DYK? Winter 2015

DYK? DID YOU KNOW?

Infrastructure -

Jobs, growth, living standards and security

Issue 6 | Winter 2015

Pro-bono work restoring the old Peckham Library

Why is the quality of new Young Surveyor of the build homes in decline?

Year nominee

calfordseaden lends its building surveyors to restore Peckham's old library.

The Government wants one million homes built by 2020.

What effect will this have on quality?

From working behind a bar to taking on the world of surveying by storm.

DYK?

Introduction Welcome to our latest edition of DYK? As we head into the Christmas break we will be taking stock of the latest industry musings!

Joe Parody

02

Issue 6 | Winter 2015

Derbyshire Road, Newdigate

T

he Chancellor’s Autumn Statement heralds very good news for the construction industry. At face value, we should feel elated that there is significant focus on the housing crisis. This is no surprise, of course, but the significant challenge is to procure that it delivers.

A more detailed review highlights some concern. The focus on numbers masks the need to strike for balanced communities. Different housing tenures and types are necessary, ensuring there are affordable homes available to rent and buy. Much of the reported shortfall is associated with the private home ownership market, but greater attention must be given to local authorities, housing associations and the affordable build-to-rent sectors, alongside the provision of homes for the disabled and elderly. A balanced market is vital, with all parts of the sector playing its part.

Infrastructure continues to be high on the agenda, and rightly so, with levels of capital investment intended to further boost the economic cycle. The importance and consequences of well-planned and synchronised infrastructure delivery on many of our regeneration projects will be central to the success of these schemes. This is testified in the delivery of our ongoing work at the University of Cambridge’s North West Cambridge urban extension, Tottenham's Hale Village and at the Eastern Quarry development at Castle Hill in Ebbsfleet.

The ability to deliver will be central. Measures to ensure resourcing, skills and quality are pivotal to ensure we

achieve ‘numbers’ and, most importantly, a legacy we can be proud of. Traditionalists must embrace modern techniques and manufacturing to give ourselves a fighting chance.

The skills gap that currently exists across the sector needs to be urgently addressed.

The desired level of housing or infrastructure will not be achieved without this focus - it is a primary concern. No amount of land or money will disguise the void in resources and skills to generate positive, high quality outcomes in the targeted capital programmes.

The Chartered Institute of Building reports that there will be a need for an average of 100,000 new recruits across the built environment per year, between now and 2022. We are doing our bit. We currently have more than 10% of our staff working through our structured trainee programmes and are developing a pool of very talented, highly valued young people. They are our future!

There is also a need to address issues around access to finance for developers and the availability of small sites to build. An interesting statistic to consider is that in the late 1980s two-thirds of all homes were built by small developers.

SME housebuilders now only build a little over one quarter of all new homes. To ensure the government targets can be met it will be necessary to promote more local house builders and building on local sites, rather than just building en-masse new housing on large edge of town sites. Fresh faces are needed to enhance the capacity the larger housebuilders provide.

calling for local communities to take more responsibility in this regard will be imperative.

Small, local sites, employing local people tend to be more attractive to local communities.

Our award winning scheme at Newdigate is a classic example.

To lubricate the flow of developments it will be necessary to speed up the unlocking of publically owned land and ensure a strong and flexible relationship exists between local and central government.

We share The Housing Forum’s view that an opportunity has been missed to incentivise developers who could focus on the upgrade and refurbishment of existing, underused buildings and challenging urban sites.

However, the extension to Permitted Developments, from office to residential, will give some comfort to developers, allowing for greater development risks to be taken and a wider opportunity.

Good work has been done to focus on efficiency and quality by rationalising and simplifying standards and regulation for housing. The proof will be the in delivery of quality products, inextricably linked to the skills shortage and the need for improved quality management.

Regular and biased bad press on mainstream media damages our industry. There is a point to prove and the industry needs to ‘up’ it’s game. This is our primary focus.

For more information contact Joe Parody at jparody@calfordseaden.co.uk or businessdevelopment@ calfordseaden.co.uk

Localism and nimbyism is a threat to all house building,

03

DYK?

Taking on the World of Surveying One award at a time with Anna Keys

Finalist for the Young Surveyor of the year award 0204

Issue 6 2015 5 | Winter Spring 2016

W

ith no concept of exactly what quantity surveying entailed, Anna Keys has come a long way from falling into the role as trainee quantity surveyor, to be shortlisted for the RICS Matrics Young Surveyor of the Year Award.

