Our most requested survey report is the Level 3 Building Survey. This is also sometimes known as a “full” survey or a “full structural” survey) will provide a comprehensive assessment of the structure and condition of the property.

The detail provided in the survey reports will give you a thorough understanding of what you are buying and will provide recommendations on how issues found within the property can be resolved.

We also conduct survey reports for Commercial properties, or reports specifically assessing one or two defects in particular.

There are many reasons why a property would need to be valued, and different processes should be followed depending on the type of valuation needed. The document that outlines these processes is the RICS Valuation Global Standards, commonly known as The Red Book.

Common types of valuation include:

• Staircasing for Shared Ownership or Help to Buy properties.

• Secured lending (e.g. a valuation on behalf of a bank or building society in advance of mortgage lending)

• Probate

• Capital Gains

• Insurance

• Market valuation

• Rental valuation

The Party Wall etc. Act 1996 (‘The Act’) is the legislation for the management of disputes between two Adjoining Owners when building works are taking place, involving specific “notifiable” works that are set out within the Act.

The purpose of the Act is to ensure that building work that is undertaken by one neighbour does not structurally undermine the neighbouring property in any way.

Our qualified team have worked inside local government so are well placed to advise clients of realistic development proposals. We have also had good success in gaining planning in unusual circumstances, through appeal, and with listed and historic buildings, some several hundred years old.

Because we can combine this with our expertise in valuation, construction, cost and feasibility, we are able to give our clients knowledgeable advice about how realistic their ideas are.

Fire safety has been an important consideration since the start of civilisation. Somewhat more recently, the first surveyors were appointed after the great fire of London to ensure that buildings were constructed of materials that would not allow the same fire spread to happen that’s caused such devastation before. This old rule survives today as requirement B4 in the building regulations. We are proud as chartered building engineers working and building surveying and building control to continue this heritage of helping people protect lives and property.

Expert witness work is carried out by our Director, Paul Hannent, who is qualified as Chartered Building Engineer, Chartered Builder, Chartered Environmentalist, Chartered Surveyor, having read building surveying at undergraduate level, post graduate certificates in both management and teaching, a master of science in architecture, energy and sustainability, as well as having undertaken the demanding RICS Expert Witness training. Paul has also lectured and examined in his subject, including developing and running the new MSc in Building Surveying at Kingston University and as such is a confident speaker and is able to explain his subject well.

Paul is often instructed as an independent expert witness both by lawyers and the parties themselves to provide the technical fact and detailed required to settle disputes. In this role, he brings both a depth and breadth of knowledge which is unique and cross disciplinary. In this way, he brings value and efficiency to the proceedings, which rarely are confined to one single area of practice.

By now, everyone should be familiar with The Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2015, as failure to comply with the Regulations may result in criminal liability, for which the maximum penalty is an unlimited fine, two year’s imprisonment or both.

We adopt a pragmatic approach to Construction Design & Management. We work closely with clients and designers to ensure a professional, reliable service that is fully compliant with current CDM regulations.

Health and Safety will be taken very seriously by the team and compliance with the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) is paramount to a successful and safe delivery of your project.

Our Engineers are fully qualified and specialise in residential and commercial structural design. We provide calculations as necessary for every design.

We offer structural surveys and full analysis reporting, on any aspect of a property, including fault finding and problem resolution.

Typically our domestic design solutions include:

• Loft conversions.

• Extensions

• Wall removals.

• Beam design

• Internal alterations

• Temporary works

• Building regulation approvals