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Friendship House: Elemental cost breakdown
 total cost (£)cost per m2 (£) % of total
PRELIMINARIES 1,423,265 294.49 19.42
SUBSTRUCTURE    
foundations 361,663 74.83 4.94
anti-vibration pads 61,562 12.74 0.84
SUPERSTRUCTURE    
frame/upper floors 351,578 72.74 4.80
roof 157,137 32.51 2.14
staircases 136,766 28.30 1.87
external walls 449,741 93.06 6.14
windows/exterior doors 280,402 58.02 3.83
internal walls 220,515 45.63 3.01
internal doors 267,234 55.29 3.65
FINISHES    
internal wall finishes 196,964 40.75 2.69
floor finishes 182,957 37.86 2.50
ceiling Finishes 127,867 26.46 1.75
FITTINGS    
fittings (including pods) 705,902 146.06 9.63
sanitary 4770 0.99 0.07
builders’ work in connection 31,095 6.43 0.42
SERVICES    
mechanical 835,860 172.95 11.41
electrical 591,945 122.48 8.08
lifts 63,988 13.24 0.87
builders’ work in connection 54,267 11.23 0.74
LANDSCAPING    
water feature 58,270 12.06 0.80
metal gates 28,124 5.82 0.38
PROVISIONAL SUMS 482,300 99.79 6.58
EXTERNAL WORKS 188,674 39.04 2.57
drainage 64,712 13.39 0.88
TOTAL 7,327,557 1516.15 100
gross internal floor area: 4833 m2; tender prices correct at first quarter of 2001
Friendship House provides accommodation in central London at a rent of £106 per week for a single room with en-suite bathroom. Affordable as it is, constructing the building came at a cost. QS Trinick Turner says the unit construction cost of £1516/m2 lay at the upper end of cost scale for comparable student residences, which have a mean of £1089/m2 according to a study by the Building Cost Information Service. Several factors combined to raise the costs of Friendship House. The gross internal floor area was 26 m2 per resident and the construction cost per resident was £39,395. Typical student residences are 20 m2 and £33,000. And this was despite a single bedsitter having an area of 12 m2, slightly lower than the average of 13 m2. On the other hand, Friendship House comes with five common rooms, reception, laundry and manager’s flat. Prefabricated toilet pods and fitted furniture were included to make the small rooms comfortable, whereas furniture is normally excluded from construction costs. Soundproofing was increased to counteract railway noise and the scheme was built on anti-vibration bearings.