DYK? DID YOU KNOW?
Home Quality Mark What is it and how will it affect you?
Issue 5 | Summer 2015
Housing Procurement - New Ways of Working
Compliance Audit - What is it?
calfordseaden join cross sector panel to debate key procurement issues.
Auditors are essential on projects to prevent serious delays and save costs.
Carto.pro Our new property mapping tool. Owned and managed property information in one location.
DYK?
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Issue 5 | Summer 2015
Introduction Welcome to our latest edition of DYK? covering the Home Quality Mark, Compliance Audits and new ways of working in housing procurement. Also featured is carto.pro, calfordseaden’s new property mapping service, our award winning schemes at Kidbrooke and St.Bedes and the rededicated Gurkha Memorial. Following the July Budget and Queen’s Speech, the Government is now pressing ahead as it aims to fulfil a number of different legislative changes, many of which impact the property & construction industries, and indeed our Clients. Understandably, housing featured in both the Queen’s Speech and the July budget. A new Housing Bill and reduction in social rents over the next four years and the phasing out of subsidies for some local authority and housing association residents were included. The Housing Bill announced in the Queen’s Speech includes an extension of Margaret Thatcher’s original right-to-buy scheme, allowing England’s 1.3 million housing association residents to purchase their homes with the same discounts offered to council residents. The Government has also announced plans to deliver 200,000 new starter homes across the country over the next five years. These new homes will be sold with a 20% discount to first-time buyers under 40. However, whilst we should all recognise the efforts to simplify the neighbourhood planning system and increase the supply of starter homes we, as an industry, simply cannot afford to neglect the importance of quality building designs, of which the UK
has become widely renowned for. Only well-designed homes with space to live in will appeal to people's aspirations and tackle the housing demand. As the Conservatives aim to fulfil their promise by building 200,000 new starter homes, it’s vital that these new builds don’t just satisfy residential demands; schools, GP surgeries and hospitals will all be needed in order to cope. There is no doubt that developers have stepped up activity since the peak of the financial crisis and so the Government will need to demonstrate that they can act quickly to meet these growing needs. Whilst it was also welcome news to see an official commitment to apprenticeships made in the Queen’s Speech, we must all collectively face the construction skills crisis head-on. The Government certainly doesn’t want to be left red-faced if their ambitions to build new starter homes are hindered by a lack of skilled workers. The announcements made in the speech means that our industry must work closely with the Government to ensure we effectively deliver these proposed new apprenticeship schemes. The potential for developing skills and providing careers in property and construction is huge. I believe that more employers are
starting to recognise that nurturing your own talent unearths much needed skills and agility to meet the demands of our evergrowing and changing industry. Finally, in order to achieve the Government’s vision to drive forward with high speed rail links to connect the country and build the northern powerhouse, infrastructure investment is crucial to unlocking these economic regeneration plans. The infrastructure sector had good cause to feel a little neglected after the Queen’s Speech and July Budget. Despite commitments on Crossrail 2, HS3, and plans to increase housebuilding, the lack of any official major infrastructure bills means the Government isn’t thinking about changing too much. Overall it is good news for stability. Certainty has long been needed. The July Budget also announced Transport for the North, a new body to promote integrated travel in the north of England. Our industry has often called on previous governments to resist the temptation to cut projects or reduce funding. It makes for a welcome change that we can now just get on with what we do best.
Paul Miller, Managing Partner
All of our articles are available on our website: www.calfordseaden.co.uk
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DYK?
HOME
QUALITY MARK 3
What is it and how will it affect you? Jacqui Clarke explains
What is the Home Quality Mark? The HQM is a rigorous and relevant assessment and score of a building’s quality. This includes rating a home’s performance covering energy cost, water efficiency, environmental footprint, sound insulation, daylight and air quality. HQM also rates the impact the home will have on householders including their health and wellbeing. Essentially, HQM is a way of rating the quality of a new home. This includes the design and construction as well as the running costs a new home will bring. Think of it as similar to buying a car or a mobile phone. HQM will provide greater detail about a property so that consumers have a better understanding of what is available. What’s different about the Home Quality Mark? The most obvious difference between Code and the Home Quality Mark is that the latter, as the name may suggest is more focused on the quality of a home in addition to sustainability.
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Issue 5 | Summer 2015
Whilst sustainability is still a major factor, it is just one of the requirements under HQM. The sustainability of a home naturally affects the running costs of a home as well as the temperature, environmental factors and even the materials used, which are all assessed under HQM. Yet the difference from Code is that HQM is intending to make the benefits of a sustainable and high quality home easier for end users to understand. Benefits that end users will understand include changes in technology. In 2013 there were over 21 million households in the UK with access to an internet connection. This is only going to increase, as well as the demand for other technologies. Unlike Code, HQM is more in line with what end users expect from a home including the ability to access advances in technology. BRE have stated that HQM will aim to provide as many details on a home’s digital connectivity and performance so that end users can be sure their home is equipped for their needs.
