Contract Administration in Bickley

Documented building context

Bromley’s Urban Design Guide, adopted in July 2023, describes large dwellings on spacious plots in the Bickley conservation setting, with Arts and Crafts examples and a separate area of spacious inter-war housing. It also notes larger gardens and well-spaced properties. These observations distinguish building and plot contexts; they do not assign one construction method or designation to every Bickley house.

Existing-building records for the tender

Ask which roof slope, outlet or support a restoration account describes. Keep finish treatment separate from drawings for changed openings and room connections. If a void or side elevation cannot be reached, list that limit rather than treating the house’s overall style as evidence for unseen parts.

For an inter-war Bickley house, put the original walls, later kitchen wing and enlarged openings on the current plan. Request drawings naming the support and connection introduced by each project. Date changes to roof rooms separately from decoration and fittings.

Bickley tender and contract decisions

The spacious plots described in Bromley's Bickley account still require a defined site plan for the building contract. Mark the house, each wing, any detached structure and the routes proposed for deliveries or storage. Identify occupied areas and features to protect. Tenderers should see the same boundaries and access assumptions before offering their price and programme. A large garden is not evidence that vehicles can enter, that storage is authorised or that every outbuilding belongs in the instructed scope.

For an Arts and Crafts house or an inter-war building, build the specification around the actual material and alteration record. Separate the main roof from later covering over an enlarged kitchen or connecting wing. State the opening-up needed to resolve an uncertain junction and the designer responsible for the repair decision. The contractor's price should show which investigation, temporary protection and making good are included. If the exposed condition requires a revised design, link the resulting JCT instruction to the relevant drawing and retained evidence; the period description alone cannot establish responsibility for the change.

HCS cannot act as independent contract administrator where HCS is the contractor.

Contract scope

• Bromley: Urban Design Guide SPD, adopted July 2023 — PDF page 21 / printed 16, paragraphs 3.34–3.36, Bickley; cover records adopted July 2023.

• Major works
• Tendering
• Clerk of Works
• Employer's Agent
• Insurance reinstatement

• South East London area guide
• Bromley
• Chislehurst
• Petts Wood
• Orpington
• Beckenham

Professional profiles · RICS regulation