Guest Lecture at Leeds Beckett University
On Thursday, 25th April, Caroline Woolley accepted an invitation from Leeds Beckett University to deliver a guest lecture to second-year building surveying students.
The students come from a wide range of backgrounds, from those starting University straight from school to some mature students obtaining their degrees via the apprenticeship route while working for Leeds City Council.
To obtain their BSc, the students explore the potential of buildings, design plans, help construct and manage structures, and make them sustainable by training to become a building surveyor.
Throughout the three-year course, students gain the skills required in design, law, management and technology to become a chartered surveyor on the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) accredited degree.
As part of the course, they:
- Study the design and construction of new buildings as well as the repair, refurbishment and management of existing structures
- Consider the historic elements of the built environment and discover how different aspects work together
- Learn how to maintain and enhance buildings that are important to our heritage
- Gain hands-on experience during site visits to modern developments and historic projects
- Develop collaborative working skills
- Study software application and modelling tools
What happens at the end of a lease is a key time for owners and occupiers to involve a building surveyor. Hence, lease-end dilapidations are a core part of what our building consultancy team does.
Caroline described the methodology and strategy around two current dilapidation surveys we have carried out on two very different properties. One is a high street retail unit in Skipton, where the tenant has left the property in a good state. The other is a 65,000-square-foot industrial premises in Normanton, where the Tenant’s operations over the last 20 years have not been so kind to the building, leaving it needing circa £900k worth of repairs and redecorations.
Building surveyors are paid to survey the buildings, quantify the repairs needed, cost those repairs, and then negotiate a settlement between the landlord and the tenant to allow the building to be repaired and re-let. The University students reported that they found it interesting to hear about how this works in practice and to see examples of common mistakes tenants make at the end of leases that can cost them dearly.
Leeds Beckett University has invited our building consultancy team to provide further guest lectures in the future and engage with their student placement programme for 2024-2025. Developing these links with higher education is hugely beneficial and helps us keep in touch with talented graduates as they progress in their careers.