Local Authority Multi-Site Roof Survey & Planned Works, London

The Challenge

A London borough council managed a portfolio of 22 commercial properties, depots, leisure centres, libraries, day-care centres, fleet workshops and a small number of office buildings, totalling 38,000m² of roof area. No central condition record existed and reactive repair spend had grown beyond £180,000 a year, with multiple buildings showing signs of major roof failure.

The borough's commercial property team needed a single, consistent condition assessment across the full portfolio, prioritised remedial works grouped into a defendable capex programme, and a delivery partner capable of executing the resulting works under the borough's framework arrangements.

Our Approach

Our technical surveyors completed close-quarters condition surveys of every roof in the portfolio over six weeks, with each building photographed, defects mapped and graded P1–P4 by severity and urgency. Outputs were issued as individual condition reports per building and a consolidated portfolio dashboard showing total residual roof life, urgent intervention requirements and recommended capex profile across a five-year planning horizon.

From the survey output, the borough commissioned an 18-month phased works programme covering: 9,200m² of liquid waterproofing across four leisure and depot buildings, 6,800m² of asbestos cement encapsulation on three operational depots, 1,400 linear metres of internal box gutter lining and a targeted cut edge corrosion programme on two fleet workshops.

All works were delivered by directly employed crews under the borough's standard public sector contractor requirements, with monthly progress reporting back to the property team and full integration with each building's user group on access, noise and parking arrangements.

The Result

Reactive roof spend across the borough's commercial portfolio dropped by an estimated 84% in the 12 months following completion of the planned works programme. All 22 buildings now sit within the borough's planned preventative maintenance regime, with annual visual inspections scheduled to maintain warranty terms.

Each completed work package was handed over with a 20-year guarantee. Total capex outlay across the 18-month programme came in approximately 6% under the original surveyed budget, allowing the borough's property team to redirect savings into condition surveys of a further nine community buildings.

Services Used on This Project