Retail, Leisure, Hospitality, Warehousing, Public Houses, Education
Architecture, Architect for Office design Bath, Frome & Bristol
Western Building Consultants have gained vast experience surveying commercial properties in Bath. We have carried out all kinds of work including valuations for rebuild costs and surveys of historic commercial properties in the centre of Bath, we can also advise you whether you need listed building consent for any planned alterations and give you advice regarding dilapidations claims. If you need land registry or lease plans we can carry out measured surveys at the same time and even provide Energy Performance Certificates where needed.
RICS Full Commercial Building Survey
If you are purchasing a commercial property, a building survey will provide a detailed report on the condition of a building, highlighting any defects, outlining the current condition and advising if any maintenance will be required in the future. The report will state what the building is constructed from, whether there are any Listed Building implications or point out if there any future liability issues. We often carry out this service in line with a review of the draft lease to comment on possible liabilities, it can also assist with the possibility of negotiating a better price with the vendor.
If you are leasing a property Commercial leases usually involve dilapidation procedures, whereby a tenant is often liable for repairs to the premises, in this instance a building survey is vital to clarify in detail the condition of the building. Suggestions for remedial works may also be given in the report and we can arrange for a project administrator to oversee the works for you. If you are going to be a tenant, it is vital you understand future repair costs and how the implications of this can affect lease negotiations.
If you have a lease that requires you to maintain the building a planned maintenance report is vital to ensure the building is maintained during your operation and to reduce the likelihood of a large bill from dilapidation at the end of the lease.
Planned Maintenance Reports (PMR) allow you to budget for repairs and schedule them in to minimise disruption to your business. As a business the PMR facilitates better cash flow forecasting, stops defects in the property progressing damaging other areas and costing more money, ensure that the building is fit for purpose for the occupants, minimising the disruption to the business, avoids costly legal disputes and maintains the value of the asset.
The schedule of condition is a vitally important document that often isn’t attached to a lease. The schedule describes and records photographs of the interior and exterior condition of the building at the date the lease is enacted. This serves as a benchmark for the condition and is usually used as evidence for the basis of damage or dilapidation claims. This report will describe in detail, the condition of every part of the property. This is important for tenants who have a liability within the lease to return the property to its original condition at the end of the term of the lease and has the potential to avoid disputes and save money if a schedule of condition is not carried out and the condition was not accurately described.
“‘Dilapidations’ refers to breaches of lease covenants that relate to the condition of a property during the term of the tenancy or when the lease ends.” RICS 2013
Western Building Consultants can expertly advise both tenants and landlords regarding dilapidations claims in Bath. These typically arise at the end of the lease and it is extremely important that both the tenant and landlord take professional advice to ensure the claim accurately reflects reality. Dilapidations are items of disrepair or defects which tenants are required to rectify or pay to have remedied under covenants contained in a lease. Leases typically allow for dilapidations claims under the lease for repairing covenants, decorating covenants, covenants to comply with statute/regulations or covenants which require reinstatement of a property to a specified standard at the end of the lease.
Please visit our dilapidations service page for more information, if you would like to get a quotation for any or our RICS Commercial Building Surveying services please call 01225 789307 or email enquiries@westernbuildingconsultants.co.uk.
Being socially responsible and promoting excellent ethics is at the forefront of our business. Our staff are happy and content and this is shown through our positive approach to your project. We work to the highest professional standards as required by both the RICS and CIAT. You can rest assured that when you employ WBC you will be supporting an organisation that champions local, national and international projects through schemes such as FairTrade, Mentoring Plus and the Bath percent club. This is backed up by a rigorous Corporate Social Responsibility Policy. We sponsor many grass roots sports clubs such as Combe Down Rugby Club, Frome Park Bowls Club & Cardiff Harlequins.
We are realistic with timescales and honest about what you will receive. Most people underestimate the time involved with a building project, but we are upfront about what is involved and will be clear about how long a project might take. Throughout the project we will continue to update you about progress and will advise you if there will be a disruption in the timetable.
We have vast planning experience and are adaptable to most architectural styles and ages of buildings. We are perfectly able to adapt to the style of your property from contemporary to traditional, urban to rural. We have designed projects in most styles and can use our broad experience to help design the best solution for your property, using whatever construction technology best suits your needs. Whether you plan a modest alteration or something spectacular WBC can help you achieve your project goals.
We employ qualified professionals with a variety of skill sets and the latest training. many of our employees have specialist post graduate qualifications. We also train selected staff through university programmes and professional qualifications to ensure our clients get the best trained surveyors and up to date advice. You will receive a professional, comprehensive and cohesive consultation and guidance throughout the project, ensuring that your development is handled with a consultant level of knowledge.
We are here for you when you need us, with our survey to completion guarantee. You won’t be left alone, we will fit in wherever you need us in the project or guide you through the whole process. You will have the knowledge that someone is always at hand whatever level of service you need.
Whilst offering exceptional value for money we also bring a positive, approachable, pragmatic, realistic and well rounded attitude to your project. You will feel at ease discussing issues with your project, our pragmatic approach to design and refurbishment means that we can often deliver built in VALUE. One example of this is recognising where cost savings can be made in the design without compromising the overall scheme and offering a higher standard of technical specification over many of our competitors, this reduces the need for outside engineering input and ultimately saves you money in fees. We are grounded which means that we can deliver a build in a cost conscious manner in order to make sure our projects are buildable.
Where we do not have the in house skills to tackle an element of a project we are well networked locally to utilise outside consultants that we have built up relationships with over many years. You will get the best of local knowledge and be introduced to like minded trusted suppliers with excellent professional services.
We can provide the majority of services required for a small project in house, making us practically a one stop shop. Having most services in house means that we are often fully accountable for the professional services on your project, this ensures simplicity, communication and efficiency. By utilising a multi-disciplinary approach we are able to keep professional costs for the project extremely competitive and hassle free, essentially you only pay for one set of overheads.
We have unparalleled technical knowledge and produce comprehensive architectural designs and surveys. You will be getting market-leading technical advice that has been approached with imaginative problem-solving techniques. This helps us to identify potential problems with a build before they arise.
Our knowledge adds value, an example of this is that most architects do not provide any advice on the structure of a building during the building regulations approval stage, relying on a structural engineer to produce all work relating to the super structure. At Western Building Consultants we provide structural advice on many areas, such as timber design for floors and roofs, limiting the scope of the engineers work and saving you money.
Having a large team of surveyors means that your project is unlikely to be held up due to other circumstances, there will always be at least two surveyors familiar with the project therefore continuity and a personal service will be retained. On larger schemes a bigger team will be assembled with the required specialist knowledge to fully support your project.
Merlin House
No 1 Langstone Business Park,
Priory Drive
01633982588
Commerce Park, Unit R17, Marshall Way
01373488566
Western House,
2 Rush Hill
01225789307
Sophia House,
28 Cathedral Road
02922679366
Kingston House,
Lydiard Fields
01793234516
Studio 1a,
31 Berkeley Square
0117 3294290
Unit 2, Byre Workshops, Winterbourne Court Farm Barn, Church Lane, Winterbourne
0117 3294290
