A LOCAL quantity surveyor of 20 years? standing yesterday gave his opinion on the apparent deficiencies at the new Berkeley school catalogued by a former site superintendent, Gabriel Martel.

?My impression is that a project that is so over-budget and has taken so long clearly may have built-in problems,? said the surveyor, who has managed construction projects and who asked not to be named.

?It indicates a lack of resources and a lack of supervision. And that is also likely to be reflected in the quality of the product.

?According to Mr. Martel, there would seem to be a lot of deficiencies. Deficiencies mean you?re doing things twice, because when something is wrong the contractor has to go and do it again.

?What it looks like this guy (Mr. Martel) was doing was making a list of deficiencies to protect the owner from taking over a building that was not complete.?

The surveyor addressed some of the criticisms made by Mr. Martel, starting with failure to maintain ?as-built drawings? for electrical wiring.

Mr. Martel told this newspaper: ?A proper set of as-built drawings were never maintained so now it?s all guesswork, making the entire system hazardous to outsiders.?

The surveyor said: ?The electrical subcontractor is required to keep accurate as-built drawings to show exactly where he ends up putting things.

?So if someone needs to access a junction box in three years? time, they don?t have to open up the whole ceiling, you know exactly where to go. And if you need to drill into a wall, you know where a conduit runs.

?These drawings should be kept by the electrical contractor on the job. The architect should, on occasion, go and ask to see the as-built drawings.?

Expansion joints were either omitted or poorly installed, Mr. Martel said. The surveyor agreed this was serious.

?If you don?t put them in, then you know the concrete is going to expand and contract and crack, and then some maintenance guy is going to have to deal with it in a few years.?

As regards Minister David Burch?s announcement last month that the building was substantially completed, the quantity surveyor referred us to a definition drawn of ?substantial completion? as drawn up by the American Institute of Architects (AIA) which he believed would be relevant to the Berkeley contract.

The first paragraph of the definition states: ?Substantial completion is the stage in the progress of the Work (building) when the Work, or designated portion thereof, is sufficiently complete in accordance with the contract documents so that the owner can occupy or utilise the Work for its intended use.?

By that standard, it would seem that the school should be ready to start classes. But the definition also allows room for the contractor to include a list of items to be completed.