Bressummer A.R.K.

Commercial building surveying for landlords and tenants in Hampshire and London

Bressummer A.R.K. is a RICS-regulated building consultancy whose chartered building surveyors advise commercial landlords, tenants and other property professionals. The firm describes its role as levelling the property playing field for smaller players in a market dominated by larger operators, and frames its work around the acquisition, management and disposal of commercial property.

The practice is based at Hursley Campus in Winchester, Hampshire, and states that its surveyors operate in Hampshire and London while also serving clients across the South of England and further afield. Every instruction is handled by a chartered building surveyor, and the company says each client is assigned the surveyor best suited to the specific requirement.

Services across the life cycle of a commercial property

The service range covers the main points at which a landlord or tenant needs technical input on a building:

• Dilapidations consultancy, including terminal schedules and negotiation of claims.
• Commercial building surveys, including pre-lease surveys.
• Expert witness services, including party-appointed instructions.
• Schedules of condition, including photographic schedules for new leases.
• Maintenance surveys and planned preventative maintenance (PPM) reporting.
• Reinstatement cost assessments for insurance purposes.
• Project management and measured surveys.

The firm also publishes a fee calculator and a guide to commercial property acquisition, and offers a free initial conversation with a surveyor before an appointment is made.

Three client groups

The website organises its offer around three audiences. For landlords, the aim is to help owners understand their commercial assets and obtain tailored, pragmatic advice. For tenants, the focus is on the pitfalls of acquiring, occupying and disposing of commercial space. For property professionals, the firm works alongside commercial agents, solicitors and asset managers on mutual clients, and cites an exceptional track record in that collaborative work.

Case work described on the site

The published case studies give a concrete picture of the instructions the firm handles. Acting for the tenant of a central London office, it prepared a dilapidations assessment and negotiated the landlord's claim, which the firm reports saved the client over £158,000. It was appointed by Test Valley Borough Council to carry out PPM reporting across the council's commercial building stock in Hampshire. At Woodhams Farm in Winchester it provided a terminal schedule of dilapidations for a landlord and negotiated the claim to financial settlement, and at an industrial unit on Southampton Road in Eastleigh it produced a photographic schedule of condition for a new lease. For the owner of the multi-let office block Technology House in Salisbury, it inspected the roof, identified essential maintenance works and oversaw them. It also prepared a reinstatement cost assessment on a multi-let town house in Belgravia, central London, for insurance purposes.

Regulation, qualifications and insurance

The company states that it has been regulated by the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors since its foundation, that all its surveyors are chartered building surveyors and RICS members, and that its founder and director is a Fellow of the RICS. It reports professional indemnity cover of £2 million, separate employers and public liability policies of £10 million, and a £1 million drone insurance policy.

How an instruction is handled

The firm describes a five-stage process: an initial conversation with a surveyor to identify the right solution, gathering and analysing details about the property, a tailored written proposal, an inspection by a chartered surveyor, and a concise, actionable report followed by discussion of next steps. On cost, it states that fees depend on three variables: the size of the property, the type of survey and the location.

Client feedback cited on the site

The website reproduces several client comments. A tenant in Reading credits the firm with managing a dilapidations process and reducing dilapidations costs on vacated office premises; a client in Brighton reports that a pre-lease survey identified structural defects others had missed; and other comments describe reinstatement surveys delivered in a timely and efficient manner and repeat instructions for house surveys and damp investigation. These are individual accounts published by the company rather than an aggregate rating.