Contract Administration in Lewisham

The examples here concern Lewisham Park and its surrounding houses, rather than all property across the borough. The council records adoption of this conservation-area appraisal in June 2019. Use its building and landscape descriptions to frame a current brief, then confirm the actual site, proposed intervention and agreed contract administration responsibilities.

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

Scope and fees

Distinguish the Victorian and Edwardian park-side houses

Lewisham’s current conservation page differentiates the large Victorian houses on the park’s southern and eastern edges from the later Edwardian group, noting variations in their detailing. A refurbishment schedule should name the actual property and components instead of using a single park-side house specification. Obtain current measured and condition information, including later changes, before the designer settles the repair. Identify samples and outstanding decisions clearly in the tender package. The administrator can then retain inspection records and authorised revisions by location, assessing progress against the defined work. Similar views across the park do not establish identical materials, internal arrangements or an interchangeable allowance for work to each neighbouring house.

Check the approach steps before agreeing a delivery route

The adopted appraisal describes raised approaches to Lewisham Park houses, with stone steps and tiled entrance landings. For works involving deliveries through an entrance, measure the complete current route, including changes of level, turns and retained surfaces. Obtain competent advice on the handling method and protection rather than assume a domestic path is suitable for the intended equipment. Agree how occupants will reach their door while work proceeds. The tender should identify protection and making good separately from the permanent refurbishment. The administrator can then compare the final approach with the initial record and assess a changed handling arrangement against the original price, with the reason and authorisation clearly traceable.

Identify the particular garden boundary before reinstatement

The Lewisham Park appraisal distinguishes timber front boundaries, later railings or walls, and a surviving side wall with stone coping at number 52. That variety makes current photographs and a component schedule essential where temporary access affects a boundary. Confirm which length belongs to the instructed site and obtain appropriate advice on any alteration. Specify the retained materials, removal limits and intended finished arrangement before tender. The administrator should keep those decisions alongside the initial condition record. At completion, the work can then be assessed against an identifiable obligation, without treating a historic account of an original fence as authority to replace a different existing boundary or extend the contractor’s site.

Separate park-side visibility from permission to use open land

The council describes the relationship between Lewisham Park, the memorial garden and the gaps between the post-war tower buildings. A view through that landscape does not establish a usable contractor’s route or available storage area. For a nearby instruction, mark the actual work footprint and any proposed temporary use of adjoining land, then establish current control and permissions. Ask the relevant advisers to resolve protection of planting, surfaces and public circulation. Include confirmed arrangements and unresolved actions in the tender information. The administrator can then track changes to access or programme against the agreed boundary, keeping a convenient-looking connection separate from an authorised part of the building contract.

JCT tender preparation: Lewisham

A Lewisham Park-area tender should identify the actual paired villa, Edwardian house or later block and its instructed components. Show the relevant bays, gables, roofs and shared interfaces on the current plan rather than adopting one detail from the wider appraisal. Discuss the JCT form around the design and pricing responsibility for that defined package. Require comparable allowances for access and protection of occupied areas. If tender returns differ in repair extent or assume a different entrance arrangement, resolve the scope before accepting the price. Retain the selected alternative and document versions with the contract sum so later changes can be evaluated against the agreed work.

Lewisham’s appraisal, adopted in June 2019, distinguishes Victorian and Edwardian houses from the park’s later tower blocks. Its built-form account describes the three-storey paired villas at 15–30, then two-storey Edwardian pairs with attic accommodation and the detached houses at 43–44. It records differences in bays, gables, entrances and roofs between these groups. This is the Lewisham Park conservation setting.

For one of the paired Lewisham Park villas, show the street-facing entrance, hall and stair in relation to the neighbouring half. Identify any entrance space that is managed jointly.

Request dated records for altered chimneys or roof junctions separately from internal decoration. For a divided house, identify who can open the relevant roof space.

Put the flat’s internal changes in a separate chronology. If a communal-space investigation is requested, state the place and the access contact; it needs a defined scope.

Check current requirements for the particular property and proposed work.

• Lewisham: Lewisham Park conservation area and adopted appraisal
• Lewisham: Lewisham Park adopted appraisal, 2019, gardens and approaches
• Lewisham: Lewisham Park Conservation Area Appraisal and Management Plan, adopted 26 June 2019

• Major works
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• Clerk of Works
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