Inspection

Question 1

What is the four step process when undertaking an inspection?

Answer 1

1. Consider your personal safety - make sure you know your firm’s health and safety procedures for site inspections
2. Inspect the local area
3. External inspection
4. internal inspection

Question 2

What should you take on inspection?

Answer 2

• Fully-charged phone with a camera
• Something to record notes (e.g. Dictaphone/notepad & pen)
• Any relevant documents, including floorplans
• calibrated laser distometer to record any measurements
• PPE (e.g. non-slip soled shoes, high viz jacket, steel toed boots, ear defenders, gloves, protective goggles

Question 3

What should you look for when undertaken an inspection of the surrounding area?

Answer 3

• Location; local amenities; public transport links
• Any environmental/contamination issues; proximity to electricity substations/high voltage powerlines
• Market conditions (e.g. are there many agents’ boards?); comparable evidence

Question 4

What would you be looking for when doing an external inspection?

Answer 4

• Method of construction
• repair and condition of the building
• parking/access/loading arrangements
• any structural defects
  -check site boundaries using OS map and/or title plan

Question 5

How would you check the age of a building?

Answer 5

-Ask the client/check land registry/local historical records; date of planning consent

Question 6

What would you be looking for when doing an internal inspection?

Answer 6

• Specification/layout
• Age and condition of the services
• Defects
  -Compliance with statutory obligations (e.g. asbestos, fire safety, Equality Act (2010), health & safety)
• Compliance with lease obligations
• Fixtures and fittings and any improvements
• Repair and maintenance

Question 7

What are the main purposes of an inspection?

Answer 7

• Valuation
• Property Management
  -Agency

Question 8

If inspecting for valuation purposes, what would you be looking for?

Answer 8

The main factors that influence value, including:
-Location/Aspect/condition/method of construction/repair and maintenance/defects

Question 9

If inspecting for property management purposes, what would you be looking for?

Answer 9

1. If the asset is occupied, you would check for compliance with statutory and lease obligations; repair & maintenance; requirement for any repairs
2. If vacant; you would check for statutory compliance/condition of building/security arrangements/assess risk of vandalism or damage to the building

Question 10

If inspecting for agency purposes, what would you be looking for?

Answer 10

The location of the building and its condition/statutory compliance/any repairs required/defects etc.
Flexibility/marketability/presentation of the accomodation

Question 11

what are the most common types of building foundation?

Answer 11

-Trench
-Piled
-Raft
-Pad

Question 12

What are the main methods of wall construction?

Answer 12

Solid wall and cavity wall

Question 13

What is a cavity wall

Answer 13

two layers of brickwork are tied together with metal ties, perhaps filled with insulation.
no headers are used

Question 14

What is the difference between a stretcher brick and a header brick?

Answer 14

Stretcher - laid horizontally and flat, so that the long side of the brick is exposed
Header- the short end of the brick is exposed

Question 15

What are some common defects to bricks?

Answer 15

Efflorescence - appearance of white marks on brickwork as a result of water reacting with the natural salts within the bricks
Spalling - damaged brickwork caused by freeze/thaw, which makes bricks crumble

Question 16

What is the typical institutional specification of shops?

Answer 16

• Steel or concrete frame construction
• Concrete floor and no suspended ceilings
• services capped off
• let in a shell condition, ready for the retailer’s fit-out

Question 17

What are some of the common forms of air conditioning system?

Answer 17

-Variable air volume (VAV)
- Variable refrigerant volume (vrv)
- heat recovery
- comfort cooling
- mechanical ventilation
-fan and coil (usually 4-pipe)

Question 18

Are you aware of any rules relating to the use of refrigerants in air con systems?

Answer 18

As of 2015, the use of R22 is illegal (this is a powerful greenhouse gas)

Question 19

what are the different types of office fit out?

Answer 19

Shell and core - the common parts of the building are completed but the floors themselves are left in shell condition, ready for the occupier to complete their own fitout
Cat A - the floor is fitted out to an institutional category A standard, including raised access floors, suspended ceilings, lighting and heating/cooling systems
- Cat A+/Cat B - the fit out is completed to the occupier’s specific requirements (e.g. cellular offices, IT systems, furnishings etc.)

