Client

KBC Trust is a charitable organisation working with young people in Kingston upon Thames who hold a long lease in a building in Hampden Road Kingston upon Thames.

Background

The building, which was originally a boxing club and a youth club for young people, lost its grant aid some years ago and as a result the property became vacant. With the help of the local authority, The Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames, the charity’s trustees obtained a European grant, the property was altered and improved and the use was changed into a children’s day nursery.

Requirements

The trustees instructed Bonsors commercial property agency team to market the property and to find a tenant to occupy the building as a children’s day nursery. A letting was successfully achieved and the premises occupied by a private pre-school day centre that operated the children’s nursery and the rental proceeds are used by the trustees to support organisations working with young people within the Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames.

In June 2014 KBC suffered a catastrophic fire in the property. This fire potentially would have closed the nursery permanently and would have had a serious financial implication for the charity.

Bonsors, having acted as chartered surveyors to the charity for many years, was a natural choice for the trustees to appoint to act on their behalf in negotiations with the insurers, to deal with the loss adjustors and to organise and oversee the works of repair.
Practicalities

The trustees passed sole responsibility to Bonsors who attended at the premises promptly and carried out a complete assessment of the fire damage and the works required to repair the property so that the children’s nursery business could continue and much needed income could be reinstated to the charity as soon as possible.

Extensive damage was caused to the building both from the fire itself and through water damage when the fire was extinguished by the fire service. The nursery was closed for several months because 50% of the roof was destroyed and the major part of the property was inaccessible and unusable.
The nursery staff, being very resourceful, managed to open and run a much reduced service in a small part of the property which was less damaged. Their dedication ensured that a limited service could be operated for the benefit of parents who would otherwise have been severely disadvantaged.

The service provided by Bonsors’ building surveying team included preparing a specification for the repairs, organising tenders for the repair works, appointing a firm of contractors, administering the building contract and liaising with the loss adjustors throughout.

Solutions Results

The resulting work was completed to a high standard with minimal involvement from the trustees. Bonsors project managed a first-class repair and refurbishment of the premises which reopened with a superbly finished nursery. The quality of the finished refurbishment was first class and is a credit to the management of the Bonsors team and the skills of the contractors they employed.

The trustees of the KBC Trust said that they would have no hesitation in highly recommending Bonsors as chartered surveyors to deal with sales and lettings of commercial property and building surveying work.

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