The professional team for a Project in Property

A Residential Development Project will require input from a team of professionals each playing an important part in its planning and implementation. The Developer should be sure to appoint the professional team with clear instructions so that no part of the project is omitted and neither is there any misunderstanding as to who is responsible for each task. It is therefore useful to prepare a team list of the professionals as soon as these appointments have been made.

Team

The team list should give contact details of the professionals engaged for the project. These may include Architect, Civil and Structural Engineers, Landscape Architect, Quantity Surveyor, Project Manager, Principle Designer, New Home Warrantor, Land Surveyor, Hydrologist, Arboriculturist, Ecologist, SAP Architect, Building Control Surveyor, Soils and Environmental Surveyors, M & E Engineers and Lawyer.

This is not a list of subcontractors. The appointment of subcontractors will come later in the project if you are undertaking the main contract yourself in the procurement process. Once terms are agreed with professional consultants and appointments made the team list can be circulated to all of them to allow professionals to contact each other for plans and specifications and consultation. Members of the team will communicate with each other, check and question information and notify alterations and updates to the Project Manager.

This communication will assist the Principal Designer in his role of ensuring all design elements are communicated and understood and taken into accuracy by all team members to avoid omissions and misunderstandings. The Principal Designer will ensure that the consultants’ professional indemnity insurances are collated and retained on file for insurance purposes. Let us then consider the team list and see who does what.

Architect

The Architect will design the scheme and prepare site plans, floor plans, elevations and sections to obtain planning permission for the houses to be built. Upon grant of planning permission he will prepare working drawings and specifications for engineers and subcontractors. He will show the estate road where required for later detail by the civil engineer. He may also prepare transfer plans for sales and registration at the land registry and plans for services within the dwellings showing positions of power points and radiators.

Landscape Architect

The Landscape Architect may mark up a landscape plan showing hard and soft landscaping detailing plants and providing a guide for their maintenance. On simple schemes the Architect may incorporate this on his site plan and this is often enough to satisfy the landscape condition.

Structural Engineer

The plans prepared by the architect will be submitted to the structural engineer so that he can calculate loadings and identify requirements for steels and padstones and prepare sub-structure drawings.

Civil Engineer

The civil engineer will be responsible for foul and surface water drainage, estate roads and hard landscaping. They should notify the drainage authority of connection to the public sever and obtain consent for this. This is the S106 Agreement under the Water Industries Act 1990. They will analyse ground levels to see what retaining walls might need to be constructed and if of a certain height will draw up structural drawings for these.

Mechanical and Electrical Engineer

M & E Engineers are not always vital to the team. This is not to say that they don’t make a valuable contribution but for a smaller project the idea of involving one additional member of the team to draw up service drawings may not seem necessary. They will prepare the mechanical and electrical drawings and arrange the services to the site. They may also be responsible for preparing Energy Performance information at the end of the project.

Building Inspector

Building Inspectors used to be employed by local authorities building control departments to ensure that buildings meet the building regulations. Today they are Approved Inspectors (AIs), qualified to undertake building control work in accordance with s49 Building Act 1984 and the building approved inspectors regulations, and they are often privately owned firms of chartered surveyors. It is sometimes useful to allow the new home warrantor to select his preferred building inspector to avoid duplication of inspections. Alternatively some local authorities still retain building control departments often working for several adjoining local authorities.

Quantity Surveyor

Quantity Surveyors prepare cost schedules for construction projects. They are not always required on smaller residential projects where experienced developers can use historical building cost information to produce cost schedules. A breakdown of build costs will be essential to an understanding of the costs to be incurred in the project.

Party Wall Surveyor

Where a project involves construction or excavation within six metres of a party wall, a party wall notice will need to be served. A Party Wall Surveyor will set out the works to be undertaken and serve notice on the adjoining owner. The adjoining owner may then agree to the works or appoint his own Party Wall Surveyor to agree to the works. If there is any dispute between them a third surveyor will be appointed to decide the appropriate course of action.

Land Surveyor

The Land Surveyor will prepare a scale topographical survey of the site prior to construction regarding buildings, levels and features. This is a most useful survey as it may reveal discrepancies with title plans. It will provide the Architect with a scale plan upon which to base his site layout and the engineer with levels for him to make his recommendations. The Land Surveyor may return to site just prior to foundation construction to set out the works.

Environmental Surveyor

A soils survey may need to be undertaken to ascertain ground conditions for foundation design and to establish whether there is contamination of soil. The environmental survey employs a rig to drill down into the substructure to collect samples for testing. Where site has been used for industrial purposes it will be important to have soil samples analysed and it should be appreciated that where there has been contamination soil will need to be removed. This may be a significant cost.

