Our architect has suggested some items that we should include as budgeted costs as we prepare a bid for the Heritage Lottery Fund Repair Grants for Places of Worship. We are concerned with the development stage particularly, as we won’t be able to adjust that, while the delivery-stage costs could be adjusted.
CUMBERSOME as the process is, the formulation of the repair-grant procedures is effective for the high-quality preparation of repair projects for churches. The development stage is not flexible, but is the comprehensive preparation of the detailed design and specification for building works in the delivery stage.
The budget for the development stage is made up of fees for consultants, for co-ordinating the consultants’ reports, and costs for getting the reports.
Your architect, as the leader, is commissioning the reports needed from a variety of specialist consultants; so he or she will act later to co-ordinate those reports into a comprehensive design that includes both a detailed drawing and a “specification of works” in accompanying text.
The drawings and specification will be the bulk of what is submitted for faculty, and will be included in tender documents, and ultimately to the Heritage Lottery Fund for approval to proceed with the construction works. Expect to include an identifiable fee for this co-ordination.
All of your design-team consultants will have a fee proposal that is presented either as a percentage calculated against the estimated total cost of the works, or a lump sum — the latter when they are engaged in only part of the works. Your architect will get quotes from all the desired consultants for their work. (For many, the lump sum will be paid partly during the development stage, and the rest after the delivery stage, when they have been to the site to assist in checking the quality of the work done.)
On percentage fees, expect to include your architect, and a quantity surveyor. Expect to pay up to 60 per cent of this fee by the time the tender report is accepted and the works are ready to go ahead.
For the rest (and take your architect’s advice, as it would be very unusual to need all of these): mechanical and electrical services — water, drains, and utilities; lighting designer; structural engineer; stone specialist; archaeologist; an ecologist for such things as bat surveys; and a health-and-safety specialist (legally required on all works).
Add to this the costs of drain survey; CAD (camera-aided) survey drawings, inside and out; an access audit; and a maintenance plan. For high-level works you may need to hire a cherry picker, or scaffolding tower, to allow specialists to examine otherwise inaccessible areas.
The Heritage Lottery Fund typically contributes up to £20,000 on this stage. Work with your architect and quantity surveyor to determine how much of the fees is payable in the development stage, and how much will remain to be paid towards the end of the delivery stage. Then fill in the finance section of the application.
A tip: since the work on these forms is so excruciatingly detailed, have a celebration when you have completed the form, and then, when the grant is offered, calculate how much money, per volunteer-hour spent, you have gained for your work. It eases the pain.
Send your issues and questions to maggiedurran@virginmedia.com.