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Building surveyors can mentally strip a building down to its component parts and think scientifically to identify defects and associated remedies, says Alex Charlesworth
This issue of BSJ focuses on inspections, which are the building blocks of our profession. It is our training and core skill set that enables us to inspect a building, mentally take it apart, and rebuild it. Rather like Sherlock Holmes, a building surveyor will literally get under the skin of the building through physical inspection, analysis of documentation, and good old fashioned police work - interviewing the occupiers. Building pathology is at the very centre of building surveying.
The article on schedules of condition in relation to party walls is another reference to a core building surveying skill, or where schedules are also prepared in association with lease liability. Over the years I have seen many schedules of condition that fail to capture the visible evidence they set out to provide. Schedules should be both photographic and text, which enables the reader to follow them in a logical manner, and to identify...