Question 20

What is the institutional specification of an industrial unit/warehouse?

Answer 20

-Steel portal frame construction with plastic coated steel profile cladding with brick or blockwork walls up to approx 2m.
-Minimum 8m clear eaves height with 10% roof lights
- 40% site cover
- 10% office content + toilet provision
- at least 30 kn/m^2 floor loading capacity
- Led lighting
- full height loading doors (electronically operated)
- three-phase electricity power
- main services capped off

Question 21

What is an inherent defect?

Answer 21

A defect in the design of a building or a material used in its construction that always been there

Question 22

What is a latent defect?

Answer 22

A defect that could not be discovered by a reasonably thorough inspection of a property

Question 23

What can cause a building to move?

Answer 23

Subsidence and heave

Question 24

What is subsidence?

Answer 24

The vertical downward movement of a building due to a loss of support of the site beneath the foundations

Question 25

What is heave?

Answer 25

The expansion of the ground beneath a building - can be caused by the removal of trees

Question 26

What would indicate the failure of cavity wall ties?

Answer 26

Horizontal cracking

Question 27

What are the three types of damp?

Answer 27

Rising damp, wet rot and dry rot

Question 28

How high does rising damp typically rise?

Answer 28

Up to 1.5m above ground level

Question 29

What causes wet rot

Answer 29

damp and timber decay

Question 30

what causes dry rot?

Answer 30

fungal attacks

Question 31

What are some of the common defects found in older, period buildings?

Answer 31

-Tile slippage on roof - wet/dry rot - timber decay caused by death watch beetles - water ingress near doors and window openings - penetrating damp at roof and ground floor level - structural movement

Question 32

What are some of the common defects you might find in an industrial warehouse?

Answer 32

-Roof leaks around the roof lights - blocked valley guttering - water ingress from burst pipes - cut edge corrosion - damaged cladding panels

Question 33

What are some of the common defects you might find in a modern office?

Answer 33

-Damp penetration at roof and ground floor levels - water damage from burst pipes/failed a/c units - damaged cladding - damage to brickwork (e.g. efflorescence)

Question 34

Is there any RICS guidance around contamination?

Answer 34

There is a guidance note on contamination from 2010; it sets out the general principles that the polluter or landowner is responsible for remediation

Question 35

What are some common signs of contamination potentially being present?

Answer 35

Evidence of subsidence, oildrums/oils, chemicals, underground tanks

Question 36

How would you approach valuing a site with contamination present?

Answer 36

1. Do not provide any advice until a specialist report has been commissioned 2. Caveat any advice with a disclaimer highlighting the issue 3. Deduct remediation costs from the gross site value

Question 37

What are deleterious materials?

Answer 37

Materials that are susceptible to deterioration over time, causing structural issues to a building

Question 38

What is an example of a deleterious material?

Answer 38

RAAC (reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete) - commonly used in construction of buildings between 60s and 90s

Question 39

what is the difference between a deleterious and a hazardous material?

Answer 39

A deleterious material is susceptible to deterioration over time, causing structural problems whilst a hazardous material is in itself harmful to health

Question 40

What are some examples of hazardous materials?

Answer 40

Asbestos lead piping

Question 41

what is Japanese knotweed and what does it look like?

Answer 41

It's an invasive plant species that can cause damage to hard surfaces, including tarmac and foundations It has a green or purple hollow stem and green shovel-shaped leaves It can be disposed of legally by chemical treatment

Question 42

When inspecting the office in St James's, what defects were you looking for?

Answer 42

Talk about common defects found in offices (e.g. damp penetrations, damage to brickwork/cladding etc.)

Question 43

You mentioned the office was in category A condition - what does this mean?

Answer 43

the floor is fitted out to an institutional category A standard, including raised access floors, suspended ceilings, lighting and heating/cooling systems

Question 44

What air conditioning system was used?

Answer 44

VRv (variable refrigerant volume)

Question 45

Were you concerned about contamination when you inspected the supermarket/

Answer 45

Yes, given that there was a petrol filling station with underground fuel tanks, I was aware that the site was susceptible to contamination and therefore would have commissioned a specialist survey were we to proceed further with our interest.