Being taught the ‘old school ways’ as Anna calls it gave her a good grounding with her technical knowledge on a building site.

This also paved the way for an intense professionalism which was ingrained in Anna from the very start of her career.

Anna joined calfordseaden in 2003 at the tender age of 24 as a trainee quantity surveyor. The clinching factors at her interview were her abilities to correctly identify DIM paper and explain its use to the rather startled Managing Partner. Yet to Anna, this perhaps rather old school terminology and equipment was the norm due to the ‘old school’ teachings she learned from the start of her career.

Whilst at D.R.Nolan’s Anna completed her ONC in Building Studies. It was not until she joined calfordseaden that she decided to build on her foundation of skills and head to university for further education.

Falling into the right career Anna started her quantity surveying career at D.R.Nolan’s, a small Practice in Maidstone with just two surveyors in need of a trainee. With no idea what quantity surveying was, Anna fell into the role after the Job Centre had advised that applying for her ideal job as a lab technician was futile without a driving license – with no means of getting to the labs, the job couldn’t be hers.

The next best thing for a school graduate with A Levels in maths and science was to become a trainee quantity surveyor.

Anna made the team up to three at D.R.Nolan’s and began working on their specialist projects of restoration works at National Trusts and English Heritage sites. Not your typical foray into surveying perhaps, but working with different types of buildings provided Anna with a good deal of experience in a short space of time. Anna’s first project was at the National Trust site, Ightham Mote. Working with older buildings with design features no longer found in modern homes, such as dado and picture rails, expanded Anna’s technical knowledge and was reinforced with the ‘old school’ teachings her two superiors stuck to.

Joining calfordseaden On completing her ONC Anna took a year out of the construction industry and spent two, six month stints working in Whetherspoons and Starbucks. The break was invaluable as it gave Anna perspective on which career path she wanted to follow; a career you fall into isn’t necessarily the one you end up sticking with, yet in Anna’s case she picked up her hard hat and headed back into the world of construction and landed on her feet at calfordseaden.

Sailing through her interview with her ‘old hat’ experience, Anna was once again a trainee quantity surveyor. In comparison, calfordseaden was a far larger practice than D.R.Nolan’s and covered all disciplines; from surveyors to sustainability advisors.

Building on her already impressive technical knowledge, Anna enrolled at the University of Greenwich for a degree in quantity surveying. A part-time, five year course involving one day a week at university and the other four putting all she had learned into practice on projects for calfordseaden. Anna credits her bosses and mentors at calfordseaden for supporting her throughout university and providing a fountain of knowledge for her to use as and when she needed it.

Working for a large, multidisciplined practice like calfordseaden has provided Anna

with ample resources to assist with her university work where required.

Working with RICS Matrics Support is vital for all university students and undergraduate surveyors are able to sign up to the RICS library for use of their resources. In doing so, they are automatically enrolled into the RICS Matrics programme which is a branch of the RICS that has been created to support those entering the profession.

From Anna’s first meeting with the Matrics group, in a curry house in Maidstone, she became a keen and valued member. Anna started out as their Charity Liaison Officer, raising hundreds of pounds for a number of different charities. This work has seen her win ‘Individual Award of the Year’, first at county level and most recently at national level.

Anna currently sits on the Matrics UK board. This is her second year and with only one more year of board membership allowed she is hoping to deliver the best possible work and support to her fellow Matrics members.

What the Future Holds Looking forward, Anna was shortlisted for this year’s Young Surveyor of the Year Award. This being the last year Anna was eligible for nomination; she was shortlisted under the Project Management category. “I was very honoured to be nominated, but also a little apprehensive – I wasn’t disappointed not to win as I didn’t think I’d be bringing home any trophies”, says Anna whom is extremely modest about all her achievements.

From humble beginnings shadowing a senior quantity surveyor around a National Trust site, to being shortlisted for Young Surveyor of the Year, Anna has worked extremely hard to get where she is now and is showing no signs of slowing down!

05

DYK?

RESCUING

THE old PECKHAM

LIBRARY

What was once a hub for learning and social activity is now close to crumbling after a long period of neglect.

06

Issue 6 | Winter 2015

calfordseaden is proud to be providing pro-bono services to a cause that will affect a deserving community.

T

he old Peckham Library in Southwark had lost all purpose in the local community until a local charity saw through the crumbling walls and realised its potential to once again be the social lifeblood of the Southwark community.

