Episode 100 - RIBA Plan of Work Stages 4-7 in Conservation

This week is Part 2 how the RIBA Work Stages can be used by the project team as a guide to assist and map out what needs to be considered when working on historic buildings and building conservation. This week we will be covering RIBA Stages 4-7. This episode content meets PC2 - Clients, Users & Delivery of Services & PC3 - Legal Framework & Processes of the Part 3 Criteria.

Resources from today's episode:

Books:
RIBA Conservation Guide

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Transcript

Episode 100:

Hello and Welcome to the Part3 with me podcast. 

The show that helps part 3 students jump-start into their careers as qualified architects and also provides refresher episodes for practicing architects. I am your host Maria Skoutari and this week is Part 2 on how the RIBA Work Stages can be used by the project team as a guide to assist and map out what needs to be considered when working on historic buildings and building conservation. Today’s episode meets PC2&3  of the Part 3 Criteria.

Today I will be covering the process at RIBA Stage 4 to 7. 

• So at Stage 0, the spirit of the place should be identified, alongside the scope of the heritage assets on and around the site 
• At Stage 1, the heritage receptors should be identified and a general understanding of the project should be determined based on the site and buildings. Likely required surveys should also be identified at this stage 
• At Stage 2, a heritage statement should be drafted. An impact assessment should also be drafted at this stage together with non-intrusive surveys to determine the condition of the building/s and identifying the presence of any hazardous materials. 
• And at Stage 3, the heritage statement or conservation plan should be completed, as well as the heritage impact assessment required for planning and listed building or scheduled ancient monument consents. Submit planning and listed building applications that are to be made at the end of this stage.

So diving straight into it, at RIBA Stage 4:

By the end of Stage 3, the design team would have established, coordinated and tested all the major strategies underlying the design and the range of materials and specialisms needed to deliver them. So Stage 4 is all about the detailed design, specification and sourcing of materials and specialist craftspeople.

The Key Supporting Tasks at this stage include:

• Reviewing and updating the Sustainability, Maintenance and Operational and Handover Strategies and Risk Assessments.
• Preparing and submitting the Building Regulations submission and any other third party submissions requiring consent.
• Reviewing and updating the Project Execution Plan.
• Reviewing the Construction Strategy, including sequencing, and update the Health and Safety Strategy.
• Reviewing and updating the conservation plan and heritage impact analysis.

The core objectives at Stage 4 is the preparation of the technical design in accordance with the design responsibility matrix and project strategies which includes all architectural, structural and building services information, specialist subcontractor design and specifications to be in accordance with the Design Programme. Additionally, at this stage:

• The planning and listed building consent conditions should have been cleared to ensure the project programme stays on track or if any conditions will cause delays. If approval for the relevant conditions is not obtained, the local authority can issue a stop notice, require work to be undone or in extreme cases prosecute. Therefore, clearance of conditions should be closely tracked and recorded. 
• Any intrusive surveys should have been carried out
• Any samples and mock-ups should have been prepared to ensure the materials proposed match the appearance of the existing
• The detailed design and specification should have been completed
• And the tender packages prepared

Typically with listed buildings, any adaptions or extensions will most possibly need to match the existing materials and carefully detailed to tie back to the existing. It would be useful to keep a record of decisions as they are made, alongside design development notes monitoring the process which can be used in the specification and tender documents, these can be in the form of photographs, measured drawings and a comprehensive written assessment. Sometimes further intrusive surveys may be required, and since listed building consent would have been obtained by this stage, it is generally much easier to carry out these surveys and undertake any opening up. 

Sometimes, conditions may be attached to a listed building consent requiring specific elements to be taken out intact and either stored, reused or disposed of in a controlled manner. It is also good practice to protect vulnerable building elements such as fireplaces, such requirements can be detailed in the contract preliminaries to ensure the contractor places the necessary protection measures in place during construction. The tender package should also identify who will be carrying out detailed recording of the key parts to be salvaged and protected, what format the recording will be in, how and when it will be presented and where it will eventually be kept. 

So once the documentation has been prepared to be sent out to tender, the prefer procurement route should have been decided on. As mentioned, most typically, a traditional procurement route tends to be the one used when it comes to listed buildings as it ensures the retention of all design liability and the decision-making responsibility is on the client’s side of the contract. The level of detail provided by the clients design team will also be critical at this stage to ensure high quality and workmanship is retained during construction. Design responsibility of specialists in both the design team and the contractors team will need to be clearly established to avoid overlapping of works and retaining a clear line of liabilities. Skills accreditation schemes for crafts- and tradespeople should be used wherever feasible.

If the project involves ‘known unknowns’ or uncertainties, discuss and agree the use of provisional and general contingency sums, and establish the mechanism for controlling their use and expenditure. The procurement route chosen may dictate how this is done, and the previous comments on latent defects. In a traditional form of building contract, it should be consider whether naming or even nominating subcontractors is advisable or whether the use of multiple contracts would be a better option.

