Contract planning in Westbourne Park
Documented building context
Westminster records semi-detached villas with high hipped roofs, prominent party walls, chimney stacks and projecting eaves. It describes front gardens formerly enclosed by parapet walls and gate piers, and predominantly three-storey groups among the terraces. These are architectural observations about the named area rather than evidence that every surviving villa remains intact.
The audit contrasts many terraces’ butterfly roofs behind straight parapets with mansards behind pierced parapets in Westbourne Gardens. It also records terraces ranging from three storeys to four or five above a raised ground floor. A street photograph therefore does not supply a complete account of the roof over the instructed rooms.
Westminster identifies mews behind larger houses near St Stephen’s Gardens, including Wellington Close, Heads Mews and Scotts Mews. Its account distinguishes Bridstow Place as a narrow service street with two-storey houses. These smaller buildings have a different relationship to the surrounding terraces from a house facing a principal road.
The audit describes Westbourne Grove as more varied than the residential terraces, including Regency villas converted to retail premises with accommodation above, mid-Victorian commercial buildings and Edwardian development. It also records brick walls, stucco ornament and surviving slate coverings elsewhere in the Westbourne area. Those details should be attributed to their recorded groups, not assumed for every shop frontage.
Existing-building records for the tender
Mark the upper floor on the plan and explain whether there are accessible eaves spaces, hatches or a separate loft. Request available roof-repair records and any drawings for accommodation added above the original rooms. Distinguish a roof shape described in the audit from the arrangement now present at the address. For a top-floor flat, clarify who can arrange access beyond the dwelling and which external viewpoints are available. If water entry has been reported, identify its precise location and history rather than assigning a cause from the mansard form alone.
Westbourne Park tender and contract decisions
For a Westbourne instruction, use a roof plan that distinguishes the actual butterfly, mansard or hipped arrangement before assembling the tender. Link each instructed operation to its slope, parapet or junction, and mark the access that has been confirmed. A mews entrance or service street described in the audit should not be assumed available for a main-house contractor's deliveries.
Where work affects accommodation above a shop or a divided house, identify the occupier arrangements and the person who can authorise access beyond the employer's rooms. Issue the agreed constraints with the tender so contractors price the same working conditions. Record any outstanding arrangement beside the programme activity that depends on it.
What should the Westbourne Park tender and completion file make clear?
Allocate design responsibility for the particular roof and facade interfaces in the selected JCT documents. If investigation changes a proposed repair, retain the original item, revised detail and accompanying price explanation together. For valuations and completion records, follow those location references so the scope delivered can be distinguished from the broader Westbourne townscape description.
Appointment
HCS cannot act as independent contract administrator where HCS is the contractor.
Local Sources Checked
- Westminster: Westbourne Conservation Area Audit — Spatial form, villas, terraces, roof forms, mews and Westbourne Grove; printed pages 5–8 (PDF 7–10)
Nearby contract administration
Accountability
Provider
Hampstead Chartered Surveyors & Building Consultancy — RICS Regulated Firm No. 923064
Other Westbourne Park surveying services
Need a RICS survey quote in Westbourne Park? We confirm a fixed fee after scoping. Call 020 7101 4590, email enquiries@hampsteadcharteredsurveyors.co.uk, or inspect our redacted RICS Level 3 sample reports. Sample reports.