Level 1, 2 and 3 Questions

Question 1

What external market conditions affected the cost of the timber panelling?

Answer 1

Timber saw significant cost escalation coming out of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2021, following strong demand. Overall timber pricing has been reducing from the highs seen, but the picture is complex as different timbers encounter different rates of change.

Question 2

Can you tell me what you might expect the Wall to floor ratio would be on a residential scheme?

Answer 2

between 0.4 and 0.5

Question 3

Can you tell me what you might expect the Solid to glazing ratio on a residential building?

Answer 3

30-35% glazed

Question 4

Can you tell me what you might expect the net to gross ratio on a commercial building?

Answer 4

80% expected.

Question 5

Can you tell me the sections you included in your RIBA Stage 2 Cost Plan for Lemon Tree House?

Answer 5

Executive Summary
Assumptions and Exclusions
Information Used
Summary of Cost
Elemental Summary
Detailed Elemental Breakdown
Appendixes such as Cost Reconciliation, Value Engineering Report

Question 6

What was the total reported outturn construction cost from your Stage 2 Cost Plan for LTH?

Answer 6

£18,254,975

Question 7

For LTH, did you prepare your cost plan in line with NRM1, if so, how did you deal with risk allowances?

Answer 7

Yes, included design development risk and contractor risk.

Question 8

What % allowances did you have within your S2 cost plan for LTH for design dev and contractor risk

Answer 8

3.5% design dev and 3% contractor risk

Question 9

Are you familiar with the Monte Carlo method of Risk Management?

Answer 9

The Monte Carlo method is a mathematical technique that allows people to quantitatively account for risk in forecasting and decision-making.

Question 10

What does Value Engineering mean?

Answer 10

Value engineering is used to solve problems and identify and eliminate unwanted costs, while maintaining and/or improving function and quality. The aim is to increase the value of products, satisfying the product’s performance requirements at the lowest possible cost.

Question 11

Can you please give me an example of some VE you suggested on Lemon Tree House and the approximate saving you calculated.

Answer 11

Yes, VE that I recommended:

1) Changing of aluminium to aluminium composite windows, saving of circa 350k saving
2) Tape and joint drylining in lieu of skim coat circa 60k saving

Question 12

For BHS, Can you take me through the Elements or Group Elements you provided a break down of.

Answer 12

For BHS, It was superstructure (Inc int walls and int doors), finishes, FFE, services

Question 13

For BHS, How did you price your Main Contractor Preliminaries for your OCE?

Answer 13

At OCE stage I used a percentage which was from projects of a similar size and nature.

Question 14

For BHS, If you had an indication of programme duration how else might you build up a preliminaries allowance?

Answer 14

If I had a programme, I would be able to build up a detailed preliminaries list including time related and fixed preliminaries

Question 15

You mention that you made assumptions regarding the internal wall types within your cost estimate for borough high street. What were these assumptions based off of?

Answer 15

For example, there was no glazed partitioning on plan, but with the experience I had within office schemes of a siilar size and nature, I realised that there would need to be an allowance for internal glazing, I agreed a suitable percentage of internal walls to be glazing with the architect, at 25%.

Question 16

What % of nett build costs would you generally say the buildings facade should be?

Answer 16

Depends on spec of facade, for LTH it was circa 20%

Question 17

How did the design team reduce the FFL-FFL?

Answer 17

By understanding whether anything structurally had to increase / decrease, once it was found that this was not required, the architect implemented it within the floor plan.

Question 18

For LTH, was the building impacted in any other way as a result of lower FFL-FFL or less facade area?

Answer 18

Think loadings on the substructure? Less Frame, lighter loadings. Less facade, less cost etc

Question 19

Can you please tell me the blended m2 rate you applied for both the timber panelled system and the metal grid
system.

Answer 19

Timber batten 550/m2 and metal grid system 110/m2

Question 20

Where/how did you obtain these rates for 200BPR ceiling finishes?

Answer 20

Rates obtained from market testing from a int walls and ceiling subcontractor