Anthony and Roderick House, Southwark
Lambeth & Southwark Housing Association
Podium Surveying LLP was engaged as Employer’s Agent on this rooftop, airspace development that was a Design and Build contract with the design responsibility resting with the developer.
The contract involved the development of new flats, through both a rooftop development with bookends and a new central core to connect the two buildings. The scheme also added 30 flats to the site, all for affordable rent.
In addition to acting as Employer’s Agent, we were also engaged as the scheme’s Site Inspector. A large part of our role in this respect was ensuring compliance for the client, whilst also ensuring the works were completed to a high standard.
As with most rooftop developments, the loadings of the new dwellings onto the old structure added technical complexities that had to be considered and carefully designed. This scheme was no exception as the existing building could not accept the additional loads through its current construction. Due to this, we added an external portal frame to the building to accept the additional loads of the new flats, thus merging the new and the old construction techniques whilst creating an aesthetically pleasing architectural solution. Podium Surveying’s experience of modular construction was invaluable, and we used our experience in off-site and modular construction to assist in the design process.
In this instance, the dwellings were factory-constructed in finished sections, which were simply craned into position as completed units; very little finishing work was required on site. The benefit of this process was firstly programme certainty, as we were not as subject to that vagaries in terms of programme delay due to the British weather. Secondly, the finish quality was also excellent as we installed all products in a factory environment with few outside factors.
We adopted a flexible approach to our role, including quality control. This meant that we carried out regular inspections for both quality and progress at the sub-contractor’s factory initially, followed by a site presence when the units arrived on site to be installed. In addition, we used our extensive experience in fire safety to assess fire safety issues both before and after the works. This was partly more complex because the scheme married the new and the old construction techniques.
Number of homes
30 new build units
Project value
£4.5million
Form of contract
JCT Design and Build Contract 2016
Services provided
Employer’s Agent
Site Inspector