(c) Resettlement and Low Cost Housing;
(d) Maintenance contracts and advice on subsidized schools; (e) Defence works requiring Bills of Quantities and projects not exceeding $500,000 for which specifications but no bills of quantities are prepared;
(f) Estimates, materials supplied through Government Supplies Department and cost statistics.
4.11 The Branch is responsible for the preparation of estimates, bills of quantities, contract documents, valuations for interim payments, final accounts and contractual claims for all Architectural Office projects. It is also responsible for arranging contracts and checking accounts for the maintenance of Government buildings and British Armed Forces buildings, including checking the measurement of all works orders exceeding $1,600 in value.
4.12 The Branch is staffed by 45 Quantity Surveyors and professional assistants; supporting technical staff is engaged on preparation of contract documents for minor works, 'working-up', site measurement, checking accounts and similar duties.
4.13 The number of professional staff on the present establishment is insufficient to deal with the current building programme but further posts have not been recommended due to the extreme difficulty in recruiting staff to fill existing vacancies and it has therefore been necessary to employ the services of five private firms of quantity surveyors for some 25% of the output of the Branch for the year under review. The situation is further aggravated by the increasing number and complexity of claims submitted by contractors.
4.14 During the year under review 224 contracts were placed to a total value of $202 million and some 8,925 accounts were checked for work executed under the Maintenance Contracts to a total value of $45.52 million.
4.15 Building costs continued to rise throughout the year and the total increase was about 12% over the previous year. Although this is slightly less than the rate of increase reported for the previous year more than half of the increase occurred in the last few months of the year under review, due to the sharp rise in the cost of mild steel reinforcement and plywood since November 1972. The deceleration of the rate of increase may be attributed to an apparent slackening in
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(c) Resettlement and Low Cost Housing;
(d) Maintenance contracts and advice on subsidized schools; (e) Defence works requiring Bills of Quantities and projects not exceeding $500,000 for which specifications but no bills of quantities are prepared;
(f) Estimates, materials supplied through Government Supplies
Department and cost statistics.
4.11 The Branch is responsible for the preparation of estimates, bills of quantities, contract documents, valuations for interim pay- ments, final accounts and contractual claims for all Architectural Office projects. It is also responsible for arranging contracts and checking accounts for the maintenance of Government buildings and British Armed Forces buildings, including checking the measurement of all works orders exceeding $1,600 in value.
4.12 The Branch is staffed by 45 Quantity Surveyors and profes- sional assistants; supporting technical staff is engaged on preparation of contract documents for minor works, 'working-up', site measure- ment, checking accounts and similar duties.
4.13 The number of professional staff on the present establishment is insufficient to deal with the current building programme but further posts have not been recommended due to the extreme difficulty in recruiting staff to fill existing vacancies and it has therefore been necessary to employ the services of five private firms of quantity surveyors for some 25% of the output of the Branch for the year under review. The situation is further aggravated by the increasing number and complexity of claims submitted by contractors.
4.14 During the year under review 224 contracts were placed to a total value of $202 million and some 8,925 accounts were checked for work executed under the Maintenance Contracts to a total value of $45.52 million.
4.15 Building costs continued to rise throughout the year and the total increase was about 12% over the previous year. Although this is slightly less than the rate of increase reported for the previous year more than half of the increase occurred in the last few months of the year under review, due to the sharp rise in the cost of mild steel rein- forcement and plywood since November 1972. The deceleration of the rate of increase may be attributed to an apparent slackening in
40
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