Contract planning in Barbican
Documented building context
The City’s residential management guidelines, dated October 2012, describe flats, penthouses, duplexes, studios, maisonettes and townhouses whose layouts respond to block position, aspect and orientation. The same passage explains the estate’s designed kitchen, bathroom and fitting arrangements. This is evidence of variation within the Barbican’s original residential design, rather than one standard flat plan.
Barbican tender and contract decisions
The Barbican dwelling type should appear at the front of the contract scope, together with its block, levels and exact work area. An alteration to a duplex stair is a different instruction from replacing fittings within a studio. Put the current measured layout beside the proposed design and identify which walls, slabs or services remain outside the employer's work package. Obtain the relevant management and consent advice before presenting access or alteration rights as settled. The estate's original residential variety does not establish permission for the current proposal.
Where a kitchen or bathroom replacement affects the designed arrangement described in the guidelines, distinguish removable fittings from partitions, service routes and retained fabric. Ask the designer to identify what must be protected, recorded or submitted for a decision. Tenderers should price the same component schedule and the same assumptions about isolation and making good. If an opened service route differs from the available drawing, record the finding and obtain the authorised design response before valuing an altered scope under the selected contract.
For a penthouse or townhouse, draw the boundary between the interior works and the relevant common roof or external element. Confirm who can arrange access and who is responsible for any separate work package; a contractor's proposed route is not evidence of a resident's right to grant it. Programme inspections around the particular waterproofing junction or connection that will become concealed. At completion, file test results, approved details and outstanding items against the dwelling reference. A payment or completion decision must follow the executed JCT contract and its evidence, rather than treating an estate-wide maintenance statement as proof that this unit's obligations have been met.
What should the Barbican tender and completion file make clear?
Where the dwelling remains occupied, identify the sequence for removing and reconnecting kitchen or bathroom fittings. Confirm which services the unit can isolate independently and which require management coordination. The tender should distinguish access to the dwelling from access to a common service space. Record the agreed arrangements before the contractor commits to a start date, and retain any later change against the affected fitting or service connection. Identify the affected common service explicitly.
Appointment
HCS cannot act as independent contract administrator where HCS is the contractor.
Local Sources Checked
- City of London: Barbican Estate Listed Building Management Guidelines, Volume II, 9 October 2012 — PDF / printed page 18, paragraphs 2.6.12–2.6.15, dwelling layouts and domestic interiors; dated footer 9 October 2012.
Nearby contract administration
Accountability
Provider
Hampstead Chartered Surveyors & Building Consultancy — RICS Regulated Firm No. 923064
Other Barbican surveying services
- RICS Level 3 Building Survey in Barbican
- RICS Home Surveys in Barbican
- Party Wall in Barbican
- Building Pathology in Barbican
- Redacted RICS Level 3 sample reports
Need a RICS survey quote in Barbican? We confirm a fixed fee after scoping. Call 020 7101 4590, email enquiries@hampsteadcharteredsurveyors.co.uk, or inspect our redacted RICS Level 3 sample reports. Sample reports.