Contract Administration in Whetstone

Documented building context

Barnet's May 2010 Characterisation Study describes the Whetstone and Woodside Park character area on printed page 102. It distinguishes Whetstone Village around Swan Lane and the High Road from predominantly inter-war suburban development, while identifying residential streets and a separate High Road core. This is a dated character-area account, not a construction inventory for each dwelling.

Existing-building records for the tender

Where a wall opening or roof junction changed, include any earlier investigation and available completion documents naming the same location. State which connecting spaces or voids remain accessible, with concealed parts clearly identified. Similar appearance between the main house and an addition cannot establish identical construction or support, and should not replace the actual records needed to frame a question about that Whetstone junction.

Whetstone tender and contract decisions

For a Whetstone refurbishment, establish whether the instruction concerns the High Road core, a suburban house or an addition to either. The character study covers a wider area than any one project. Prepare a drawing set that separates the existing building from proposed work, and identify the actual openings, roof junctions and occupied rooms involved. Tenderers need those particulars to price an operation; a broad inter-war description is insufficient.

If an extension connects to an altered wall, assemble the available drawings and previous work records for that location. Where the information remains incomplete, identify the investigation question and the designer who will resolve the new connection. Ask bidders to separate the cost of agreed opening up and protection from permanent work awaiting a detail. The tender comparison should show which uncertainties have been resolved and which remain explicit allowances or decisions.

Set out the working entrance, available storage and proposed route to the rear of the property. Require each contractor to state how their sequence accommodates the employer's intended occupation. Record any reliance on another person's land or shared access separately, with the agreement status clear. These arrangements should inform the accepted programme rather than being inferred from the study's description of residential streets.

When selecting the JCT documentation, match its design allocation to the drawings and specialist work actually included. Identify who produces any remaining junction detail and when that information is needed. During construction, keep instructions tied to the original component references, preserving the evidence and price for a change. At completion, collect records for the new connection and its making good so a later reader can distinguish what was commissioned from the inherited building fabric.

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

Contract scope

• Barnet — Characterisation Study, Final Report, May 2010: Whetstone context — PDF page 104 (printed page 102), Whetstone and Woodside Park: Extents and Historic development; High Road core and inter-war residential context.

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

• Barnet area guide
• North Finchley
• Barnet
• Finchley
• Totteridge
• Woodside Park

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