The Pecan charity has been working in Peckham and the surrounding areas for over 26 years to support local people to achieve their potential, adapting their services to the changing needs of the community. Over the past few years this has included supporting the rising numbers of people who rely on the Southwark Foodbank to feed their families. The foodbank collects food for its stores through donations from within the community or is bought locally and then distributed by volunteers.

Southwark Foodbank is a joint venture between Pecan and various local churches and is one of the national network foodbanks established under the Trussell Trust. The Trust reported that last year over one hundred thousand people visited local foodbanks in London alone. With such a demand for this service, Pecan was desperately trying to find ways to accommodate the increasing numbers of people desperate for support.

In addition to the foodbank Pecan also needed additional space for a Social Enterprise. Whilst Pecan receives donations and Government grants they also earn money from upcycling furniture and accessories, with all profits going towards running the charity.

Volunteers sand down old chairs and paint them bright colours and use old canvas coffee sacks to turn into seat covers, the off cuts from the coffee sacks are then used to make shopping bags. Space was needed to serve as a hub for storing and selling these upcycled designs.

Their search for this additional space ended at the old Peckham Library in Southwark. The building, that had been empty for the past five years, was quickly deemed the perfect site for Pecan to expand their services within the community.

The London Borough of Southwark, who had taken an interest in Pecan and their desire to create a Social

Enterprise for the community, provided assistance to enable the purchase of the site last year.

Before the library building closed in 2010 it had been used by an IT firm, who had filled it to the brim with various items of computer equipment. Since that time the only residents the library housed had been squatters. The evidence of their time in the building covered the walls and floors; illegible graffiti and abandoned belongings were littered around the entire building. Pecan cleared as much of the debris as they could, which in itself was a difficult task.

To keep intruders out they installed shutters on the windows and cleaned up the bathrooms. The abandoned IT equipment was donated to a local company that recycle unwanted computers. But five years without any maintenance has taken its toll on the building, which is in need of desperate repair. The roof is full of asbestos and the facilities throughout the building are beyond inadequate, so despite acquiring the building over a year ago, Pecan has yet to move in.

To help find a solution to this problem the London Borough of Southwark approached organisations working in their authority to ask for help with the project, and calfordseaden was quick to volunteer.

With the scale of the refurbishment clear to all parties involved, each organisation outlined the different skills they could offer to the project, free of charge. calfordseaden has offered building surveying services. The team will undertake a full survey of the entire building to establish the true extent of works that will be required to make the library fit for purpose.

The calfordseaden surveyors will begin working on site in the coming weeks but are already aware that the building will need rewiring better, energy efficient lighting installed throughout the building. The toilets will also need to be refurbished and brought up to modern standards.

It might be a huge job but the old Peckham Library has been waiting a long time to be brought out of the shadows and soon it will once again open its doors and provide a space for those offering help and advice to the people who need it.

07

DYK? Mechanical Engineer by trade; Education volunteer by choice

A

s a beneficiary of the scheme, Kwame was able to attend university and gain a degree, without which he would not be able to do his job.

Kwame now spends a great deal of time giving back to the charity that gave him so much and works with them bringing education to children in Africa by volunteering through his church and their partnered charities.

Kwame has been a member of his local church, the Trinity Presbyterian Church of Ghana for over twenty years. The church is based in London but is just one district of a whole organisation spread across many different countries. His family have been involved with the church and their charity work for as long as Kwame can remember. ‘I’ve been doing this since I first understood where I came from’, says Kwame, who has travelled across Africa working on various education projects.

In between holding down a full time job and fulfilling the duties of

08

Issue 6 | Winter 2015

a father of two, Kwame donates as much time as he can to charitable projects. ‘It’s hard, it’s expensive and I have to leave my wife and children for six weeks. But they understand why I do this and why it’s important to me’, explains Kwame.

Building Schools and Minds African countries like Ghana have changed dramatically in recent years, this is in part due to the work charities are doing in remote areas. Ghanan cities are bustling and businesses are growing at steady rates. In spite of this there is still a strong north and south divide, and even in the more affluent southern region, remote areas continue to rely on help from charities.

The most effective charity work is widely debated. It is impossible to ignore the large numbers of charities asking for monetary donations to help fund projects, overcome diseases and improve the quality of life. Yet Kwame’s

Kwame is one of calfordseaden’s team of M&E Engineer’s based in Orpington. Kwame is a lively, charismatic member of staff who takes a huge amount of pride in his work and during his two years at the Practice has risen to the position of senior mechanical engineer.

What perhaps may not be so obvious about Kwame however, are his passions outside of mechanical engineering.

