+
Key
challenges
+
Our
work
+
Property
services
+
Why
choose us
EDUCATION
Our building consultancy
services within
Schools and colleges must comply with a vast range of legislative requirements to ensure the safety of their students, visitors and those who work in their buildings and grounds. State-of-the art facilities are needed to attract the parents of prospective students and ensure future success.
At Carter Jonas, our building surveyors and project managers offer educational organisations a professional overview to help maintain high quality building portfolios as well as understand wider a field what is important both short and longer term. Whether primary, secondary, further, or higher education, our project managers have led teams to deliver a range of services to the education sector – from new build, remodelling, and refurbishment.
Our specialists understand the importance of minimising disruption to students and staff during works, which requires high levels of management and collaboration from all members of the team. Where possible, works are planned to take place outside of the typical school day to mitigate the impact on delivering the curriculum. Where not possible, works are undertaken during holidays periods.
We understand the challenges within the education sector and are able to assist in overcoming problems with communication and organisation. Our specialists are also used to working with departments across large areas and various geographical locations.
Key property challenges
faced in education
Lack of space
Revenue generation
Building layout
Maintenance and planning
Interchangeability
Existing estate strategy
Sustainability and carbon footprint reduction
Modern methods of construction
Building fit for purpose schools
Do schools give up expensive land, often used for sports and recreational purposes, to build new classrooms? Or do they reuse their current estate to maximise space? Our professionals help schools to unlock and understand underutilised areas or navigate the planning process to build upwards instead of outwards.
How do we future proof schools and importantly how do we create environments that could be let? Also, how can schools utilise summer and spring breaks? Our professionals can help in answering these essential questions.
Understanding the flow and focus of schools is essential. Bottlenecks and general wear and tear can be caused because of a lack of consideration. Being mindful of activity and communal spaces for staff and students to interact and support each other is key. Our professionals can aid in planning the layout.
We can help highlight where and how revenue can be maximised for the best return. How do you prioritise health and safety over immediate concerns or possible revenue generating facilities?
Understanding that education needs change and so do property the requirements is essential. Will energy requirements support IT infrastructure in ten years’ time? What about acoustics and maintenance? Could a new room exist next to an art and drama department that has had to move? Our professionals can help in answering these essential questions.
How do you renew and invigorate old spaces? Can you remove walls that could make way for bigger or brighter spaces? What about bringing listed buildings in line with new EPC standards? How can schools be set-up to accommodate external revenue generation? Our professionals can help in answering these essential questions.
How can estates be set-up to reduce maintenance and ever-increasing energy costs? What about EV charging points or renewable energy such as solar power on the roofs? Can the current estate infrastructure sustain development growth over the next 10 years? With the UK government’s objectives around sustainability and carbon neutral buildings, how do we create cost effective and energy neutral buildings that create funds instead of draining them? Our professionals can help in answering these essential questions.
With traditional build taking upwards of six to twelve months and impacting on the day-to-day running of a school, our professionals can aid in exploring faster modular building methods as well as concluding what is best for each individual client.
According to RIBA's analysis of government figures published in 2015, only 5% of 60,000 buildings in 18,000 schools surveyed in England were in top condition, performing as intended and operating efficiently. Our professionals work with all parties involved to make sure our client’s schools fit within the 5%.
BACK TO NAVIGATION
BACK TO NAVIGATION
Our building consultancy services within the education sector
Condition surveys
Building pathology
and defect
diagnosis
Listed
building consent
Project management
Cost consultancy
Planned preventive maintenance
Reinstatement cost
assessment
BACK TO NAVIGATION
Select a service to find out more
why choose Carter Jonas?
Our building consultancy professionals have extensive experience of advising on all types of buildings, including complex old and listed properties. Our project managers and surveyors undertake condition surveys, historic building consent and specify repair works to give a realistic assessment of the likely cost of all works. Working alongside our architects and project managers, who manage restoration and new build work for schools and colleges, we can also provide a budget for full refurbishment.
We recognise that property directors and bursars prefer one point of contact. Therefore, for all our education services, our lead surveyors ensure that they see all the buildings even when maintenance inspections have already been carried out by colleagues, to provide a consistent assessment of priorities. Our surveyors can then deliver authoritative overview of the condition of the estate.
When professionals from other areas of our firm are involved – such as Red Book valuers, planning and development advisors or landlord and tenant surveyors – their advice is also channelled through the same contact. We always quantify costs at the outset, appreciating that fixed priced quotations are important for budgeting purposes.
BACK TO NAVIGATION
Our experience within the
education sector
Worcester College, Oxford
Services we provided:
Design and listed building applications
Contract administration
Project management
•
•
•
Our professionals advised Worcester College on a selection of their buildings. All properties were mixed-use buildings housing fellows' studies, seminar rooms, student rooms, offices and ancillary spaces. The client stipulated that they wanted a single point of contact for ease of dissemination of information back to the College. Our chosen surveyor organised and accompanied mechanical and electrical service engineers, structural engineers and, assisted by colleagues within our building consultancy team, inspected the first batch of buildings during the Christmas break to minimise disruption to the running of the College.
Following the inspections, a draft plan of proposed works was produced, primarily relating to building services renewals, minor internal alterations and improvements, and general maintenance works. We also provided space planning and budgetary advice and suggested when the buildings should be vacated. This allowed the senior staff to plan ahead and ensure specific rooms were not booked when work was due to take place.
