CSN Consulting LLP

Within England and Wales, the Party Wall etc Act 1996 provides a method for preventing and resolving disputes between owners of neighbouring properties when construction work or excavations are being carried out along or near the boundary between premises.

The Act places a duty on the Building Owner to service notice on an Adjoining Owner to inform them of their intentions and to provide details of the work to be carried out.
If upon receiving the notice, the Adjoining Owner fails to respond or dissents from the work a dispute is said to have arisen. Once a dispute has arisen, each owner must appoint a Surveyor who will then prepare a Party Wall Award to reach an agreement on what, how and when the work will be carried out. The Award will also specify who will be responsible for the cost of the work.

CSN Consulting regularly act as Party Wall Surveyors for both Building Owners and Adjoining Owners on construction projects which range from small domestic extensions to large multi-million pound commercial developments. Previous clients have included Nexus, Newcastle University, Metnor Group PLC, Newcastle City Council and Newcastle upon Tyne Hospitals NHS Trust.

The introduction of the Fire Safety Order 2005 within England and Wales replaces and amalgamates previous fire safety legislation to impose a duty on “responsible persons” to carry out a fire risk assessments of the premises and ensure it is regularly reviewed.

Where the premises are licensed, or where five or more persons are employed, the responsible person must maintain records of assessments made and measures taken.
CSN have carried out fire risk assessments on behalf of responsible persons where the responsible person feels they are not competent to carry out the task themselves. Premises previously inspected include office buildings, higher education premises and the communal areas of large multi-tenanted residential developments.

We have also previously carried out fire risk assessments of hospital premises on behalf of local health authorities to the standard prescribed within Health Technical Memorandum No 86.

The introduction of the Construction (Design & Management) Regulations 2007 replaced the previous 1994 regulations and introduced the role of the “CDM Co-ordinator”.

The CDM 2007 Regulations impose certain duties on all parties who have an involvement with any construction project within the UK to ensure health and safety is considered throughout all stages of a project.

For all non-domestic construction projects likely to involve more than 30 days or 500 person days of work, the client has a duty to appoint a suitably competent person to perform the role of the CDM Co-ordinator.

CSN Consulting LLP have acted as CDM Co-ordinator for a wide range of projects including, demolition, refurbishment and new build schemes. As CDM Co-ordinators we provide advice and assistance to clients to ensure suitable co-ordinated arrangements are implemented while planning and preparing for the construction phase. Other duties also include notifying the Health and Safety Executive, ensuring the relevant information is provided to all parties, ensuring all designers comply with their duties under the Act and also to ensure co-operation between the Principal Contractor and all Designers during any onsite changes.

As CDM Co-ordinator we are also responsible for collecting information about the project which is likely to be relevant during the future use and maintenance of the building. This information is provided to the building user in the form of the Health and Safety File.

We act for the Landlord’s in relation to preparing schedules of dilapidations to be served on an outgoing tenant at the end of a lease. The schedules are prepared in accordance with RICS guidance to comply with the relevant legislation.

We also act for Tenant’s who need to respond to dilapidations schedules that have been served on the Tenant by the Landlord.

Some Tenant’s require an assessment of there future liability so they can budget for the future should they wish to end the lease, we offer a bespoke assessment that sets out the potential breaches of the lease and the costs that are likely to be tabled should the works not be undertaken by the Tenant.

The purchase of any property involves considerable outlay, and an accurate knowledge of the structural and general condition of the premises is central to any decision to purchase.

Our Practice carries out Building Surveys on all types of property, from the small Terraced House to imposing Historic Buildings, Factories, Offices and Industrial Buildings.  Defects, or potential defects, are carefully examined and the cost of putting them right assessed.

The quality of past maintenance and the need for future maintenance has to be considered and items needing urgent attention identified.

Once the various defects are identified and costed they can be taken into account in relation to the proposed purchase or rental.

Often considerable savings can be made on the actual purchase or lease and a Client also made aware of future problems.

CSN Consulting continue to advise private, commercial and government authorities on the refurbishment of their buildings providing a full in house package whether it is for simple alterations, a more complicated refurbishment or extension or a completely new building we can advise on all stages from inception through to completion.

We have developed considerable experience in designing and managing building works.  Modern technology and access to online legislation and documentation allows us to efficiently prepare detailed schemes for submission and approval of the local authority.

Recent legislation has meant that specialist services are often required to supplement the traditional architectural package.  On some projects there is a need for a Party Wall Surveyor, Planning Supervisor or Disability Auditor, all of the services are provided in house.

Conservation of derelict agricultural buildings to provide new uses requires particular expertise, something that has been developed by CSN Consulting for many years.  Take a look at our projects for examples of the work we undertake.

Residential, Commercial and Industrial Premises

Architectural Services

Alterations and Refurbishment
New Build
Restoration
Maintenance
Conservation
more…

Building Surveys and Appraisals

Building Surveys
Structure Only Surveys
Specific Defect Inspections
Stock Condition Surveys
Planned Maintenance Schedules
Pre-acquisition Surveys
Management of Construction
Development Monitoring
Construction Management
more…

Property Law

Building Disputes – Expert Witness Services
Boundary Disputes
Party Wall Surveyors
Landlord and Tenant – Condition Surveys/Dilapidations more…
Development and Planning
Disability Discrimination Surveys
Health and Safety Audits