His background is rather different to his colleagues; growing up in a small village in Ghana meant education was not a priority for Kwame and his peers, but Kwame was one of the few children in remote parts of Africa who benefitted from an education orchestrated by charitable volunteers.

church prefers to use the more direct approach. Their work is built on a foundation of volunteers donating their time, as opposed to their money, to bring education to some of the most remote areas in Africa. Currently, they have 34 projects running with full time support provided by a team of volunteers.

The survival of the education projects relies heavily on the local people getting actively involved in the projects, and continuing the work long after the volunteers have left. This is why Kwame is so adamant that educating the local people is the key to the survival of the projects. Money is not needed to build the schools; all resources are natural and sourced locally, it is the skills that the locals require.

School buildings are made using the soil, blood red in colour and of a thick, clay consistency which, when water is added, can be moulded to produce strong solid bricks. These are used to form the basic structure that Kwame helps build while teaching the

local people so they are able to replicate this for their own needs.

Opposition to Free Education

Teaching is the main focus for volunteers with each site they visit, whether new or existing. During Kwame’s six week visit to the small village of Abetifi in Ghana this summer, he taught maths and science to the students at the local school the church had helped to build. ‘I’m not a teacher; I don’t get given a syllabus. You try teaching a topic, and if they don’t understand you scrap it and try another one’, Kwame explains. Volunteers are briefed by individuals, who live in the villages where the projects are active on the type of information that is appropriate to teach, but with no Government curriculum in place it’s very much a case of trial and error.

Having been through the charitable education system himself Kwame has a unique understanding of the potential it can provide to children, but in remote villages the local people are unable to see the benefit education can bring. Raw alcohol is the biggest money maker in small Ghanan villages and families expect their children to follow their footsteps into this trade. A major part of the church’s role is to educate the locals on the benefits of education, but it is a tough job.

More work is needed to be done to bring facilities to remote villages, including hospitals. Kwame explains ‘when young people go

off to the city to learn, they do not want to return to their village that doesn’t have basic facilities.

The cities are bloating as more and more people move away from the villages; as soon as they’re educated, they’re out.’

For now however, the church’s priority is providing sustainable schools so that in time, they are able to hand them over to the control of the Government. So far, Kwame has helped to build 15 schools that are running successfully.

Staring outside at the grey, wintery skies London has to offer can be a rather depressing sight for some, but Kwame can rest easy that soon he will be back out in Africa, helping build a life for those who need it most.

09

DYK?

Infrastructure– Jobs, growth, living standards and security

“ Infrastructure isn’t some obscure concept – it’s about people’s lives, economic security and the sort of country we want to live in. " 10

Issue 6 | Winter 2015

In October, Chancellor George Osborne announced changes to the way vital infrastructure projects are to be planned, determined and funded.

L

aunching a National Infrastructure Commission, the Chancellor insisted better infrastructure is vital to improve the lives of British people as he commits to £100 billion of spending in this Parliament for new roads, rail, flood defences and other vital projects. The Chancellor said “Infrastructure isn’t some obscure concept – it’s about people’s lives, economic security and the sort of country we want to live in. That’s why I am determined to shake Britain out of its inertia on infrastructure and end the situation where we trail our rivals when it comes to building everything from the housing to the power stations that our children will need”.

Various respected bodies have recently commissioned infrastructure surveys, including the CBI (Confederation of British Industry) and the LCCI (London Chamber of Commerce and Industry). Key findings of the 2015 CBI/AECOM Infrastructure Survey of 722 firms revealed: •

Almost all firms (98%) want to see an evidencebased approach to long-term infrastructure decisions. 99% of firms see this as the top priority for George Osborne’s National Infrastructure Commission

•

The majority of businesses (62%) are concerned with the pace of progress on the delivery of infrastructure projects

•

Nearly all of businesses (94%) said the quality of infrastructure is a key deciding factor in planning their investments

The LCCI commissioned ComRes, who interviewed 1,682 London adults online including 1,016 members of the London public, 510 London business decision makers and 156 London councillors on ‘London’s future infrastructure’. Findings from the survey indicated housing was the clear infrastructure

priority for London. 46% of Londoners stated building new affordable homes was the most important infrastructure investment needed to sustain and stimulate London’s economy.