Monmouth School for Boys, Wales
Services we provided:
Lead consultant/principal designer
Contract administration
Planned preventative maintenance
•
•
•
Our professionals were instructed to undertake a planned preventative maintenance inspection and produce a report on one of Monmouth School for Boys building’s, a Grade II listed 19th century boarding house.
During the inspection, several dangerously loose fragments of stone were noted on the external elevations. This included the elevation which overlooked the main road and therefore presented a significant and immediate risk to the public.
After our professionals made the elevation safe, the scope of the work was then expanded to cover additional stonework repairs and repointing. Throughout the project, due to the rapidly expanding requirements of the client, we worked with the local authority, conservation and the school boarding house to make sure there was minimal impact to all those involved.
Lewisham Council, London
Services we provided:
Planned preventative maintenance
Portfolio strategy advice
•
•
Our professionals were appointed by Lewisham Council to assist them with their planned maintenance strategy across 40 schools, based on a 10-year period.
At the start of the project, as time was a key driver for the client, we held meetings to establish a suitable communication protocol and template. We also provided a pilot survey to ensure we correctly understood the client's requirements and expectations before producing the remaining reports. This approach led to delivering the project on time and with minimal queries from the client team.
We also delivered a strategy report for year one spending, allowing the council to allocate funding appropriately. Our suggestion included advice on large work packages, such as boiler and roof replacements, to ensure the council could benefit from economies of scale savings across the 40 schools.
BACK TO NAVIGATION
EMAIL ME
020 7518 3299 | 07780 667010
Head of Building Consultancy
Richard Love
For further information, please contact one of our experienced professionals:
Contact us
EMAIL ME
0113 2031092 | 07554 226516
Head of Project Consultancy
Matthew Ellams
EMAIL ME
01213 060398 | 07917 210213
Birmingham
Darren Hetherington
EMAIL ME
01174 039962 | 07879 430793
Bristol
Tom Lowe
EMAIL ME
01223 346615 | 07801 666134
Cambridge
Peter Wyld
EMAIL ME
0113 4269863 | 07795 047456
Leeds
David Robinson
EMAIL ME
020 7590 6698 | 07801 666128
London
Matthew Reading
EMAIL ME
01865 404427 | 07887 834071
Oxford
Richard Harris
Building pathology and defect diagnosis
At the core of building pathology is the investigation, diagnosis and remediation of building defects. Buildings have always been subject to defects, some of which are more common than others. Diagnosis can sometimes be straightforward, but in most cases an in-depth knowledge and understanding of buildings is essential to provide the assistance and special techniques required. Many building defects are the result of poor workmanship and/or the failure to carry out essential repairs. In order to recommend the best repair and future maintenance for a building, the true cause of the defect must first be identified. This involves carrying out an inspection, which may be intrusive, and it is often the case that the owner of the building is unaware of the cause of the defect.
Find out more
Condition surveys
Schedules of condition are prepared for a variety of reasons and they provide property occupiers and owners with an invaluable record of a building’s condition at a specific moment in time. This can range from the commencement of a lease to before implementation of construction works. When they are drafted well, schedules of condition can protect both parties and reduce the risk of future dispute. Our schedules of condition always include a detailed description of the property and its condition and are supported by carefully indexed and cross-referenced photographic evidence.
Find out more
Cost consultancy
Controlling costs is fundamental to keeping expenditure at the right level throughout a project. Our quantity surveying team delivers an end-to-end cost advisory service, which includes feasibility advice, pre-tender estimates, the preparation of pricing schedules and documentation, tender analysis and evaluation, interim valuation of works, and final account analysis.
Find out more
Project management
Architectural and construction projects invariably entail a degree of complexity and have specific challenges that require specialist management. From the simplest repair project through to major infrastructure developments, successful project delivery depends on the effective management of people, costs, timescales and quality. Our experienced project managers are highly knowledgeable and professionally qualified construction experts, who work together to achieve the successful delivery of any building project.
Find out more
Planned preventative maintenance
Planned preventative maintenance (PPM), also commonly referred to as planned or scheduled maintenance, is essentially a scheduled maintenance routine, set out to ensure no unexpected capital costs are needed to keep buildings and equipment in good working order. Our professionals give an overview of the realistic cost of maintaining the buildings our clients control over the next five, 10 or 15 years and include budgetary advice on likely major refurbishment works in the foreseeable future. We prioritise the repairs, highlight the elements of the building at risk of failure, and suggest short-term remedies. As well as identifying defects, we point out any noncompliance with current standards.
Find out more
Reinstatement cost assessments
Accurate and comprehensive reinstatement cost assessments are essential to ensure that, should a building incur damage from an insured risk, there is sufficient insurance cover to safeguard the property owner’s position in being able to recover their loss. Our specialists are experienced in providing these assessments.
Find out more
listed building consent
Unauthorised alterations to the interior or exterior of any listed building can be a criminal offence. This includes other ‘curtilage’ buildings on the plot as well as objects fixed to the building. There is a common misconception that internal alterations can be carried out to Grade II listed buildings without requiring consent. However, this is not the case as all features of listed buildings are protected, regardless of whether they are mentioned in the listing description. Nevertheless, there is an acknowledgment that listed buildings must adapt in response to changing social and economic demands. Indeed, in our view this is the only way to ensure their survival. With sensitive handling, conversions, extensions, alterations, and improvements are often possible. Our experienced historic buildings specialists can help with all aspects of obtaining listed building consent.
Find out more
+
Contact
us
Select a service to find out more