Since 2007 Registered Providers and Contractors have used Code for Sustainable Homes in order to measure sustainability. Whilst this has been effective in producing energy efficient homes, it hasn’t always been the most accurate way for the end user to understand how to best use their home to improve their quality of life. Last year the government announced that it would be withdrawing Code. Earlier this year BRE announced at Ecobuild the replacement of Code for Sustainable Homes with the Home Quality Mark (HQM).
HQM is voluntary. Code was also technically voluntary, but funding was impossible to get unless designs achieved Code. Planners, Contractors and Designers do not have to take HQM into account when designing and building new properties. Yet the positives of building a HQM rated home will be far more appealing to homeowners than those without a star rating. Benefits such as lower running costs and improved health and wellbeing will surely tip the balance in favour of those designed and built according to HQM. How Is the Home Quality Mark Assessed? Similar to Code, HQM uses a rating system in order to define the quality of a home. There are a total of five stars achievable; the more criterion met increases the number of stars assigned to a home. For example, a four star home would be designed and built in a way that achieves low running costs, has positive impacts on the end users health and wellbeing, is affordable and has low impact on the local environment.
The way in which homes are assessed revolves around different assessment areas: Knowledge Sharing, Our Surroundings and My Home, the latter of which rewards homes that have healthy living spaces. 'Our Surroundings' includes assessing local transport links around the home. Code previously cut transport from its assessment as some deemed it an unfair category, but with over 5 billion people using local transport throughout Britain last year alone this is an essential assessment for end users. Most importantly for end users will likely be ‘My Cost’ – finding out
how costly their home will be on a day to day basis. Not only does this include lighting, heating and cooling but also how insurance and mortgage prices could fall. For example homes that are built to reduce the possibility of flooding and damage should incur lower insurance costs. This assessment is significant for end users and new under HQM. Homes that reach any or all of these could be rewarded a higher star rating and use processes and solutions that reduce the gap between Designer, Contractor, Client and Householder, streamlining the entire development process.
Homes that look at local surroundings are built to work fluidly with their surrounding areas, whilst remaining affordable, will achieve a higher HQM rating. Whilst there are the different assessment areas to look at, BRE are still working to finalise exact details on how they will train and qualify existing assessors under the HQM. How will this affect consumer’s decision to buy or rent a home? The reason for HQMs creation is for the end user to reap as many benefits as possible from buying or renting a home. Research showed that more than two-thirds
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DYK? of people surveyed on the factors influencing their choice of home thought it very important for properties to have sustainable features including triple glazing and quality insulation. HQM provides necessary information about the performance of a home in an understandable manner, so that end users can comprehensively make the right decision when deciding to buy or rent a home. The HQM rating assesses all aspects of the design and build process including types of building materials used, to how specific designs will keep temperatures up in bitter cold winters. Based on the assessment you would assume the higher the rating, the better the quality of home. It’s possible the HQM could influence the way
consumers choose which home is appropriate for them, but with clearer access to information it also ensures consumers are given the best options. What About Registered Providers? Although HQM isn’t compulsory for Registered Providers, it's likely consumers will choose a home to rent or buy that is Home Quality Marked and will incur lower running costs. So for Registered Providers it’s an obvious choice; cheaper to run, high quality houses will sell better as opposed to those that aren’t HQM rated. Yet it’s not just the end users that benefit from HQM, housing developers can also benefit when designing and building
new properties. They can market their designs to consumers as being both quality assured under HQM and money saving for end users. Developers are aiming to provide homes that require low maintenance, lower running costs, resilience to flooding and the ability to cope better with a changing climate. This could push the balance in their favour for consumers. Essentially HQM is a more end user friendly assessment than Code. It takes over where Code left off, but is more understanding to what the end user wants from a home. Changes in technology, health and wellbeing are just as important to end users as keeping running costs low and HQM aims to ensure homes are built with all these at the forefront of their design.
All of our articles are available on our website: www.calfordseaden.co.uk
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Issue 5 | Summer 2015
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Gurkha
Memorial Rededicated to celebrate
200 years
The Gurkha Memorial in Whitehall has been refurbished and the campaign plaques updated to celebrate 200 years of Gurkha involvement in the British Army.
The work was supervised by Chris Rainsford who was present at the rededication of the statue. He reports that the magnificent ceremony was carried out under the cloud of the all too recent tragedy in Nepal and that the marching soldiers received a huge cheer as they appeared within sight of the Memorial.
All of our articles are available on our website: www.calfordseaden.co.uk
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DYK?
