As a charity, the Canal & River Trust focus on bringing to life 2,000 miles of waterways in the UK, not only by promoting wellbeing and the benefit of spending time near the water, but be actively working to maintain the precious heritage of 2,980 bridges, 1,580 locks and 335 aqueducts.
Sitting where the Shropshire Union Canal meets the Manchester Ship Canal and the River Mersey, the National Waterways Museum is a series of 15 buildings, 8 of which are Grade II listed historic buildings, that sit on seven acres of land.
Both operationally and financially, it is vital for the Trust to effectively budget for the required maintenance of all properties within their portfolio, and RB Surveyors were instructed to produce a quantified 10 year Planned Preventative Maintenance (PPM) schedule to assist the Trust on anticipated maintenance costs over this time period.
Our team worked closely with the internal property team at the Trust to create a brief, scheduled visits to survey the buildings whilst keeping the museum open to the public and produce a detailed 154 page PPM report. The site surveys were conducted over 4 days and dealt with various challenging weather conditions.
Each building was split out in the report to identify current condition, work required, anticipated costs for works and priority in which work should be completed. The report also included and executive summary of each section to ensure anyone reading the report was able to effectively identify the necessary information quickly.
Due to the Grade II listed and historic nature of the properties, the report also adopted a ‘minimum impact approach’ in order to protect the appearance of the buildings, whilst also protecting them from natural deterioration. Additionally, as a public venue, RB Surveyors were careful to advise a schedule of work that would minimise any site closures and also avoid grouping too much scaffold work that could impact customer experience – which is at the heart of the Trust’s work.
On delivery of the report, the Canal and River Trust now have a definitive understanding of budget required for the buildings and can allocate group budget effectively across both this and their wider projects and developments.
Richard Bolshaw, Group CEO of RB Surveyors, says “It was a pleasure to partner with the Canal and River Trust, especially to protect a historic property that sits on our doorstep in Cheshire. The work that the Trust conducts is critical in the UK to maintain our waterways.”
Dominic Mcann, Principal Building Surveyor at Canal & River Trust, says “We couldn’t wish for better partners than the team at RB Surveyors. Professional and collaborative, they were meticulous in their work and produced a report that allows us to not only manage budgets, but actually protect a valued property within our portfolio. Thank you.”
