Contract Administration in Forest Hill

Forest Hill’s commercial frontages, sloping streets and larger garden plots create different questions for a works brief. The council appraisal supplies the bounded examples below. Confirm present construction and access at the actual address before agreeing the contract administrator’s role, tender information and contractor’s working arrangements.

HCS cannot act as independent contract administrator where HCS is the contractor. Confirm the appointment and executed form; NEC roles differ.

Scope and fees

Trace Dartmouth Road shops back to the earlier house

The Forest Hill appraisal describes houses along Dartmouth Road whose ground floors were extended to form shops, with accommodation or storage above. For a refurbishment, ask for plans showing the earlier range, later frontage and present internal divisions. Establish who controls the upper floors and any entrance or service route affected by the works. The designer should resolve the junction between the shop addition and retained building before a contractor prices it as a single construction. The administrator needs those references when recording discoveries and instructions. Progress and completion can then be assessed against the specified floor and element, rather than the apparent footprint or trading name of the ground-floor business.

Measure the level changes beside David’s Road

Lewisham’s character account identifies a raised pavement and retaining brick wall at David’s Road, associated with the former canal route and the later railway undercrossing. That historic explanation is not a survey of current stability or equipment capacity. For work near the interface, obtain measured levels, boundary information and competent advice on the intended method. Identify separately controlled highway or infrastructure elements before agreeing the contractor’s access plan. State protection and reinstatement obligations in the tender. The administrator can then record any changed method and its cause against the original arrangements, without treating the existence of a raised footway as proof that it can support storage, scaffolding or delivery equipment.

Distinguish London Road garden plots from the commercial core

The appraisal contrasts the tight commercial frontage with larger houses and later apartment buildings set within more spacious grounds around London Road and Manor Mount. An apparently generous forecourt still needs a current plan showing ownership, circulation, planting and the proposed working area. Ask the appropriate advisers to establish a suitable delivery and protection arrangement before including it in the contractor’s price. Identify any operational restrictions and the person responsible for approving changes. The administrator should retain the agreed layout and initial condition record, allowing additional access or reinstatement work to be assessed against the actual package instead of an assumption that all land in front of the building is available.

Record individual boundary details at Manor Mount and Westwood Park

Lewisham highlights surviving boundary details at 8 Manor Mount and 16 Westwood Park as examples of boundaries related to their houses’ design and materials. For a project involving an entrance or temporary access opening, inspect and photograph the actual wall, railings and gate components before defining removal or making good. Ask the designer to resolve protection and any proposed alteration, with the necessary permissions checked for that site. Number retained pieces where useful and keep reinstatement requirements explicit. The administrator can then compare the completed work with the agreed record, separating restoration of the contractor’s working route from a later request to redesign an unaffected section of frontage.

JCT tender preparation: Forest Hill

A Forest Hill villa tender should distinguish the original house from later conversion stairs and altered entrance arrangements. Identify which work belongs to the employer and what access depends on another unit or managing party. State the proposed JCT form and the design responsibility for any new or repaired connection. Ask contractors for consistent allowances for protection, temporary access and making good around occupied parts. An offer that assumes the original stair arrangement should be reconciled against current drawings before acceptance. Carry the corrected scope, accepted qualifications and price into the contract set so later instructions concern the actual building arrangement rather than the appraisal's historical description.

Lewisham’s July 2010 Forest Hill appraisal describes large detached and semi-detached villas in its London Road, Honor Oak Road and adjoining character area. Their usual form includes three-and-a-half storeys with semi-basements. The account of the Dorrell Estate on London Road also records conversions with new stairs inserted between houses and changes to former porch stairs. These descriptions concern that documented villa group.

Where a Forest Hill flat uses a stair between neighbouring houses, ask for the conversion drawing that shows the stair and the doorway into the dwelling. Identify which landings and enclosing walls are common elements. An entrance described as private may still sit within a larger shared arrangement.

Locate removed or changed earlier stairs on any available historic layout. Ask the managing contact for records of work to the inserted connection and the access they can arrange. Have lease boundaries examined separately so the inspection request does not stand in for legal responsibility.

For lower accommodation in a Forest Hill villa, show the window sill, entrance steps, front area and rear garden at their respective levels.

Request the papers for any tanking, drain alteration or changed lower doorway, naming the relevant wall. Identify where stored items or another dwelling restrict a view.

Request drawings for removed walls and enlarged openings by project rather than relying on a single refurbishment label. If the roof above the added rooms is reached from another flat, name the contact and route. List the gaps in access before treating a restoration account as evidence for unseen parts.

Check current requirements for the particular property and proposed work.

• Lewisham: Forest Hill appraisal part 2, commercial core
• Lewisham: Forest Hill appraisal part 1, spatial character and boundaries
• Lewisham: Forest Hill Conservation Area Appraisal, July 2010, Part Two

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

• Forest Hill area guide
• South East London area hub

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