The Building Forensic Partnership has been established to resolve the defects and maximise the recovery of costs on behalf of our clients.

While there has been a drive for zero defects at handover, there has been little monitoring or focus on latent defects. Typical issues we encounter are defects in M&E installations, problems with district heating, overheating in corridors and fire stopping.

Resolving defects in buildings can be a ‘Cinderella role’ in organisations, often passed to a technical officer who has other roles to deal with. There is a tendency to avoid looking to recover costs from the original contracted party who may be responsible for the defect with a typical response being that it is only £5,000 of work for example, and it is easier to keep the residents/tenants/internal client happy by dealing directly. Also, the original contract documentation is often not readily available.

Using the combined experience of the team, we have developed a process for managing the rectification from the initial notification of a defect to resolving it and recovery of costs

• Survey the property to correctly identify the defect(s)
• Review the original contract documentation
• Provide a report of our findings
• Receive further instruction from the client
• Review and investigate notifying parties
• Provide solutions
• Monitor rectification works
• Issue documentation, certificates, warranties and operational manuals

This process includes engaging with the following to maximise the recovery of costs:

• Any warranty providers
• Designers / consultants (directly contracted and via collateral warrantees)
• Contractors and sub contractors
• Insurers

We also facilitate workshops with client development and property maintenance teams to promote collaborative working, reduce unnecessary maintenance costs and improve resident satisfaction.