HQM assessment for four new apartments, Staines-upon-Thames
Staff at Blewburton Limited were amongst the first in the country to be qualified to undertake Home Quality Mark (HQM) Assessments. The HQM is a customer- focused, third-party assessment and certification scheme designed to recognise new homes where performance meets best-practice standards that are often significantly above those required by regulation. It measures performance across a wide range of financial, wellbeing, environmental and social issues.
The scheme is voluntary and to date uptake has been extremely low.
This scheme was initially requested by the site developer, with the main contractor tasked to deliver it. It was the first time that the contractor and Blewburton had become involved with the HQM and was a useful learning experience for all, with the assessment sadly not making it through to completion as the developer had not fully appreciated the complexities involved for them and the main contractor.
Blewburton’s experience was that whilst heavily bureaucratic, once a developer/contractor has developed and put in place the paperwork and systems required for HQM compliance, replication to other schemes should be straight forward and good scores can be attained through a reasonable, proactive approach to the elements the scheme covers. The development of a detailed Home User Guide is a key requirement and something Blewburton can also assist with.
Blewburton Limited are keen to undertake more HQM assessments and continue to update their knowledge on the scheme, so if you have a scheme you would like to test against this customer focused standard, we would be keen to hear from you. Why not officially mark your development as superior to other developers standard offering?
