Contract Administration in Tooting

Totterdown Fields provides a specific Tooting example of work within deliberately composed cottage groups. The following questions apply to a brief in that setting and do not describe every Tooting building. Establish the actual property, intervention and permissions before fixing the tender documents or the contract administrator’s 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

Identify the terrace composition before agreeing an isolated alteration

The Totterdown Fields appraisal describes terraces composed as groups, with central or end features providing variation between them. It identifies projecting gables in Derinton Road and end-house differences in Okeburn Road. For a repair or alteration, record the position of the instructed house within its group and ask the designer to identify the features affected. Similar neighbouring cottages should not be treated as interchangeable specifications. The tender needs a defined intervention at the actual property, with any sample or approval required before work proceeds. Retain the agreed detail in the contract file so the administrator can assess the contractor’s work against a clear, location-specific requirement.

Survey the actual roof form at Totterdown Fields

Wandsworth’s appraisal records several roof forms across Totterdown Fields, including hipped roofs, low eaves with side dormers and double-pitched front gables. Before a roofing package is priced, survey the relevant slopes, junctions and retained features at the house. An external view of another terrace cannot establish the hidden arrangement or quantities. Obtain the appropriate technical advice and identify any opening up still required. The contractor should price a defined scope with the permitted access method and protection requirements stated. If investigation changes that scope, keep the finding, revised design and authorisation together so the administrator can assess the additional work and its programme effect.

Separate roughcast treatment from brick repair

The council describes mainly stock-brick cottages, with red-brick examples, decorative coursing and roughcast on some upper storeys. A Tooting contract involving that fabric should distinguish each material and its condition in the work schedule. Obtain advice on the proposed treatment, including how existing coatings will be assessed, rather than assuming a uniform finish across the elevation. Specify any trial area and the decision needed before the contractor proceeds with larger quantities. Record the accepted outcome and any change of method. That evidence gives the administrator a practical basis for checking the instructed repair and prevents an ambiguous all-over treatment from replacing a carefully defined material-specific package.

Price protection of the small front-garden setting

The Totterdown appraisal identifies small front gardens, hedged boundaries and street trees as parts of the estate’s setting, with small communal greens at southern Lessingham Avenue. For an instructed property, inspect the actual working space and establish control of any land the contractor proposes to use. A green or gap visible from the street is not an automatic compound or delivery position. Show retained planting, paths and boundaries on the agreed setup plan, with competent advice where the operation may affect them. Include protection and reinstatement in the price. The administrator should retain condition evidence and authorised revisions for inspection when the temporary works are removed.

JCT tender preparation: Tooting

For a Totterdown Fields instruction, schedule the actual cottage's gable, porch and wall finishes rather than repeating a quantity from another terrace group. Identify which work is repair, which is investigation and which detail remains to be designed when considering the JCT form. Ask bidders to price access and protection for the specific frontage and occupied entrance. A proposal to replace a retained feature should receive a documented design response before its price is accepted. Record the selected treatment, quantities and qualifications in the final contract set, so variations can be distinguished from completing the original obligation at that particular Tooting property.

Wandsworth’s Totterdown Fields appraisal describes two-storey cottages with variations arranged across terrace groups. It identifies a projecting central gable at 249–271 Derinton Road and end properties set forward in Okeburn Road terraces. Yellow or red brick, upper-storey roughcast and differing porch designs appear in its material account. These are historical examples within that estate, from the appraisal approved by the Council’s Executive in March 2008.

If later roof accommodation is included, request the available stair and structural drawings for that project. Keep the original group’s silhouette separate from the details of the alteration. Date each invoice against its slope or component so that a terrace-wide roof description does not stand in for information about this cottage.

Connect an extension’s drawings and completion papers to its actual date. Ask which outside faces can be inspected and where adjoining ownership limits access, with further information requests tied to those particular gaps.

If windows, a porch or a front boundary have changed at the Tooting property, list the feature, work date and documents available. Match any council decision to its described alteration and address. The current Wandsworth guidance says directions may cover particular parts of an area and particular works, so an estate name alone cannot settle that comparison.

Check current requirements for the particular property and proposed work.

• Wandsworth: Totterdown Fields appraisal, sections 1.4–1.5
• Wandsworth: Totterdown Fields Conservation Area Appraisal and Management Strategy, Executive approval 3 March 2008
• Wandsworth: Conservation areas — frequently asked questions

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

• Tooting area guide
• South West London area hub

Professional profiles · RICS regulation