6.00  BUILDING CONDITION SURVEY REQUIREMENTS

6.01  The Council will require fixed fee costings for those elements of works shown by the Survey that can be predetermined. For areas of works that cannot be fully determined the Council will require a schedule of rates to be provided for the carrying out of that work. All Survey elements are to be supported by detailed method statements.  The Survey shall deliver the following:

(a)  Robust information about the type of construction and age of the Properties and the likely level of "capital" type maintenance that will be required to be undertaken on the Properties over a [35] year period, given their current condition;

(b)  Details of the compliance or non compliance of the Properties with regard to each separate requirement in the Full Standards of the PMS. In addition to indications of compliance or non-compliance, the Survey will be required to quantify the extent of work required and the probable consequences in terms of future "capital" type repairs over a [35] year period.  An indication shall also be given as to those Properties which will not meet the Initial Standards of the PMS together with an indication of the extent of such non-compliance;

(c)  Robust data and reports on the condition of the Properties in relation to the 'Decent Home' standard so that Bidders can cost work needed to bring the Properties up to the standard by 2010. It should be noted that it will be a requirement of this project that Bidders proposals achieve a "Decent Homes Plus" standard. This standard requires all sub-criteria of the Modern Facilities section of the Decent Homes Standard to be met in addition to the overall "Decent Homes" standard. The Survey shall capture information to inform Bidders as to their repairing obligations in meeting the "Decent Homes Plus" standard;

(d)  Classification of all Properties into visual archetypes types. For the purposes of pricing the Survey, the Surveyor should allow for the presence of [   ]no. visual archetypes within the PFI stock;

(e)  A photograph of the front elevation of one Property of each of the visual archetypes identified;

(f)  Photographs or other supporting information for any parts of the Properties where further or more specialist investigations are recommended;

(g)  [ 100 ]% external survey of the Properties and their surrounding areas for stock condition PMS compliance and Decent Homes information;

(h)  [ 50 ]% internal survey of the interiors of the Properties (subject to access being granted by the occupants of the Properties) for stock condition, PMS compliance and Decent Homes information;

(i)  SAP and NHER ratings for each Property inspected internally generated from an [NHER level 0 (enhanced)] inspection regime;

(j)  The Surveyor shall draw to the Council's attention any element within any Property that does not comply with the current Fitness Standards or that do not meet Statutory requirements and require urgent repairs to be carried out together with details of such urgent repairs;

(k)  The Surveyor shall indicate if he believes that any Property as been the subject of any Tenant alterations, or includes any Tenant fitments and give details of the same together with a costing for bringing such improvements and fitments up to the PMS standards;

(l)  The Surveyor shall determine the requirement for specialist or intrusive surveys, or the need for works outside the curtilege of the Properties throughout the Survey process. The Surveyor may be asked to undertake such surveys to the Bidders satisfaction at a later date. For example, the specialist and/or intrusive surveys may include CCTV survey of suspected drainage problems, asbestos survey, contaminated land, suspected wall tie failure, specialist mechanical & electrical installations and testing of concrete. Where the Surveyor believes that such surveys are required he shall bring this to the attention of the Council in his report for further instruction.

6.02  The Survey shall include external and internal areas of the Properties and any communal areas and communal facilities.  The Surveyor in carrying out the Survey shall reflect the key principles outlined in the CLG guidance 'Collecting, Managing and Using Housing Stock Information (August 2002)'. The Surveyor shall demonstrate how they are addressing the key concepts, such as collecting flexible data rather than pre-set archetypes and providing data in a way, which can be easily up-dated and amended.

6.03  The Surveyor shall provide the following key types of data as part of the Survey:

(a)  An overview of the physical condition of the Properties.  This will comprise data on the age of building components, the scale of disrepair, and whether urgent remedial work is necessary together with an assessment of the mechanical and electrical services;

(b)  An assessment of the extent to which the Properties fail to meet any Initial Standards and any of the Full Standards of the PMS together with information to cost the repairs necessary to meet these two Standards;

(c)  The timing and cost of the future capital expenditure, on an element by element basis, beyond the achievement of the Full Standard of the PMS, based on current condition and the completion of works to achieve the Full Standard of the PMS;

(d)  An assessment of the extent of catch-up and future major repairs required over [35] years to maintain the Properties in a good state of repair;

(e)  The anticipated remaining life expectancy of each element (i.e. estimated age of the element, its notional life and remaining serviceable life);

(f)  An assessment of the date of installation/construction of each building element in each Property surveyed;

(g)  The total quantity of each constructional element present in each Property surveyed

(h)  Data to assess whether Properties are meeting the Decent Homes Standard and Decent Homes Plus Standard at the present time and, based on current condition, the probable repairs that will be necessary to address future cases that are likely to arise of the Properties failing to meet such standards of non-decency up until 2010. Data is to be collected on each sub-criterion of each part of these Standards to make this assessment and the indicative costs of repairs necessary to achieve these Standards is to be provided;

(i)  SAP & NHER ratings for each Property inspected internally;

(j)  Classification of Properties into visual archetypes marked up on an estate plan;

(k)  Information on the structural integrity of the Properties;

(l)  An assessment of the presence and type of any readily visually identifiable deleterious building materials found within the area covered by the PFI contract;

(m)  An assessment of the age of building services to the Properties, to the extent these can be readily ascertained by visual inspection, where these are the responsibility of the Council or they may affect the required performance as detailed within the Output Specification, but excluding underground services.

6.04  As well as ensuring that data is fully and comprehensively validated, the Surveyor shall also ensure he is operating in a consistent fashion and making judgements in a systematic way.

6.05  The condition assessment of the Properties is to have regard to appropriate British Standards and established means of surveying practice.