Inspection Flashcards
What do you take on inspection?
- Mobile phone / camera
- Tape measure / laser measure
- File, plans and other supporting information
- PPE
- Pen and paper
What is included in full PPE?
- Fluorescent jacket
- Steel-toed boots
- Non-slip soled shoes
- Ear defenders
- Gloves
- Goggles
- Hard hat
What are the four areas of inspection?
- Desktop review
- Locality
- External
- Internal
What does a desktop review entail?
• Online search (google maps, VOA, land registry, environmental agency website)
• Property documentation (leases, tenancy schedules, floor plans and other supporting documentation)
• Risk assessment for health and safety purposes in line with ‘Surveying Safely principles – PPE, lone working policy, ‘safe
person’ concept)
• Arrange access and make travel arrangements
• Prepare equipment (laser/tape measure, phone, camera)
• Comparable evidence (initial search for comparable evidence)
What do you consider when inspecting the locality?
- 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 do you consider on an external inspection?
- Method of construction
- Repair and condition of exterior
- Car parking / access / loading arrangements
- Defects / structural movement
- Check site boundaries with OS map and / or title plan
What do you consider on an internal inspection?
- Layout and specification (flexibility and obsolescence)
- Repair and maintenance
- Defects
- Services – age and condition
- Statutory compliance – e.g. asbestos, building regulations, health and safety, Equality Act 2010, fire safety and planning
- Fixtures and fittings and improvements
- Compliance with lease obligations
How can you tell the age of a building?
- Ask the client
- Researching the date of planning consent or building regulations approval
- Land Registry
- Local historical records
- Architectural style or architects certificate of practical completion
What methodology do you use when inspecting a property?
I start by inspecting the roof and worked my way down in a logical sequence. I also apply this approach internally, starting at the ceiling, working my way down the walls to the floor.
What are the main purposes of inspection?
- Valuation
- Agency
- Property management
What do you consider when inspecting for valuation purposes?
Factors that impact value such as location, tenure, aspect, form of construction, defects, current condition, occupation details
What do you consider when inspecting for agency purposes?
Current condition of the building, repair and maintenance issues, statutory compliance, services, presentation of the accommodation and flexibility of the accommodation and its marketability
What do you consider when inspecting for management purposes?
If occupied – check the lease compliance, statutory compliance, state of the building, requirements for repairs/redecoration, user and details of the actual occupier
If unoccupied – check statutory compliance, state of the building, repair and maintenance issues, security arrangements, landscaping, risk of vandalism and damage to the building
What are the four types of foundation?
- Trench or strip footing
- Raft – slab foundation over whole site
- Piled – long and slender reinforced concrete cylinders
- Pad – slab foundation system under columns
What determines the type of foundation used?
Ground conditions and building loadings required
What is solid wall construction?
Simplest type of wall constructed in solid brickwork with headers, normally at least one brick thick. Solid wall bricklaying patterns include Flemish bond, which alternate between header and stretcher to tie together layers of brick
What is cavity wall construction?
Two layers of brickwork tied together with metal ties, with a cavity that may be filled with insulation. No headers are used, and sometimes evidence of cavity tray, air brick or weep holes may be seen
What is a stretcher?
A brick laid horizontally, flat with the long side of the brick exposed on the outer face of the wall
What is a header?
A brick laid flat with the short end exposed (e.g. used with headers in solid walls)
What is efflorescence?
Efflorescence is the white marks caused by hydroscopic salts in the brick work, and is formed when water reacts with the natural salts
What is spalling?
Spalling is damaged brickwork where the surface of the bricks starts to crumble due to freeze/thaw action, after it has become saturated in the winter months
What is the current institutional specifications for shops?
- Most new shop units are constructed either of a steel or concrete frame
- Services capped off
- Concrete floor and no suspended ceiling
- Let in a shell condition with no shop front, ready for the retailers’ fitting out works
What are the main methods of construction for offices?
- Steel frame
* Concrete frame
How can you tell if it is steel frame?
Less columns and a wider span between columns
How can you tell if it is concrete frame?
More columns, lower floor heights and a shorter span between columns
What is the current institutional specifications for offices?
- Full access raised floors with floor boxes
- Approximate ceiling height of 2.6 – 2.8m
- Ceiling void of 350mm and a raised floor void of 150mm
- Maximised opportunities for daylighting, with 300-500 lux average
- Approximate floor loading of 2.5 to 3.00 kN/sq m with an allowance of up to 1.2 kN/sq m for partitioning
- Air conditioning and double glazed windows
- Passenger lifts
- Planning grid of 1.5m x 1.5m
- Maximum depth of 12m to 15m (shallow plan) or 15m to 21m (deep plan) to allow for natural light to the office area
- 1 cycle space per 10 staff and 1 shower per 100 staff
- 8m2 to 10m2 general workspace density
Who defines office specification?
British Council for Offices
Guide to Office Specification 2019
What are the types of air conditioning?
• VAV – variable air volume (highest capital cost but more flexible)
• Fan coil – usually 4 pipe (lower initial cost & good flexibility but higher operating & maintenance costs)
• VRV – variable refrigerant volume (lower capital cost but higher running and maintenance)
• Static cooling – chilled beam and displacement heating (natural approach to climate control with lower capital and
running costs but less flexibility)
• Mechanical ventilation – when fresh air is moved around the building
• Heat recovery systems
• Comfort cooling – a simple form of air cooling system
What are the types of fit out?
- Shell and core
- CAT A
- CAT B
What is shell and core?
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 is CAT A?
Basic finishing of an interior space (such as to Grade A specification). With basic installations and M&E services
What is CAT B?
Complete fit out to the occupiers specific requirements (installation of cellular offices, enhanced finishes and IT)