for such works, fearful of further lockdowns and supply chain disruption. Working closely with the appointed contractor and fire engineering consultants we were able to undertake early opening-up to confirm assumptions made during the Covid pandemic and ensure any additionally required materials were ordered in good time so as not to increase the overall project programme.

As Contract Administrators for the project a key function was working with the contractor on their design portion of the works and the people responsible for quality control on site during construction.  The quality control processes were developed through a series of meetings on site with the operatives responsible for day-to-day management of the works.

Within the works spread across numerous sites, our long-standing experience in this type of work and collaborative approach to working with third party consultants, contractors, clients, and stakeholders resulted in a positive outcome for the client.