High rise render replacement project — South London, SE8 (2024–2027)

What was the client and the project?

Our Client is a medium sized contractor with limited high-rise façade experience who successfully secured a contract via competitive tender to deliver essential fire remediation works via a traditional procurement route. The work scope comprises the removal and replacement of a non-compliant external render system to the entire building envelope, equating to 4200m².

The project consists of two 10-storey residential blocks and one 18-storey tower. To minimise the impact of shrouding the entire site, equating to 250 individual properties for the complete project duration, the works were strategically divided into five phases.

The original contract duration was 65 weeks. However, a further 20-week additional duration was incorporated within the contract to account for anticipated provisional sum adjustments.

The original contract sum was circa £4million. The forecast final account currently stands at circa £7million.

What was the challenge?

The initial challenge related to project timing. The tender was submitted in early 2021; however, funding was not secured until early 2024, resulting in a three-year delay to commencement. During this period, construction costs increased significantly.

A further complication arose following project commencement and the initial removal of the existing render system. It became evident that the original external wall build-up was fundamentally non-compliant and therefore unsuitable, resulting in a substantial volume of design-development variations, all in a somewhat piecemeal manner, which, in turn, impacted upon progress.

What were the financial or operational risks?

  • The three-year delay between tender submission and project commencement led to considerable increases in labour and material costs from those originally tendered.
  • The scale and complexity of the design development has ultimately doubled the project cost, requiring robust commercial management to record, price, substantiate, and agree changes with the Contract Administrator (CA).
  • The account was also subject to further entitlement scrutiny, undertaken by the Building Safety Fund’s eligibility and quantum teams.
  • Works were suspended as a result of non-payment against the CA’s certified payment, whilst the Government’s teams deliberated over the submitted variation costings.

What action did LMA take?

  • LMA was appointed from tender stage, which proved key. We successfully negotiated the inclusion of fluctuations provisions within the contract. Without such inclusion, the project would have been commercially unviable for our Client.
  • LMA implemented precise change management procedures, ensuring all variations were properly documented, valued, and substantiated. By maintaining strong commercial control and building a rapport with the Contract Administrator, we protected our Client’s contractual and commercial position throughout the project.
  • LMA also undertook contract management of the project and produced the necessary impacted programme particulars to support our Client’s entitlement to both an c40week Extension of Time and associated Loss and Expense and secured agreement of same with the CA. Our contracts manager also focussed on resident liaison, which was a challenge in itself.
  • The suspension process was administered strictly in accordance with the Contract by LMA and weekly suspension costs have been successfully agreed with the CA.

What was the measurable outcome?

  • Firstly, our Client has been successfully protected from all significant commercial & contractual risk associated with the aforementioned challenges.
  • Our Client is on track for a commercially successful project, thanks to LMA’s input since pre-tender.

This project demonstrates LMA’s ability to:

Add significant value to a complex project, which was subject of extensive design development from the outset — with added benefits being gained from our involvement from tender onwards. Basically, LMA have provided a value for money product to our Client supporting the age-old adage that a ‘good QS will cover his or her costs.’