Clients should also be advised at this stage of obtaining an appropriate level of insurance for the building works depending on the building contract chosen and if they are responsible for insuring. 

Then at RIBA Stage 5:

The procurement route is chosen which determines the ability of the design team to instruct, advise or simply observe to handle any unexpected finds and surprises as work progresses which may as a result require detailing to be revised or redesigned to accommodate any problems discovered during the opening up process. This is the point where it becomes clear if enough investigation and analysis was undertaken in the earlier stages and whether those investigations were focused on the right places. 

Planning and listed building consent conditions should continue to be managed and cleared at this stage, ensuring the construction team is fully aware of them and the necessary visits from the local planning authority and historic England are organised as required to give them confidence that heritage issues are being taken seriously and dealt with properly. Once officers are confident that the building is in a ‘safe pair of hands’ it becomes much easier to discuss issues and get their approval quickly in response to changes and discoveries on site.

The Key Supporting Tasks at this stage include:

• Managing and recording salvage and disposal operations during demolition
• Managing the recording of the fabric as found and as built
• Updating the conservation plan
• Drafting a conservation handbook for handover at completion, if this is part of the brief.

At this stage, regardless of the procurement route chosen, the architect should expect to spend a lot of time on site and this should be reflected in their fee proposal and resource management. 

So the core objectives at Stage 5 is for any offsite manufacturing and onsite construction to be in accordance with the Construction Programme with any design site queries raised to be resolved promptly. Alongside:

• Keeping the existing building protected
• Responding to discoveries on site and recording these discoveries
• Checking that details and specifications are being followed and revising them when necessary
• And passing on the information at handover  

So, in terms of keeping the existing building protected, this tends to be procured through a performance specification backed by a request for a method statement stating key activities for the contractor to follow such as a soft strip out, salvaging materials and protective measures keeping the building wind and weathertight as well as identifying and reusing existing routes for building services and structure to minimise perforation into the existing fabric as well as maintaining fire compartmentation and acoustic separation. Care should also be taken if hazardous material is found on site, such as asbestos which needs to be removed by specially trained operatives, architects need to be aware that any old building can contain hazardous materials and when inspecting them they should be prepared to use disposable overalls, gloves and a dust mask. 

The risk of fire is also very high when it comes to historic buildings during construction, it may therefore, be necessary to install temporary fire detection and alarm systems during the construction period and carry out escape and fire-fighting drills. Keeping the fabric of the existing building undamaged is crucial during construction and necessary measures will need to be put in place to ensure, this is why the sensitivity analysis is important so that the right level of challenge and complexity is used where necessary.

Many unpredictable discoveries may be found on sites with existing or historic buildings, the key thing in such circumstances is to make sure that the contractor and their team tell about the discoveries as soon as they are found and they stop work in that area with photographic evidence made as soon as possible. The architect should allow time for being available to review and instruct changes when discoveries are made on site and if any other members of the team will need to be brought on to review what is found and to seek their advice on how best to respond and approach the discovery. Architects should, therefore, allow more frequent site visits within their fee, especially if they are CA. 

If the site is large enough with regular site inductions being carried out, it would be beneficial to raise general awareness of heritage issues to ensure everyone on site is aware of potential areas of concern. 

During Stage 5, the selection of specialist subcontractors and suppliers will be confirmed and their skills and accreditation should be checked to ensure the right people are working on relevant elements.  

Then at RIBA Stage 6:

All the information of the building is passed on to the client, the building owner or their management team. Some considerations that need to be reviewed by the design team at this stage to be included within the information provided to the client is the detailed recording of what has been found and how issues have been dealt with while construction was underway. The handover documentation may also require to include advice on the maintenance and upkeep of the fabric when in use. 

The Key Supporting Tasks at this stage include:

• Carrying out the activities listed in the Handover Strategy, including Feedback for use during the future life of the building or on future projects
• Updating the Project Information as required
• Successfully handing over of the building and concluding the Building Contract with support tasks focused on evaluating performance and providing Feedback to inform future projects
• Updating the conservation plan at practical completion/soft handover ready for passing on to the client and building users/managers
• Depositing the building record in the local records office or historic environment record as appropriate.
• If a BIM model has been used, attach as much of this information as possible to the model.
• Consider publication of the project in either a learned journal or book.

Therefore, the core objective at this stage is the handover of the building and conclusion of the building contract. As well as, handing on the updated conservation plan and any other relevant documents in addition to providing advice on future maintenance. 

So as mentioned, the conservation plan will need to be updated at this stage to reflect the discoveries on site and to record the work carried out. Some funders will expect a management and maintenance plan to be produced as well as ensuring all the relevant heritage information is provided. If the conservation plan has been developed into a management plan, or a management and maintenance plan has been produced, it should presented to and discussed with the facilities management team and/or the user.