Against this backdrop of national policy making and statistics, calfordseaden are working on major developments vital to the country’s growth, development and expanding infrastructure. One scheme is the North West Cambridge Development being developed by the University of Cambridge, where calfordseaden are appointed as NEC Supervisor. This is a new district and extension to Cambridge city, centred around a mixed academic and urban community including 3,000 new homes, the largest water-recycling system in the UK, a district heating system and extensive cycle and pedestrian routes to promote connectivity.

Furthermore, our civil & structural engineers are appointed on a new development on former quarry land in Addlestone, Surrey. Developing such a site certainly provides demanding conditions for delivering new housing. One challenge has been the heavily contaminated pond within the site. The pond has been treated by bio-remediation, aeration and chemical injection of ground water to neutralise a chemical plume. These processes ensured all contaminated material has been treated on site and avoided the need to excavate and remove around 15,000m3 of contaminated soil to landfill.

Our engineering group are able to take on the most demanding infrastructure challenges. Whatever the scale or scope of your project, calfordseaden’s engineering expertise is at your disposal.

To benefit from our skill, knowledge and experience, please contact Richard Newman, Partner, on T: 01689 888 222 E: rnewman@calfordseaden.co.uk

11

DYK?

What good will come of permanent Permitted Development Rights?

Now that temporary permitted development rights have been made permanent, developers are happily lapping up the extra work this has provided for them. Councils are concerned however that the removal of restrictions could mean disaster for the quality of the homes built.

I

n October this year, Housing and Planning Minister, Brandon Lewis MP announced that the temporary permitted development rights, bought in two years ago, will now be made permanent.

Permitted development rights were announced in 2013 and gave developers the opportunity to convert empty office buildings into new homes, without the need to go through the usual stringent planning process. Since then, in towns and cities across the country developers have taken advantage of this change to increase the volume of housing across the country. In Croydon alone over 1,700 office-to-residential homes have been approved converting 100,00sqm of empty town centre office space. This may sound like a step in the right direction for the delivery of the one million homes the Government has pledged to have built by 2020, but diluting the planning process may not be the best way to achieve this.

A study conducted into the quality of the homes being converted found that 27 of the 29 permitted development buildings in Croydon delivered homes that would not have been approved, had they gone through the normal planning application process. The primary reason these applications would have been denied is the size of the homes, as they would have been considered too small. The Mayor of London has set recommendations that the minimum area for a one bedroom flat is 37sqm, whereas some of the studio flats converted in Croydon are less than half the size of this.

12

Issue 6 | Winter 2015

Clearly there are benefits to extending permitted development rights. Developers are no longer faced with the risk that their planning application could be denied, when purchasing unused office blocks.

Instead they are able to push ahead with conversions of unused space and work towards putting a dent in resolving the housing crisis.

Councils do not share developer’s positive view, and have expressed dismay at the development rights being made permanent. They claim that without going through the usual planning application procedures, Boroughs are no longer able to insist on the usual requirements for a proportion of affordable housing or push the drive for sustainable housing. This means that whilst the number of homes being delivered will increase, they may not be available to those who desperately need them. Nor will they conform to the desired levels of sustainability Boroughs are so eager to achieve.

Councils are also concerned that the permitted development rights will permit developers to bypass Section 106 Agreements and avoid contributing to the local community by way of new and improved amenities.

Whilst this is a step towards increasing the number of homes desperately needed throughout the country, Councils worry this is not the most efficient way to achieve this and are uncertain about the quality of homes produced under this extended legislation.

Case Study -

Pipers Court, Camberley, Surrey

c

alfordseaden has been providing employer’s agent, clerk of works and principal designer for Sentinel Housing Association on the Pipers Court development in Camberley.

The scheme, for the conversion of an existing three storey, 40,000ft2 office building, has been approved as ‘Permitted Development’ for change of use from Class B to Class C and will provide a mix of 56 affordable and market rent homes, with handover due in February 2016.

The land was acquired privately by Sentinel Housing Association with a negotiated package agreed with the chosen principle contractor under the JCT Design & Build Contract.

To meet funding requirements, the development was governed by the Homes & Community Agency’s Design and Quality Standards, which were implemented and audited by way of compliance with Housing Quality Indicators and Building for Life assessments undertaken by calfordseaden.

Whilst the planning regime may have been relaxed, the conversion of office accommodation to residential is not without its challenges.

For example, the original intention at Pipers Court was for a phased handover of each of the three blocks.

On a relatively tight site, this phasing would require well-considered, meticulous site segregation, to ensure resident safety in the occupied block/s. calfordseaden negotiated with the contractor post-contract to reduce the phases from three to two, mitigating any risk to safety and logistical phasing concerns.

