This property was constructed in the late 1970’s and was previously used as a Ford car dealership. After the dealership closed, our client bought the property with a view to converting it from its current layout and use into four separate trade counter retail units which would be let to four separate tenants.
They commissioned us to undertake an independent building survey and feasibility study for the conversion. This involved providing a detailed appraisal of what practical issues would have to be resolved from a compliance and aesthetic perspective, outlining the various options to address those issues and also giving budget costs for the works that would be needed. This meant that the client would be armed with the information they needed to establish a timeframe and budget for the works.
As is very common with buildings of this age and type, there were a number of practical issues that we identified and provided advice on including ensuring security for the prospective tenants, energy performance improvement works and compliance with other current statutory obligations. In addition, consideration needed to be given to the subdivision of the essential services to the property and compliance with fire regulations.
Our client obtained interest from four good tenants for the units and we then negotiated specifications with each them. To do this, we had to listen to and understanding each of their specific requirements whilst also carefully protecting our client’s position by ensuring that the cost and standard of the work was appropriate to rental property and income in the local area so that the profitability of the development was not impacted by over specifying expensive, disproportionate and unnecessary products.
One area of expertise that we pride ourselves in is our knowledge, awareness and promotion of energy efficiency. In this case, we recommended to our client that it would be well worth spending a large proportion of the budget on the roof and cladding to upgrade the specification to that of a modern building complying with regulations and thermally insulated roof and walls which would provide a guarantee of 20 years. This was important not only to satisfy the tenants but also to future proof the investment value of the property against any inevitable changes in energy performance legislation which is increasingly becoming an important and essential consideration when undertaking any building improvement or conversion works.
Once the specifications were agreed, we completed the process by acting as lead consultant for all of the works overseeing the entirety of the project.