What is Condition Surveying?
Before you can determine the maintenance, refurbishment and replacement priorities for your school, college or multi-academy trust (MAT), you need to have a comprehensive understanding of the condition of your buildings and facilities. That’s where a condition survey can help.
A condition survey gives you a complete picture of the condition of your buildings and systems and identifies where changes can be made. Surveyors will inspect all areas of your estate, including the windows, roof, walls, the building fabric and your electrical, heating and ventilation systems and provide recommendations for improvement.
Why is a Condition Survey Important?
A condition survey enables you to better understand the condition and maintenance requirements of your buildings as well as any urgent health and safety risks that you should resolve. It also grades the issues in terms of their severity, prioritises the improvements and provides full costings.
As well as keeping your pupils, staff and visitors safe, a condition survey can help to reduce your costs. It enables you to anticipate your maintenance needs and perform remedial works before serious problems occur that could be more costly.
But that’s not all. A condition survey is also the first step in applying for government funding via Urgent Capital Support (UCS), and Condition Improvement Fund (CIF). Condition surveys provide crucial documentary evidence to support your funding applications.
What Do Our Condition Surveys Cover?
Our RICS-certified surveyors provide in-depth reports in line with the Department for Education’s Asset Management Plan ‘Condition Assessment’, but we also provide much more information.
We use the latest mobile assessment technology to perform non-intrusive inspections and use a common grading system to compare your maintenance requirements across multiple sites.
Our condition surveys include:
- Clear descriptions and a narrative of our findings
- Condition grades for every building within your estate
- Identification of the risks we find
- Prioritisation of the elements that require attention
- Recommendations for remedial works and replacements
- Full costings for the work required
- Information about other benefits of the works, such as energy savings
It typically takes one to four weeks to complete a condition survey depending on the size and complexity of your site, and we usually conduct surveys every three to five years.
How Can We Help?
We provide building condition surveys for schools, academies, trusts, colleges and universities across the UK. Our team of over 60 RICS-certified surveyors delivers a first-class service and understands the particular challenges you face – from restricted budgets and project timescales to the importance of minimising disruptions during term time and exams.
We also have the expertise to project manage the building and maintenance works and help you secure the relevant funding.
Contact Eddisons Education
Get in touch to find out more about building condition surveys or to discuss the requirements of your school or academy with our team.