New Home Warrantor

A New Home Warranty is issued by an insurance company and is a warranty against financial loss incurred from structural failure of a new home. Most such warranties offer a remedial period of two years from legal completion of a house where minor faults are remedied at no cost to the buyer and a period of ten years structural guarantee. The NHBC was at one time the only body to issue such warranties but today there are a number of insurers in the market many of whom are retail businesses re-insuring in the insurance markets. The New Home Warrantor is responsible for ensuring that the housebuilder has a new homes code in place such that the buyer is clear about such matters as service routes, suppliers, operational procedures for fittings and contact numbers for maintenance.

Ecologist

An ecologist survey and report is often a requirement of a planning application. Such a report will make recommendations which are often recited or referred to in a planning condition attached to a planning permission. Many species of wildlife are protected under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 S 1-27 which is regulated by Natural England from whom licences have to be obtained when developments may effect wildlife habitats. In view of the sensitivity of timing of studies on site, an ecology survey can take a considerable time to prepare. The first requirement is the Provisional Ecology Assessment in which the wildlife to be studied is identified. Clearly this should be sought early in the project planning as in some cases the viability of the project may be called into question by the result. The Ecologist is the expert to prepare proposals for Biodiversity Net Gain where this is a requirement.

SAPs Assessor

A Standard Assessment Procedure is undertaken pursuant to Part L Building Regulations which is concerned with energy efficiency. A new home has to comply with SAP ratings which are required to produce an Energy Performance Certificate. It is usual to submit drawings to a SAP Specialist at design stage so that he can advise whether modifications will need to be made prior to construction. The SAP Specialist will measure the area of the proposed building, examine the specification of materials and the energy consumption of the heating system lighting, ventilation and renewable technologies. This information will be uploaded to software to product a target emission rate (TER). Upon completion of the building a further examination of the new home will take place including an air test and the information submitted to the building inspector for him to issue the final certificate.

Hydrologist

With flooding an increasing concern it can be important to ensure is that surface water from the site drains well, and that buildings are constructed with sufficient raised floor levels such that any flooding does not affect occupants.

Acoustics Consultant

Acoustics Consultants will specify materials and design of exterior walls, floors and roofs to mitigate noise and vibration from external sources such as flight paths, motorways and underground railway tunnels. Sound transmission whether airborne or impact sound is covered by Part E of the building regulations and therefore dealt with by the architect in his design and specification.

Health & Safety Consultant

Building sites have to comply with Construction Design and Management Regulations and there are a number of documents that will be kept on site to evidence the adherence to health and safety. The Health & Safety Consultant will make frequent visits to site to ensure that procedures for health and safety are being followed and that all required documentation is maintained on site. The appointment of Health & Safety Consultant is for the developer to decide. Failure to comply with a health and safety regime may result in a visit from the Health & Safety Inspector and closure of the site as well as risking the safety of operatives on site.

Arboriculturist

Many local planning authorities will insist on a tree survey as part of the planning application. Preserving trees is important for the environment and often an expert will need to provide a report as to root protection and while felling of trees is straight forward, measures for crown lifting, pruning and root protection can be quite complex and will require the expertise of a professional Arboriculturist.

Principal Designer

The Principal Designer is a role created by the CDM Regulations 2015. By ‘designer’ it does not mean that they ‘design’ anything. It means that they are responsible for seeing to communication between design parties and safety of design and the recording of this information. Often this role is undertaken by the architect but it can be a specialist or another professional. There are many people involved in the construction team. Communication affects so many aspects: design, deliveries, specification, site rules and procedures. When something goes wrong someone will say “I didn’t know”. Communication is essential to avoid mistakes and to avoid injury.

Letters of Engagement

The Letter of Engagement is the instruction to the consultant setting out the scope of the work required of him and confirming the fee structure agreed. This letter should be retained and should the consultant be required to give a collateral warranty it will be specified in the agreement together with a requirement for a copy of professional indemnity insurance. The developer should not be tempted to save money by engaging unqualified ‘professionals’. Not only can this lead issues and omissions but it may not actually save money. Banks, insurance companies, surveyors and lawyers will wish to see that the professional who has been appointed is properly qualified for the job to reduce the risk of something going wrong. They will also wish to see that professionals are well covered for any design errors by suitable and adequate Professional Indemnity Insurance should something actually go wrong.

Professional Indemnity Insurance

All professionals are required to have PI and a developer is running a huge risk if he engages professionals without it. In fact they may find it difficult or expensive to obtain new homes warranty insurance or finance. The requirement is for those with a design input to be insured. This clearly includes Architect and Engineers but also piling contracts, timber frame contractors and suppliers of precast floor beams. The developer should ask for a copy of their insurance and keep it on his drop box file. I heard of a New Homes Warrantor charging a huge indemnity premium precisely because the technical team the developer had assembled were unqualified. The warrantor had priced the risk.

Collateral Warranty

When seeking a quotation from a Professional Consultant the Developer should state the requirement for the Consultant to sign a Collateral Warranty as part of the terms of appointment in favour of the funder which should be set out in writing and signed by the Consultant. This may save prevarications later when seeking to return the signed Collateral Warranties to the funding bank.

This blog is taken from the book ‘Projects in Property’ by Denis Minns, published by Bath Publishing.