AWARD WINNERS
Over the years we have won numerous awards across all sectors and services we provide. Most recently our work has been recognised in two housing projects; Phase 4 of the newly redeveloped Kidbrooke Village and St Bede's, an Extra Care housing scheme St Bede’s in Bedford.
Kidbrooke wins Gold from the Considerate Contractors Awards Kidbrooke Phase 4 has won the Gold National Site Award WinnerfromtheConsiderateConstructors2015Awards. calfordseadenhasbeenappointedbyViridianHousingas Employer'sAgent,CostConsultant,IndependentCertifier and Clerk of works on Phase 4 which is part of the new Kidbrooke Village community extra care housing.
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Issue 5 | Summer 2015
St Bede’s Wins Housing Project of the Year 2015 St Bede’s House won Housing Project of the Year 2015 at this year’s Building Awards, with one judge describing St Bede’s as ‘simply stunning’. St. Bede’s already has a number of awards under its belt, and recently took home the Residential Award at the RICS East of England AwardsandHAPPICompletedWinner at the 2015 Housing Design Awards. calfordseaden, appointed by Orbit Homes worked as Employer’s Agent and M&E Consultant on the project which provides independent living withcare.StBede’shas104apartments as well as a huge array of facilities and activities which gives it its community feel. From hair salons to restaurants and fitness centres, the standards of this scheme exceed most of those of traditional extra care housing.
All of our articles are available on our website: www.calfordseaden.co.uk
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DYK?
Housing Procurement – New Ways of Working
As tender prices increase, a Housing Forum cross sector panel has recently debated the key procurement issues affecting the sector. Principally looking at Registered Providers new build procurement, the panel looked at what needs to be done differently to deliver more homes for the future.
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Issue 5 | Summer 2015 Spring 2016
The debate focused on: • Responding to the increasingly competitive tendering environment • Making tendering a more deliverable prospect for contractors • T he procurement and process of design • Collaborative procurement to deliver real value for money Our Partner, Ian Walker, contributed to this debate and summarises below some of the key outcomes & opinions. Responding to the increasingly competitive tendering environment An increasingly competitive tendering environment means Registered Providers faced various issues. From the outset of construction new homes cost certainty is needed. There is currently, therefore, a focus on Design and Build Contracts to provide Registered Providers the cost certainty desired and to reduce risk. This reluctance to take risk results in high output costs in a volatile market which results in difficulties in achieving the required Value for Money and so impacts on programme and further increased costs. Registered Providers are operating more commercially, and have approached the difficult tendering climate through a series of evolutionary changes, including: • Longer tender negotiation periods. • Obtaining clearer, competitive pricing to help make decisions on longer-term value for money considerations. • Confirming a maximum price under non Design & Build contracts • Recognising the right skills are needed to work on equal terms with joint venture partners.
Clients need to be more creative about who they work with and should also consider traditional House Builders as well as Main Contractors as these two very different organisations have very differentmarketcycles.Clientscould looktopartnerwithbothtomaximise valueformoneyandgiveprogramme certainty and continuity of work and smooth out the market cycle to the benefit of all. Making tendering a more deliverable prospect for contractors In the current aggressive tendering market, the panel concluded there are no winners when it comes to Framework Agreements. Margins are very tight as it is not possible currently to procure subcontractors at lower than bid price. The underlying structural issues of skills shortage and capacity cannot be solved quickly and there are wider global influences at play. Improving existing contract types could potentially make tendering a more deliverable prospect for contractors. The panel considered various ways to improve these contracts. For example, procuring below ground site works direct and then tender separately for the superstructure as ground risks have already been dealt with. The added management and duplication of costs incurred by clients, consultants and contractors of mini tendering once being selected on to a framework only duplicates management time and costs and ultimately adds costs which have to be recovered somehow? The procurement and process of design It is important to keep control of the design process to achieve quality and drive out waste. Commercial house builders relate design to cost certainty. A disjointed design process has a critical impact on cost certainty.
Diverse frameworks, including too many organisations provide less certainty than smaller frameworks. A more Partnering centric framework means parties can reserve their supply chain and maximise efficiency. Consideration should also be given to procuring an enabling contract for the upfront design development, cost planning and programming. This would allow clients to be smarter over what can be realistically delivered and for what value. Collaborative procurement to deliver real value for money Contributors to the debate agreed that the standardisation of components is one area that can give greater predictability and certainty in costings, even with bespoke or specialist house types. There was also agreement that Registered Providers building for sale to cross subsidise rental properties will need to drive these economies to maximise the benefit to their business plans. Clients were also asked to look to widen their bulk Contracts as part of standardisation and to be more aggressive in agreeing terms and discounts for both their care and repair work and the cyclical works that could be passed on for the benefit of new developments. Clients were also encouraged to undertake due diligence earlier in the process, providing a more robust and clearer specification to price against. In summary there needs to be a shrinking of the supply chain, a deepening of relationships with a clearer understanding of business drivers and selective market testing.
