Contract Administration in Totteridge

Documented building context

Barnet's Totteridge appraisal, adopted in May 2008, records several building styles in section 5.5. Its printed page 19 describes English Style features including red brick or render, decorative timber framing, tile hanging, pargetting, leaded casement windows and clay-tiled roofs with ornate chimneys. The passage sits within a wider account of varied historic and later development.

Totteridge tender and contract decisions

For a Totteridge refurbishment involving the decorative finishes described by Barnet, organise the tender by material and location. Red brick, render, tile hanging and ornamental timber should have separate entries where they occur at the instructed house. Show which surfaces will remain, which need investigation and which have an agreed repair detail. An architectural style label cannot tell competing contractors how much replacement to allow or what preparation is intended beneath a finish.

Prepare an annotated elevation before seeking prices for pargetting or decorative framing. Number the affected panels and include photographs taken at a useful scale. Where the designer needs closer access before deciding a treatment, identify that investigation as its own activity. The pricing return should distinguish access, assessment, samples and subsequent repair, with the responsibility for approving a detail clearly allocated. This gives the employer a traceable explanation of any unresolved amount before choosing a tender.

At a clay-tiled roof, separate work to the main slopes from ornate chimney details and intersections with hanging tiles. Ask the contractor to describe the proposed protection of retained finishes during access and stripping. Establish which junction drawings are available and which designer will resolve the remainder. The selected JCT particulars should reflect the actual design responsibilities; a reference to traditional appearance should not conceal an undecided roof-edge specification.

If leaded casements are included, use an opening schedule that identifies retained glass, frames, ironmongery and surrounding decoration individually. A sample opening can provide a defined decision point where the necessary treatment cannot be established from ground level. Record what the sample is intended to determine, how the resulting instruction will be documented and whether later openings depend on that decision. Avoid treating a single rate for windows as agreement to every associated internal and external repair.

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

Contract scope

• Barnet Council: Totteridge Conservation Area Character Appraisal Statement, adopted May 2008 — PDF 23 / printed 19, section 5.5 Building styles and materials: English Style decorative timber framing, tile hanging, pargetting, leaded casements and ornate chimneys.

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

• Barnet area guide
• Barnet
• Finchley
• Mill Hill
• Whetstone
• Woodside Park

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