Contract Administration in Stanmore

Documented building context

Harrow's December 2013 Stanmore and Edgware SPD explains in paragraph 3.1.3 that Old Church Lane's character includes 1930s work creating an Old World or Tudor appearance. The account describes a manor house, outbuildings and cottages created or transformed using substantially older materials. It distinguishes that history from Kerry Avenue's contrasting twentieth-century Modern Movement development.

Existing-building records for the tender

Start with the earliest plan or description available for the house and identify later additions in the order they were recorded. Label an original range, a connecting room and a detached building separately where the documents distinguish them. For a claimed rebuilding or relocation of older material, retain the source of that account instead of treating decorative style as the construction date.

Where earlier work opened or repaired that location, request the dated record of what was exposed, what was replaced and what remained unseen. Keep recommendations from the investigation separate from evidence that the proposed work was carried out. Explain the access now offered to the area, including coverings or stored items that may limit a view; an old material or an earlier photograph cannot establish the present condition of a concealed joint.

Stanmore tender and contract decisions

For an Old Church Lane instruction, distinguish the age of material from the date and method of its incorporation into the building. Harrow's account of an Old World appearance created or transformed in the 1930s does not establish that every visibly old component remains in its original position. Prepare the tender from the actual building investigation and repair design, with each instructed wall, roof or outbuilding located on the drawings.

Ask contractors to separate retention, local repair and replacement in their prices. If a concealed junction requires investigation, define the limited opening-up and the decision needed afterwards. Keep the findings and designer's response beside any revised detail so the administrator can identify what changed from the tender information. An allowance should not silently assume a particular hidden construction simply because the external style appears traditional.

A Kerry Avenue property requires a different document and component brief. Do not transfer a cottage-style repair schedule to Modern Movement fabric; identify this building's materials, later alterations and intended treatment. Price access and protection according to the actual plot and occupation arrangements.

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

Contract scope

• Harrow Council: Stanmore and Edgware Conservation Areas Supplementary Planning Document, December 2013 — PDF 9 / printed 8, paragraph 3.1.3: Old Church Lane, the 1930s Old World/Tudor reworking and use of older materials. Running title identifies the SPD despite an additional East End Farm cover label.

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

• Harrow area guide
• Mill Hill
• Colindale
• Barnet
• Edgware
• Harrow On The Hill

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