Often there are inaccuracies in the original architectural plans of existing buildings, due to changes and amendments made over the years. At Pipers Court such inaccuracies resulted in some of the installed kitchens requiring adjustment, post-installation, to overcome design and detailing issues. We undertook extensive inspections and agreed action plans for each kitchen, ensuring the kitchen designers resurveyed all plots to avoid recurring issues.

Due to the nature of office-to-residential conversion, contractors can seek variation orders / contract instructions for works they consider to be outside of the Design and Build Contract. A vigilant employer’s agent will add value through their appointment by constantly reviewing the Employer’s Requirement to ensure the client does not pay for works which should be allowed under the Contract.

If you would like more information about Permitted Developments, please contact: Greg Brooks, Senior Building Surveyor on: T: 01962 718300 E: gbrooks@calfordseaden.co.uk

13

The turning of the tide

Alexander Court

Michael Anderson joined the calfordseaden Southend office in May 2015, with his appointment coinciding with the retirement of fellow Partner, Julian Barratt. Six months in, Michael gives a unique insight into this expanding and bustling office.

F

rom the moment you enter the office you feel the welcoming and professional working environment that has been created. Having appointed Nigel Franklin and his team on previous projects before joining calfordseaden, it was reassuring to know I was joining such a professional team.

The benefit of creating a positive working environment and the enthusiastic approach this nurtures not only supports service delivery, but can assist in building long term relationships with clients and project team members. Services offered include quantity surveying, building surveying, project management, employer’s agent, site inspection and principal designer and when combined with a broad range of clients this provides staff with the opportunity to not only work on some great residential and commercial projects, but also some more unusual ones including Foreign Embassies, IVF clinics, port warehouses and third sector projects.

I first met Nigel and Steve Wakefield around four years ago, when ironically I interviewed them to act as quantity surveyor on Alexander Court for Morden College - an independent charity governed by six Aldermen of the City of London, including the last two Lord Mayors of London.

14

Issue 6 | Winter 2015

Needless to say I was impressed by their professionalism and enthusiasm, as was the client.

After continuing to work together, I brought the project with me to calfordseaden and it has just reached a very successful practical completion. After starting the project as colleagues, we are finishing it as a team and the same professionalism and enthusiasm still remains, just delivered out of one fantastic office!

We have recently acquired an additional suite and this expansion provides a fantastic space for future growth, providing a synergy between the office’s own ambitions, the increase in staff dropping in to hot desk here and the Practice’s overall aim to offer more flexible working space.

With a high number of staff living in Essex, Southend provides a convenient and flexible location to work from and with the new office suite, additional hot desks will be available in January 2016.

For more information, please contact Michael Anderson on: T: 01702 548 449 E: manderson@calfordseaden.co.uk

Arbury Park, Cambridge

Housing growth in Cambridge calfordseaden’s Cambridge office recently hosted an event with The Housing Forum to bring together senior industry figures to discuss housing growth in Cambridge.

W

hilst there is current growth and future growth planned for Cambridge, the forum discussed whether the housing provision was adequate, if this growth was delivering in terms of affordability and ultimately whether these new homes would be a credit to Cambridge in years to come.

are other influences in the City that affect housing development too. For example, one significant challenge noted by a forum member was traffic circulation in the city and how this is constrained by historic buildings, so developers have to find other solutions.

The current growth in Cambridge is a culmination of a very long period of joint working between the private and public sectors. Whilst this growth has taken time to come to fruition, the outcome is in the form of various strategic extensions with the potential to grow the city in key locations including the Southern Fringe, and Station Quarter. In the future, further expansion should be seen in locations such as Northstowe, Bourne and Marshall’s Airport, with more development proposed in the north of the city at Waterbeach and Alconbury. The growth of Cambridge has been enhanced through City Deal with a significant investment in infrastructure and transport connections.

Against this backdrop of current and future growth, forum members concluded:

One of Cambridge’s key drivers for growth is the University of Cambridge’s world-class status and their ambition to retain this status against global competition. Cambridge is also the country’s centre of innovation, so housing strategy and delivery must support this, otherwise innovators will relocate. There

• • •

•

Quality must be at the centre of design with intelligent replication and customer sensitivity adapting standardised house types, Water and energy suppliers must plan sufficient investment in infrastructure to support growth, Affordable homes delivery through s106 is now difficult to achieve due to rent reductions and supply side issues which create inflationary pressures, An offsite supply chain cannot be too specialised as very limited sources of supply add to risk.

