Arts, culture and media

Quantity surveying and claims support for cultural venues, film studios and broadcast facilities.

Commercial challenges and how we approach them

Arts, culture and media projects range from theatres, museums and galleries to sound stages and broadcast studios. They bring public or production spaces together with specialist rooms and technical installations. New buildings and conversions need coordinated scopes for the shell, acoustics, services and equipment, sometimes with phased work around an operating venue.

Acoustic performance across several trades

The Challenge

An acoustic partition can perform as specified and still fail as part of the room if a door, duct or cable penetration compromises it. When a studio or auditorium misses its acoustic target, several trades may face the same remedial claim.

Our approach

The acoustic specialist establishes the technical cause. We then use the specification, interface details and package orders to establish what each contractor was required to provide. That lets us distinguish defective work from a changed design requirement and assess the resulting costs against the correct scope.

Stage, rigging and specialist equipment

The Challenge

Late details for stage machinery or lighting bridges can mean altering steelwork that has already been fabricated.

Our approach

We check the equipment order against the structural and services packages before commitment, including supports, access and connections. If a vendor requirement changes, we trace its cost through fabrication and installation. A revised equipment price is only part of the account: there may also be wasted fabrication, new builders' work and credits for parts no longer required.

Collections and sensitive existing fabric

The Challenge

Museum and gallery work may require protection, environmental control or relocation of collections alongside construction. Altered access or protection requirements can add temporary plant and specialist attendance.

Our approach

We establish who has priced collection protection, environmental control and any relocation. If the working arrangements change, those scope boundaries provide the starting point for valuing the additional provision.

Opening exhibitions before all work is finished

The Challenge

An exhibition date can be fixed long before the building programme is settled. Construction teams may be asked to hand over galleries in stages while exhibition contractors install displays, then return around completed installations. Opening the doors does not remove the remaining building work, and it can make that work more expensive to finish.

Our approach

We keep construction completion and exhibition readiness separate in the commercial milestones. Temporary opening measures, instructed acceleration and later return visits are identified explicitly, so their cost is visible before the opening date drives the decision.