All of our articles are available on our website: www.calfordseaden.co.uk
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DYK?
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Issue 5 | Summer 2015
WHAT IS A
?
COMPLIANCE
AUDIT
Undergoing a compliance audit is not always met with joy; in fact many companies will dread the time a compliance audit rears its head. Yet like many necessary things in life, a compliance audit can provide extremely useful information that could prevent serious error. Construction firms hire Compliance Auditors to ensure they, or companies working on their behalf, are following the correct procedures outlined in the terms and agreements of a Contract. It is the Compliance Auditor’s duty to ensure regulatory standards set by the industry and agreed through Contracts are met. Essentially, the role of Compliance Auditor is an enhanced Clerk of Works/NEC Supervisor role. Both play an important part in assuring the quality of a project and ensuring the works carried out are in accordance with the Contract. In terms of regulatory compliance most engaging Clerk of Works/NEC Supervisors would check against Building Regulations, British/European Standards and NHBC. But in reality, these offer little challenge to any Developer/Contractor worth their salt as ‘they know how to build’. The area where the Compliance Auditor can offer real value is in relation to Planning Conditions. Planning Conditions and S106 bring many other compliance criteria into effect. This is where Designers and Developers often make mistakes. ‘An Expensive service that isn’t needed’ This may be the view of many who can’t see beyond the costs a compliance audit can bring. Yet an audit can help spot errors that, if unidentified, could be extremely costly to rectify at a later date. The time and money saved from avoiding potentially huge problems during the project makes the role of a Compliance Auditor essential to every project.
Saving Time and Money from the Word ‘Go’ Some companies find it difficult to understand why they would need a Compliance Auditor on their job. As stated before, it’s an enhanced role of others that are already on board a project, so why is there need for another? Compliance Auditors are best if involved in a project from the very beginning and can show their worth during that time. To give the maximum benefit to the Client the Compliance Auditor needs to be brought in Pre-Planning to audit the GA drawings. Whilst the audit is a fairly quick process in itself, the task cannot be undertaken without first reading the planning conditions/section 106 in order to determine what the designs should comply with and then researching the specific supplementary planning policies referred to therein. Sufficient time should be allowed for this process as it is this level of detail that many designers fail to recognise, where the Compliance Auditor will identify the early stage non-compliances. If the Compliance Auditor is not appointed at this early stage some of the benefit can be lost but a drawing review post planning and physical site inspections can be undertaken at any point in time. Achieving Value for Money From our experience, compliance audits are a necessary aspect to every project and generally pay for themselves when non-compliances are identified early on in a project. Further Information If you would like more information about Compliance Auditor, NEC Supervisor or Clerk of Works services please contact: Jeremy Green T: +44 (0)1689 888 279
M: +44 (0)7921 234 893
E: jgreen@calfordseaden.co.uk
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Cambridge Office Goes From Strength To Strength Growing rapidly through a combination of local knowledge, a wide and enviable Client base, and the backdrop of one of the fastest growing cities in Europe, our Cambridge office is fast establishing itself as a key player in the East of England region. The Clients of the Cambridge office currently include Registered Providers, Developer’s, Property Investors, Private Land Owner’s and Cambridge University. We are working across the full region, covering sites from Norwich across to Bicester. Our extensive range of multi-disciplinary services are on offer, and we are able to quickly link in with calfordseadens wider resources enabling a quick response to our Clients many challenges.
Ben Furr, Partner and Cambridge office lead explains: 'I become more and more excited about the Cambridge office and the last 6 months have been nothing short of a dream start. Our current Client base is extremely varied, our projects are scattered across the whole region, and our growth is way beyond our initial expectations – we couldn’t have asked for more. I’m just grateful for all of the encouragement both internally and externally and am looking forward to supporting our Clients into the future as we play a part in shaping this rapidly developing region’. For more information, please contact Ben on: T: 01223 653 177 E: bfurr@calfordseaden.co.uk
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Issue 5 | Summer 2015
carto by
carto.pro, a property mapping software developed by calfordseaden, provides the capabilities to view all of your owned and managed properties in one location. This online planning and marketing tool enables you to identify and plan work requirements or action plans. Features of the property mapping platform include: • Reporting • Filtering • Clustering • Easy to use interface • Property details • Satellite view • Integrated street view • Charting
To book a demo, please contact Anthony Kerr or Terry Keech on T: 01689 888 222 or E: akerr@calfordseaden.co.uk or tkeech@calfordseaden.co.uk