It has been another exceptionally busy quarter across Lea Hough Chartered Surveyors, with strong demand across our Residential Survey & Valuation, Commercial and Building Surveying teams. As we move into one of our busiest periods of the year, we’re continuing to recruit, invest in new technology and deliver projects for clients across the North West.
Residential Surveys and Valuations
Demand for residential surveys remains consistently high, with our Surveyors’ diaries booked several weeks in advance. Our workload includes RICS HomeBuyer Reports, Building Surveys and valuation work across Lancashire, Greater Manchester and the surrounding areas.
Our Valuations team has also remained extremely busy, undertaking a wide range of residential valuations, from standard housing stock through to higher-value homes, alongside land and development valuations, woodland, adverse possession matters and other specialist instructions. Matrimonial valuations continue to provide a steady stream of work, while interest in sites with development potential remains strong, even where planning positions are complex.
Building Surveying
The team has remained steadily busy, with a number of larger scale projects ongoing.
Recent milestones include the handover of a new small parts assembly facility and mezzanine structure for Porta Micro Matic at Chorley, while work has commenced on the Padiham Heritage Reinstatement Scheme at Padiham’s Top Club. As part of the Burnley High Streets Heritage Action Zone programme, we have also been instructed to oversee the reinstatement of original shopfronts and oriel bay windows at Sumbuls Takeaway.
Alongside larger commissions, the team continues to act for both landlords and tenants on a wide range of dilapidations instructions and commercial building projects.
To support our growing workload, we are delighted to have welcomed a new graduate to our Building Surveying team.
Education Projects
Our School Building Consultancy team has seen another successful quarter, with numerous Condition Improvement Fund (CIF) and School Condition Allocation (SCA) projects progressing into construction ahead of the summer holiday period.
Our School Building Consultants are preparing for another busy summer, with a significant programme of projects now underway across schools in Lancashire, Cumbria, Greater Manchester and Merseyside.
Recent projects of note include:
- SEND scheme successfully completed and handed over, at Birchwood High School, Warrington.
- Croft Primary School’s new nursery building handed over, again in Warrington.
- New MUGA school completed, at Hollins High School, Accrington.
- Phase 1 of the extension handed over at Little Lever School, Bolton.
- Major refurbishment works now underway at Edgar Wood Academy, Heywood.
Across the region, our team has also completed a substantial programme of school condition surveys in line with Department for Education guidance, alongside continuing work on SEND improvement projects.
Several major schemes are progressing through procurement or construction, including extensions, heating upgrades, roofing projects and window replacement programmes at schools including Grange Primary School (Liverpool), QEGS (Blackburn), Dallam (Milnthorpe), Colne Park High School, Kingsway Park High School (Rochdale) and Endmoor, Cumbria.
Commercial Property
Our Commercial Surveying team has continued to work with clients across a diverse range of sectors and property types.
Recent instructions have included care home surveys throughout the UK, an increasing number of Quinquennial Inspections for churches and further appointments from Methodist Church circuits. The team has also secured positive dilapidations settlements for several clients, while providing project monitoring and contract administration services on development schemes.
One particularly notable commission involved undertaking a snagging inspection on a newly constructed 150,000 sq ft industrial unit, near Burnley.
Investing in Growth
As demand for our services continues to grow, we’ve continued investing in both our people and technology.
This quarter we’ve:
- Opened a new satellite office in Bolton, further strengthening our presence across Greater Manchester.
- Added another drone to our growing fleet, increasing our capacity to carry out drone surveys safely and efficiently across a wider range of properties.
- Received a number of excellent Google reviews, reflecting the high standards of service delivered by our teams.
- Enjoyed our annual summer staff social, providing a welcome opportunity for colleagues from across the business to come together outside of work, for an afternoon pf ten pin bowling, dining and drinking in Preston city centre.
With Surveyors’ diaries remaining busy, a strong pipeline of commercial instructions and a packed programme of education projects scheduled throughout the summer, the months ahead look set to be another exciting and productive period for the entire Lea Hough team.
