Core - Inspection (L3) - done (excl. subs) Flashcards
What are the steps for carrying out an inspection?
(1) Before inspection I consider my personal Health and Safety and my firm’s policies on inspection, I then would consider the (2) local area, the (3) external aspects of the property, and then the (4) internal aspects of the property.
What should you take on an inspection with you?
- Mobile phone
- Tape measure/laser
- File, plans and other supporting information
- Personal protective equipment (PPE) such as a fluorescent jacket, steel-toed boots, non-slip soled shoes, ear defenders, gloves, goggles and a hard hat
- Pen and paper / Dictaphone
What should you consider in the immediate (local) surrounding area of the property when conducting an inspection? (3)
- Location / aspect / local facilities / public transport / business vibrancy
- Contamination / environmental hazards / flooding / high voltage power lines / electricity substations
- Comparable evidence / local market conditions / agents’ boards
What should you consider when conducting an external inspection? (5)
- Check from roof downwards
- Method of construction
- Repair and condition of the exterior
- Car parking / access / loading arrangements
- Defects / structural movement
- Check site boundaries with OS map and / or Title Plan
What are the different ways that you could date a building?
- Ask the client
- Researching the date of planning consent or building regulations approval
- Land Registry
- Local historical records
- Architectural style
- Architects certificate of practical completion
What are the THREE different purposes of inspection?
- Valuation - valuation influencers
- Property management - policing the lease
- Agency - marketability issues
If inspecting a property for valuation purposes, what would you be looking out for?
Factors which can influence the valuation of a property such as location, tenure, aspect, form of construction, defects, current condition, occupation details
If inspecting a property for agency purposes, what would you be looking out for?
Marketability issues -
The current condition of the building, repair and maintenance issues, statutory compliance, services, presentation and flexibility of the accommodation and its marketability
When is trench/strip foundation generally used?
Trench or strip footings_ - generally used for residential dwellings, for walls and closely spaced columns.
What are the FOUR common forms of foundation?
- Trench or strip footings - generally used for residential dwellings, for walls and closely spaced columns.
- Raft - a slab foundation over the whole site to spread the load for lightweight structures. Usually used on made-up/remediated land and sandy soil conditions.
- Piled - long and slender reinforced concrete cylinders (piles in the ground to deeper strata when less good load-bearing ground conditions/high loads.
- Pad - a slab foundation system under individual or groups of columns so that the column load is spread evenly
What determines the type of foundations used?
- Age of the building
- Ground conditions
- Size of building and loadings required
What are the TWO types of wall construction used?
- Solid wall construction
- Cavity wall construction
What is a solid wall construction?
Solid brickwork with headers, normally at least one brick thick, with different bricklaying patterns incorporating headers (e.g. Flemish bond) to tie together the layers of brick
What is cavity wall construction?
- Two layers of brickwork are tied together with metal ties, with a cavity that may be filled with insulation.
- No headers used
- Evidence of a cavity tray, air brick or weep holes may be seen
What is a stretcher?
Brick laid horizontally, flat with the long side of the brick exposed on the outer face of the wall
What is a header?
Brick laid flat with the short end of the brick exposed
What is efflorescence?
- White marks caused by hygroscopic salts in brickwork
- Formed when water reacts with natural salt, by way of chemical process contained within construction masteirals and mortar. The salts carried out and deposited onto the surface of brick by natural evaporation
What is spalling?
Damaged brickwork where the surface of the bricks starts to crumble because of freeze/thaw action, after it has become saturated in the winter months
What are the institutional specifications for shops?
- steel or concrete frame
- services capped off
- concrete floor
- no suspended ceiling
- let in shell condition ready for retailer’s fit out
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What are the two main methods of construction for new office buildings?
- Steel frame: have fewer columns and a wider span between the columns
- Concrete frame: more columns, lower floor heights and a shorter span between columns
What can you refer to if you’re unsure about what form of construction is?
- Architect’s drawings and specification
- Building Manual
Where do you find the current institutional specifications for offices and what are some of them? (1+7)
As described by the British Council for Offices Guide to Office Specification, 2019
- Steel or Concrete frame
- Slab Height of 3-3.2m
- Floor to ceiling height of 2.6-2.8m
- Raised floors, 150mm
- Suspended ceilings, 350mm
- Air conditioning
- Double glazed
- 1 cycle space for every 10 staff
- 1 shower for every 100 staff
- 1:8 - 1:10m² space for every worker
What types of air conditioning units are there?
- VAV – Variable Air Volume (highest cost but most flexible)
- Fan coil – Usually 4 pipes (lower initial cost but higher operating and maintenance cost)
- VRV – Variable Refrigerant Volume (lower capital cost but higher operating and maintenance cost)
- Static cooling - natural approach to climate control with lower capital/running costs but less flexibility
What are a shell and core fit out?
Where common parts of the building are completed, and the office floor areas are left as a shell ready for fit out by the occupier
What became illegal to use in air conditioning systems from 1st January 2015?
Use and replacement of the low-temperature refrigerant R22.
Existing R22 refrigerant systems needed to be modified to become more environmentally friendly
What are the different types of office fit-out
- Shell and core: Where the common parts of the building are completed, and office floor areas are left as a shell, ready for fit out by the occupier
- CAT A fit out: Base condition of an office space provided by the landlord, including M&E, raised floor, suspended ceiling and internal surfaces
- CAT B fit out: fit-out complete to occupier’s specific requirements, will include kitchen, partitioning, furniture etc.
- CAT A+/Plug and Play: Landlord fit-out not delivered tailored to the tenant’s identity
What is the main method of construction for industrial buildings? And specification?
Steel portal frame building with insulated profiled steel cladding walls and roof
- min 8m clear eaves height with 10% roof lights
- full height loading doors (electric)
- 5-10% office content and WCs
- main services capped off
- LED lighting
- 3 phase electricity power (415 volts)
- approx site cover 40%
- plastic coated steel profiled cladding with brick or block work walls to approx 2m
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What is the current institutional specification for industrial buildings?
You would expect to see features such as:
Steel portal framed - often column with pitched roof
Insulated profiled steel cladding walls and roof
brick or blockwork walls to 2m in height
Minimum 8m clear eaves height (now more likely 12m)
10% roof lights
Minimum 30kn/sqm floor loading
Full-height loading doors (electrically operated)
access level loading doors always included
5-10% office content
LED lighting
Approximately 40% site cover
What is the difference between an inherent and a latent defect?
- Inherent defect: defect in the design or a material which has always been present
- Latent defect: fault to the property that could not have been discovered by a reasonably thorough inspection of the property
What is the purpose of snagging a newly built property?
- Check the newly built property to identify defects in the build
- Enables you to highlight them to the developer to allow them to fix the issues
What occurs after a new building is completed?
You undertake a snagging process, whereby the property is inspected against the construction plans to check that it has been finished correctly and that the construction is of sufficient quality to ensure the building operates as desired and designed. This process is carried out by a contractor under warranty.
What FOUR steps should you follow if you identify any building defects during an inspection?
- Take photos of the defect
- Try to establish the cause of damage whilst on site
- Inform your client of your investigations
- Recommend specialist advice from a building surveyor or in the case of movement, a structural engineer
What are the THREE common causes of defects?
- Water
- Movement
- Deteriorating building materials
What is subsidence?
The vertical downward movement of a building foundation caused by the loss of support of the site beneath the foundation. This could be as a result of changes in the underlying ground conditions
