Queensland Emergency Operations Centre
Napier & Blakeley are just completing their role as Quantity Surveyors on the new QEOC building at Kedron Park in Brisbane.
This world-class communications centre, the largest emergency operations centre in the southern hemisphere, enables best practice strategic response and planning for daily emergencies and incidents and coordinated disaster management for the Queensland Government.
The building was centre of attention in the recent South East Queensland floods and Cyclone Yasi as it became the broadcast facility for regular bulletins by State Premier Anna Bligh and Prime Minister Julia Gillard. Continue reading
Commercial Building Disclosure (CBD)
Commercial Building Disclosure (CBD) is a national program designed to improve the energy efficiency of Australia’s large office buildings.
The disclosure requirements under the CBD program will commence on 1 November 2010.
The CBD program will ensure that credible and meaningful energy efficiency information is available to prospective purchasers and lessees of large commercial office space. Owners and lessors of commercial office space with a net lettable area of 2,000m² or more will be required to disclose energy efficiency information to prospective purchasers and tenants when the space is to be sold, leased or subleased.
Transitional Provisions
The legislation contains transitional provisions that will apply for the first twelve months of the program (i.e. from 1 November 2010 to 30 October 2011). During this period, a valid National Australian Built Environment Rating System (NABERS) Energy base or whole building rating, must be disclosed. After the transition period, a full Building Energy Efficiency Certificate (BEEC) is required to be disclosed.
Are your Fire Insurance Assessments up to date?
Damage to property and buildings by fire and other disasters, natural or otherwise, costs Australians hundreds of millions of dollars every year. In Australia, the most common building disaster is fire, so it is important to be prepared.
Napier & Blakeley’s fire insurance assessments are called reinstatement cost assessments. The function of these assessments is to determine the amount a property needs to be insured, to cover the possibility of damage from a disaster. This can include the demolition of the remaining component of the property followed by reconstruction.
Construction markets nationally have gone through significant upturns in cost in recent years. While the increase in these costs may have slowed, they are still far greater than they were a few years ago.
Financiers Reports – Are you getting what you really need?
Financier and developers, will often shop around to get the cheapest quote in an effort to shave a few hundred dollars off the cost of their reports. The question that remains is: Should they prioritise financial savings, or a quality level of reporting?
Developers often see financiers reports (risk assessments during the construction period of a development) as a necessary evil to get their hands on the financiers cash, so the cheaper the better. However where the drive is towards controlling of costs to maximise return, the saving in a financiers report could leave them exposed to the risk of far greater costs during the life of the project.
Paul Cosker, Manager, Quantity Surveying at Napier and Blakeley says that a well thought-out financier report will provide commentary on the project. However, in order to achieve that, the developer should sometimes be prepared to pay a little extra for a thorough review at the outset.
Sherwood fire sparks timely warning about Property Insurance
The recent warehouse fire in the Brisbane suburb of Sherwood should send a significant warning to property owners and managers about property replacement cost assessments. The damage to the Sherwood warehouse was massive. From a property owner’s perspective, it was critical that they were not under-insured.
Unfortunately, all too often we see companies that lose their assets (due to fire, flooding etc) without first ensuring they are adequately insured. This is an expensive mistake.
Everyday, property owners are at risk of under-insurance due to a variety of factors. The case study below demonstrates the difference between an insurance replacement cost assessment prepared by a qualified Quantity Surveyor and a property valuation estimate.
The example is based on a 10,000m2 property which has a 4,000m2 industrial building, including a 500m2 office component.
|
Item |
Quantity Surveyor |
Valuation |
|
Current building replacement cost |
$2,480,000 |
$2,480,000 |
|
Additional building cost for office areas |
$290,000 |
$290,000 |
|
Cost of external hardstand, landscaping and services |
$600,000 |
Not considered |
|
Demolition cost of existing structure |
$240,000 |
Not considered |
|
Demolition cost of existing hardstand |
$120,000 |
Not considered |
|
Additional cost of asbestos removal |
$200,000 |
Not considered |
|
Additional costs to achieve current building code compliance |
$100,000 |
Not considered |
|
Replacement cost of Landlord owned tenancy fitouts |
$250,000 |
Not considered |
|
Total replacement cost |
$4,280,000 |
$2,770,000 |
|
Cost of re-design and professional fees |
$270,000 |
Not considered |
|
Cost of council fees and charges |
$80,000 |
Not considered |
|
Total development costs |
$4,630,000 |
$2,770,000 |
|
Cost escalation between disaster date and final completion of new building (18 months) |
$463,000 |
Not considered |
|
Total replacement cost |
$5,093,000 (1,273/m2) |
$2,770,000 (692/m2) |
