New Build at Haling Park Road, Croydon

The Project

L&Q approached us with a requirement for Clerk of Works services on a new build residential project in Croydon. A Contractor had brought a package deal opportunity to L&Q, the first time the two parties had worked together, who were keen to ensure that the works were delivered to the expected standard and in line with their Employers Requirements and Specification.

Of particular importance was overview, monitoring and recording of fire stopping and fire prevention measure to be included within the works.

Our Role

Our role was to establish the relevant team members from the various stakeholders, engage and agree an inspection protocol and reporting process.

As we were appointed prior to commencement on site, we were afforded opportunity to comment on design information throughout the development process and commence inspections from breaking ground through to completion.

As an ongoing process, we were tasked with reporting regularly to the project Employers Agent to enable ongoing discussion over quality and compliance issues with the wider project team as work progressed.

The Challenges

With fire regulations evolving in the current climate, oversight and record keeping of works prior to being closed up was key to ensure compliance and to provide a thorough record for the building post- handover. Engagement between the various design consultants, fire compliance inspectors, site team, client stakeholders, Employers Agent and Clerk of Works was key to providing a product which was both regulation compliant and safe in-use.

Having not worked with L&Q before, part of our role would be to introduce the Contractor to the L&Q Quality Management Procedure, including various stage defined inspection sign-offs, benchmarking and approval processes and Quality Inspector Sign-Off stage.

The Solution

Once first fix works were complete, our inspections highlighted a number of queries over details such as deflection header fire stopping, service penetrations and first fix cable fixings.

Following this, the Contractor employed a specialist consultant to design details for these elements and arranged a joint inspection with all parties to agree that the works complied with current regulations.

As part of a benchmarking process, a unit in the building was identified to serve as the standard setting for expected quality throughout the rest of the development. The Clients ‘QI’ process was employed as a dummy run to handover which enable the Contractor to understand the process prior to Practical Completion which occurred some months later and was completed successfully.