Additionally, the condition of all elements of the building that were covered for protection during the construction phase should be checked and determine if any remedial work is required, this should ideally be done before handover. Then once the client takes over the building, they should be reminded to ensure the building insurance cover is in place before the contractor leaves the site. 

So, if traditional procurement was used, then at Stage 6, there will be a requirement for a Certificate of Practical Completion and ensure all steps required to obtain the certificate have been undertaken. All planning and listed building conditions should also all have been cleared at this Stage and the final Building Regulations approval obtained. 

If the site is large and complex, the client may wish to enter into a Heritage Partnership Agreement with the local planning authority, which essentially creates a legal agreement between the building owner/user and the local planning authority as to what work can be carried out in the future on the site without requiring a specific application for listed building consent. Not all local planning authorities are willing to enter into such agreements, and in any case they will normally be time limited (five to ten years) and subject to review before renewal.

So then you have the transition of the works from being a building site under the control and responsibility of the main contractor to being a building fitted out and in use takes months rather than days and the process of handover is described as a ‘soft landing’. Some time needs to be allowed for the building fabric to adapt gently into its essentially new conditions, especially if a new central heating system is installed. This is also a period, particularly if there have been a lot of wet trades or extensive below-ground structural work, when latent defects will appear or reappear and arguments about cracking and responsibility for making good will almost inevitably arise. The condition of salvaged items should also be checked at this stage to ensure all items scheduled for reinstatement are back in place. 

Accurate record-keeping is, therefore, key and can be in the form of measured surveys, sketching, samples, materials analysis and so on, and a copy should be included in the operation and maintenance manuals which will need to be more detailed when relating to listed or historic buildings. 

If bespoke materials were used, such as specialist paint colours, it should be considered to keep supplies of the actual product used for future retouching as it may not be possible to get an exact match in the future.

And, then lastly at RIBA Stage 7:

This stage focuses on the activities which a conservation architect may be engaged in when a building is in use, mainly focused on advising the clients and facilities managers on repairs, maintenance, minor works and so on. 

The Key Supporting Tasks at this stage include:

• Concluding the activities in the Handover Strategy, including the Post-occupancy evaluation, review of the project performance, project outcomes and research and development aspects.
• And updating the project information as required in response to ongoing client feedback. 

So, the core objective at this stage is essentially undertaking in-use services in accordance with the schedule of services. Which can include maintaining beneficial use by providing the income stream necessary to maintain, repair and adapt the building conserving it for future use, another core objective is maintaining the building fabric ensuring it is free from cracks, dry rot and rising damp by carrying out regular visual inspections. Another core objective includes enhancing the building and wider public understanding of the building and adapting the building to change, such as climate change, legislation changes and so on. 

Legislation may be for ones that protect certain species which can sometimes be found in historic buildings, such as bats and badgers. The penalties for damaging buildings or species habitat are potentially severe, although the maximum fine for damaging a listed building is much greater than that for disturbing bats.

At this stage, it is key to set up a rolling maintenance programme informed by the expected life cycles of key elements and materials to ensure they are replaced or treated as required. A 25-30 year maintenance period is typical for most historic buildings and the approach for the maintenance should also be considered, if scaffolding will be required for example to clean the facade, given scaffolding is expensive to set up, all work that requires scaffolding should be considered and carried out at the same time to avoid having scaffolding up in a few months again. It is important, therefore, to discuss and agree repair strategies with the client and to record them. And also advise clients to keep a record of improvements in access technology of specialist firms, such as abseilers, whose skills can alter the balance of priorities.

This activity completes the circle, bringing the work undertaken back to Stage 0, usually about every 25 years.

To sum up what I discussed today:

• At Stage 4, the planning and listed building consent conditions should be assessed and their clearance programmed with clear identification of the pre-commencement conditions. At this stage, a detailed design and specification should be developed with input from specialist suppliers and supply chain. Salvage and protection packages should also be identified at this stage, together with setting up recording protocols for the works and specifying the required level of detail. 
• At Stage 5, the planning and listed building consent condition should be carefully monitored to ensure compliance. The heritage statement or conservation plan should be updated to record the opening up of the building, and recording and responding to any discoveries made as well as monitoring the salvaged elements and ensuring their protection. Specialist suppliers and the supply chain should be engaged at this stage and brought on board. 
• At Stage 6, the heritage statement or conservation plan should be completed and handed over to the client or users alongside a record of any discoveries of hazardous materials. The client and/or users should also be advised on the stocking of spares and maintenance items. Compliance and completion of the planning and listed building consent conditions should be confirmed. The reinstatement after removal of protection measures should be checked as well as completing the record of works.
• And at Stage 7, the conservation plan should be developed into a conservation management plan which should be reviewed every 5 years. Periodic inspections should be carried out to be able to advise on maintenance and repair, heritage protection and record the building and works carried out. Any legislation which may effect the building should also be constantly monitored and ensure the client and/or users are maintaining the spirit of the site and buildings.