Intrusive cladding surveys

Our approach

Podium Surveying LLP staff are well versed in all aspects of intrusive cladding surveys, the investigation of existing cladding and the design of cladding replacement. The latter is where cladding is found to be combustible and poses an unacceptable risk to the combustibility of the building. Below provides an explanation of one area of this service that relates to the physical inspection including the opening-up of cladding systems in order to assess their combustibility. It is worth noting that this is a general overview and because all projects have their own complexities they are dealt with on an individual basis.

Access

Prior to the intrusive inspection of the building, we will scope the site in order to understand accessibility, complexity and the number of cladding types that will need to be opened. This could be through a physical visit, although in some cases this will not be necessary, and we will use Google Earth and Street View to consider the works required. We use several potential techniques to gain access to any given building, these may include:

• Lorry backed mobile platform
• Smaller tracked MEWP (mobile elevated work platform
• Abseiling
• Tower scaffold

In some instances, we will be able to remove cladding without the need for any of the above equipment. If this is possible, we will do so in order to minimise costs and disruption. An example of this would be to carry out our inspection from an upper balcony or roof.

Health and safety

Careful consideration is given to both the operatives, members of the public and the residents during any opening up works. We formulate a safe plan of work prior to attending the site. This may include:

• Adopting locations away from regular footpath routes
• Installing barriers around the base of any areas being opened
• Banksman as work proceeds
• Harnesses for operatives of the site dictates
• Consideration of noise and dust nuisance
• Securing products being removed
• Provision of PPE

We will always provide the client with a detailed method statement prior to any works taking place. We also have a complete set of risk assessments which may be site-specific or more generic, depending upon the location.

What are we looking for?

The purpose of the assessment is to establish the build up of the wall construction from the internal dwelling wall finish to the outside face of the building. Each material will be inspected to try to establish the product used, its thickness, the general condition and installation quality. This information will be critical to produce our cladding report.

We will also be looking for cavity barriers in the wall structure and as a basic minimum we will be looking at locating cavity barriers in the following areas:

• Horizontal floor levels
• Vertically on the party line between two separate flats or compartments
• Around the perimeter of openings

In addition, we will be ensuring that the correct cavity barriers have been used in the right location and that they have been correctly installed.

Reinstatement

The trade operatives used in this process are fully trained tradesman with experience in repairing the various systems that we will be opening. For example, we are asked to expose EWI
(external wall insulation) systems on a regular basis and the operatives that we use are well versed in these systems so as to maintain the integrity of the cladding system. We will always endeavour to minimise any scarring to the outside of the building and will do our best to match colours to minimise the visual impact of the opening up. We can also take cladding samples from rainscreen cladding to be used for testing purposes. Where metal the resultant holes will often be repaired using a plate of a similar material which is fixed in place and then blended in with an appropriate paint to minimise the impact of the sample.

Staff Training

All Podium staff receive full in-house training on the exposure of cladding from our partner Stuart Buckley and receive relevant external training pertinent to their role. All cladding reports are produced using the information collected by our partner Stuart Buckley who in addition to being a Chartered Surveyor with the RICS of over 20 years post qualification experience is also a Member of the Institution of Fire Safety Managers and has worked in the field of fire safety for many years. All staff at Podium additionally attain the Construction Skills Certificate Scheme (CSCS) and annually receive asbestos awareness training. Where we are using mechanical access systems these operators will be fully trained in each individual piece of equipment.