Robert J Hales Limited registered in England No. 05331580.  Registered office: The Studio, 16 Thornton Gate, Berwick upon Tweed, TD15 2NU

Home Services Selected Projects People Awards Contact

ROBERT J. HALES LIMITED

Chartered Architect | Chartered Building Surveyor | Chartered Architectural Technologists

As briefly described on our home page we provide both Building Surveying and Architectural Design services. Below we have broken these areas of our practice into two titles and expanded upon the remit of our work, if you do not see the service you require listed below please don’t hesitate to contact us to discuss this.

Building Surveying

Summary of Building Surveying Services:

Valuation Report

Homebuyers Report

Building Report

Preparation of Schedules of Condition and Dilapidation

Conveyance Plans

Building Pathology

Party Wall Act Surveys

Boundary Disputes

Planned Maintenance Schedules

We provide a range of Building Surveying services such as the more common, Valuation Report, Homebuyers Report and Building Report that you may require prior to purchasing a property. We would always recommend a Homebuyers Report or Building Report prior to purchasing a property as this will identify any visual defects and suggest the course of action to be taken; this will assist you in deciding whether or not to proceed with the purchase.

If you are looking at renting a property as a tenant or landlord we can assist in preparing a Condition Report which will describe the condition prior to occupying the property. Again we would always recommend this as it establishes the condition at the start of the tenancy, otherwise either party could be liable for repair costs that are wrongly incurred upon vacation of the property. Likewise we can also carry out Dilapidation Reports upon vacation of the property and this can then be compared to the initial Condition Survey to establish any fair repair costs.

We can also assist with matters relating to Building Pathology where we can report upon the building defect(s) present within your property which concerns you, in which we will identifying the cause(s) and the action(s) to be taken to rectify those defects.

Architectural Design

Summary of Architectural Services & Project types:

Planning & Building Regulation Applications

Listed Building Applications

CDM Regulations (Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2007)

Full Specification and Tender Documentation

Party Wall Disputes

Project Administration

Contract Administration

Conservation Areas

Private Houses

Commercial

Offices

Shopfronts

Extensions

Alterations

New Builds

Housing Estates

Garages

Within the office we have a qualified Chartered Architect and Chartered Architectural Technologist, this allows us to provide an architectural response that considers both the design and technical aspect of a project.

We can provide a full service throughout the RIBA stages of work from inception to use or a tailored service depending upon your requirements. We can work with you to develop a brief, prepare concept designs and scheme development, make statutory applications to the Local Authority, work on technical design, work with other professionals, produce tender documentation, administrate the Form of Building Contract, inspect the works, and sign off the works.

We have worked on a range of projects within both the private and public sector. The majority of our work is within the private sector for both private and developer clients on residential projects. Projects to date have ranged from small extensions and alterations to individual designed houses and large housing estates.

Working within a historic town we have worked on a large number of Listed and Historic Buildings within Conservation Areas. More recently we have been involved with many properties under the Berwick upon Tweed Historic Area Improvement Scheme (BHAIS) for private clients which has been partly grant funded by English Heritage, Northumberland County Council, and The National Lottery. The aim of the scheme is about bringing redundant buildings back into re-use. Many of these projects have been approached in a top down philosophy to make the buildings wind and water tight by using traditional materials and methods. We have also been involved with designing a number of traditional shopfronts to replace the modern existing ones, which has required extensive research into shopfront design.

In approaching design we believe in trying to fully understand the clients brief so that we can begin to challenge the brief to establish their requirements, this may also allow us to look at design in a different way initially envisaged by the client. We also believe in carrying out a level of research suitable for the project to enable us to develop a number of concept scheme proposals that look to meet the requirements in different ways giving the client a choice and involving them within the design process.

Throughout the design process we feel it is important to really understand the spaces created and their relationships, so depending upon the complexity of the project and the clients requirements we may produce sketch drawings, physical and 3D models, rendered drawings and/or full architectural drawings to test and explain the schemes.

We believe in looking at not just the project itself but how it relates to its wider context and surrounding environment both aesthetically and environmentally.