For further information or details of calfordseaden's work in Cambridge and throughout the Eastern Region, please contact Ben Furr, Partner on: T: 01223 653 177 E: bfurr@calfordseaden.co.uk

15

DYK?

A project of Faith

16

Issue 6 | Winter 2015

calfordseaden’s London architect Teja Biring has worked meticulously over the past decade restoring, refurbishing and designing Sikh buildings. There is one in particular, the Sri Guru Nanak Gurdwara in Gravesend that has captivated not just the community, but also the attention of other Sikh communities all over the country.

DYK?

W

alking around the residential roads in Gravesend it’s easy to miss the wonder that is the Sri Guru Nanak Darbar Gurdwara behind rows of houses. Looking skywards reveals the Gurdwara’s ornate domes that sit atop of the building. These domes anchor the building and provide a signpost for the local community showing them the way to their most valued community project.

Teja Biring was first approached regarding the Sri Guru Nanak Darbar Gurdwara project over 14 years ago. The local Sikh community had outgrown their existing place of worship so the Gurdwara Committee had decided to commission a new, purpose built, Gurdwara that would become the core establishment for the community. As an active member of the Sikh community in Gravesend, Teja was honoured to be appointed.

Following his appointment Teja worked with the Gurdwara committee to secure a 3.25 hectare brownfield site, which was adjacent to the sports facilities and car parks already owned by the Gurdwara, making it an ideal site. The project was to be funded entirely through fundraising and donations from the local community. Despite this funding method, no cost was spared in ensuring the vision for a traditional Gurdwara was realised, so a phased approach to the project was adopted, with each individual phase to be triggered as funds became available.

In this Sikh community, the Gurdwara is the foundation for building relationships within the local area and is used not only for prayer, but also for teaching, learning and weddings. The design brief for the new Gurdwara focused on providing a range of facilities including three Diwan (prayer) halls for a capacity of 1,200 people, two dining halls, a library, lecture theatre, bookshop, IT training suite, refectory, crèche and general meeting rooms.

The Gurdwara Committee and the wider community brief had stated the importance of the building

18

Issue 6 | Winter 2015

being reflective of Indian cultural origins, so Teja researched traditional Indian design as inspiration for the beautifully ornate Gurdwara. After researching the elements required to achieve an authentic build it became clear that the stone and timber carvings would need to be sourced from India. Teja travelled across India in search of a company that could work within the UK construction regulations and provide the expertise required to fulfil the Gurdwara Committee’s brief. Teja eventually placed the commission with a quarry in Ahmedabad that had produced the stone used to build the iconic Taj Mahal in Agra.

Teja selected granite for the exterior of the building, because of its durability, and white marble was chosen for the detailing around the doors, windows, veranda and porch. A concrete framed method of construction was adopted to provide support and restraint to the stone.

Both traditional and modern methods of construction were used throughout the build, with each element strategically planned to achieve the traditional look, whilst remaining energy efficient and complying with UK Regulations. The stonemason’s used modern technology to produce the basic designs, with the finer details completed by hand. This resulted in the perfect fusion of an efficient manufacturing process and the longstanding craftsmanship of a stonemason.

The stonework was completed within three months. Each piece of stone was carefully numbered by the stonemasons in India who also produced an extremely detailed document with the final position and images of every single piece of stone. This was sent to Teja and the construction team to ensure a smooth build process.

During the construction phase of the main body of the Gurdwara, the Committee made a decision to add a second dining hall to the original design.

With the construction of the first floor already underway and work on the second floor imminent, Teja decided the best way to incorporate the additional dining hall, without damaging any of the existing work, was to raise the entire building in order to accommodate the secondary dining hall.

Since then it has been open every day and in the mornings it’s difficult to find an empty space as prayers are underway from four o’clock in the morning.

Following the success of the Gravesend Gurdwara Teja’s work on this type of project has increased immeasurably. Teja has travelled all over the country working with Gurdwara Committees and other local communities to provide architectural services. Sri Singh Sabha Gurdwara in Hitchin appointed Teja to provide designs to subdivide a huge open space which spanned the entire length of the building and create separate prayer halls, complete with fit-outs of each prayer hall.

Teja was responsible for the design of two of the three stained glass windows that are within the prayer rooms of the Gurdwara. These windows differ from the traditional stained glass windows found in Churches as they have no lead joints. This enables the stained glass windows to be made into double glazed units to meet existing building regulations.

Teja has also worked with Guru Nanak Durbar Gurdwara in Belvedere. This Gurdwara is a hidden gem, tucked away behind rows of houses, previously known only to those who were looking for it. Teja was commissioned to provide a traditional gateway leading from the main road to raise the profile of the Gurdwara within the community.

The Gurdwara Committee has now recommissioned Teja to provide designs for the refurbishment of the Gurdwara and provide ideas for a whole new Gurdwara, designed using traditional Indian architecture.

A competition was held for the design of the third window. Local children at the Punjabi Sunday School were invited to submit designs into the competition and the winner’s entry made into a window and installed.

All three of these Gurdwara’s have been driven by the local community, in terms of the vision and sourcing the funds to fulfil their vision.

Despite the 10 years it has taken to complete this build, the community have been benefitting from the increased space long before the final element was finished. The Gurdwara opened its doors in 2010 to the community and general public.

For more information, please contact Teja Biring on: T: 020 7940 3200 E: tbiring@calfordseaden.co.uk

The numbering of the stonework

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

20

To book a demo, please contact Terry Keech on T: 01689 888 222 or tkeech@calfordseaden.co.uk

?

Why is the

quality of new build homes in

decline

The Government has pledged that one million new homes will be built by 2020, but with a shortage of quality tradesmen available to deliver these homes will the rush to produce them have an inevitable effect on quality?

K

ey construction benchmarks are referred to as Cost, Time and Quality or sometimes Time, Cost and Quality. Seldom is Quality put before Cost or Time. The lack of focus on quality in recent years is now becoming evident and the subject of quality control in new build construction is becoming an increasingly hot topic. Earlier this month Channel 4 Dispatches aired an episode entitled ‘Britain’s Nightmare New Homes’. In part it was along the lines of ‘Britain’s Worst…’ but the programme did discuss some of the more significant issues that need to be addressed by the construction industry.

A recent survey undertaken by the NHBC found that 93% of new home owners reported defects with their property. These range from typical snags with damaged fittings and poor workmanship, to significant issues of non-compliance with Building Regulations. Clients may be unaware that there is no longer a set stage inspection process for Building Control or that the Building Control Inspector has no powers to open up. This means the developer is left to self-certify with the Building Control Inspector working on a ‘presumed compliant’ basis for any unseen works when issuing certificates. Reliance on inspections carried out by warranty providers such as the NHBC is also insufficient as a typical unit would only receive five inspections during the entire construction process, including foundations and below ground drainage.

Clients may seek to engage construction professionals to look after the Construction Contract on their behalf and employ the likes of calfordseaden LLP to act as their employer’s agent (EA). Whilst this will greatly increase the level of supervision on site, the client should be aware of the services they are engaging. Typically an EA appointment will require the agent to attend site for monthly meetings, valuations, final snagging and handover. Most other contract administration functions will be performed from behind a desk and if the defect is within the fabric of the building, it is unlikely that it will be identified unless it is exposed to the agent on one of the visits.

The smart client who values the quality of the end product will not only employ an agent but they will also employ a clerk of works or extend the agent’s role to cover regular inspections throughout the construction process. The frequency of inspections required will depend on the scale and complexity of the development with large, complex developments warranting not only a full time inspector presence, but a prescribed Quality Plan incorporating the inspection and testing requirements, written into the contract.

For more information, please contact Jeremy Green on T: 01689 888222 or E: jgreen@calfordseaden.co.uk

DYK?

HEAD OFFICE St John’s House 1a Knoll Rise Orpington Kent BR6 0JX T 01689 888222 E orpington@calfordseaden.co.uk

Calford House Wessex Business Park Wessex Way Colden Common Winchester S021 1WP T 01962 718300 E winchester@calfordseaden.co.uk

The Maltings Locks Hill Rochford Southend-on-Sea Essex SS4 1BB T 01702 548449 E southend@calfordseaden.co.uk

Stewart Court 214a Hagley Road Edgbaston Birmingham B16 9PH T 0121 454 1688 E birmingham@calfordseaden.co.uk

Cambridge 20 Station Road Cambridge CB1 2JD T: 01223 653 177 E: cambridge@calfordseaden.co.uk

King’s Head House King’s Head Yard Borough High Street London SE1 1NA T 020 7940 3200 E london@calfordseaden.co.uk

www.calfordseaden.co.uk calfordseaden LLP is a Limited Liability Partnership Registered in England and Wales number OC315838 Registered Office: Devonshire House, 60 Goswell Road, London EC1M 7AD where a list of members is kept

Issue 6 | Winter 2015