Posts Tagged ‘Conservation Area’

Conserve and prosper?

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You have had the condition survey and now find yourself here. I suspect this means that you are trying to find out why I have referred you to visit these pages.

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Living in a Listed Building or within a Conservation Area is not like living anywhere else. In essence you have a higher duty of care for the building because inaction could lead to the Local Authority servicing Notice on you to do certain works and in default they could do the work and then charge you!

Therefore you need to understand what you are taking on: you need to understand how the building has changed because any non-conforming former works could also be the subject of such Notifications (even though they had nothing to do with you).

Therefore not only should you check the wording of any Listing (why it is Listed and considered to be important) but also the full history of Building Control Approvals and if you think other works have been done, such as relocating the boiler and its flue (which require formal Approval), then talk to your legal adviser straight away for advice (Surveyors will not be able to identify all works of alteration completed in any given period).

The argument goes that the Local Authority are seeking to keep the street scene, and your home, intact to preserve our built-environment, our heritage. This may also protect the value of your investment.

Others say it is an unnecessary restriction on change, innovation and energy conservation and therefore can suppress value.

What is certain is that you must take your duties seriously. In the context of why you may have been referred to read these notes this often means you have to do some repairs or renewals and must not fall foul of Regulations (or historic breaches).

In may sound obvious but further matters of concern relate to higher costs associated with such buildings and the possible problem of lack of skills by many Contractors (eg – they do not know how to make/use lime mortars – Portland Cements should not be used in important Period buildings).

The status of the building you are buying may limit the manner in which you can alter and maintain it. This may affect the manner in which you can achieve your dream environment. These factors may also affect the value of the building to you alone, as opposed to traditional market value – that value the market will throw up due to reasonable marketing methods.

What you need to define is a list of Contractors that can achieve your dream-state-home whilst not falling foul of Conservation or Listing regulations. As a starting point some of the Contractors listed here (see our LINKS tab and scroll to PROPERTY HELP) will be able to complete certain aspects of your needs but you must stress to any such person of the need to complete works in a compliant fashion and that it that persons duty to ensure this is so.

The rule of thumb in any Period Home is to complete maintenance pro-actively: a little and often. Get into this mindset, a new routine, and it is pay dividends over time because you are protecting your investment and our collective heritage.

Period buildings often need to breathe – so you cannot exclude all water and would be ill-advised to clad slim walls with a dense rendering.

Period building walls were constructed with lime mortar between the bricks – always used a compatible mortar mix: soft and line-based (never use Portland cement – a common mistake).

Period building kitchen solid floors damp proof membrane is often the floor tiling alone. Provided this room is well vented, what is wrong with this situation? It works despite being below current Building Control standards.

Some forms of construction may be considered inherently weak, even sub-standard, but they have performed for perhaps hundreds of years and so why should you destroy a critical balance by insisting on a higher standard.

Wattle-and-daub partitions, lath-and-plaster ceilings etc… can contain anthrax spores from the horse-hair interwoven into the mortar mix as a binder: it worked well for 100′s of year and then you come along and start breaking into such surfaces without taking serious Health & Safety precautions. So, sometimes conservation issues can help you avoid dramatic consequences.

Bats in the roof? Remember they are a protected species and you cannot disturb them at all during the breeding season. Your Local Authority will have details of local specialists who can come out and advise you about when and how Contractors could safely and legally go in to do works.

Often our survey report comments are in direct conflict with the desires of our clients. Let’s not pull our punches: someone has to compromise and it can be either party. Sometimes the local Conservation Officer will need to be met to have a discussion on what he will find allowable on your dream home. Indeed this step, meeting the local Conservation Officer is the required “next step” after receipt of your Condition Report from PROinspect.

At that stage you will be able to identify practicalities in relation to known condition issues and the “how” of what method of repair is most appropriate to each problem. This is invaluable to your quest to get refurbishment estimates after which you may be able to renegotiate the purchase price?

Another pearl of wisdom is that you should not assume anything. You could be committing a criminal offence without even knowing it and your Builder could be said to be colluding in that offence.

LINKS

The main UK reference site is ENGLISH HERITAGE and here the starting point for any query – http://www.english-heritage.org.uk/server/show/nav.1062

Planning issues are often at the heart of problems and releasing potential within Listed Buildings. This site is a very good planning reference resource – http://www.planning-applications.co.uk/page1.htm

Another great site for our Heritage is http://www.heritage.co.uk/apavilions/glstb.html

This site speaks of your “permitted development rights” – http://www.planningportal.gov.uk/england/public/buildingwork/responsibilities/workresppp/workresppppermitteddev/

This site updates you on certain issues that fall under development control in such buildings – http://www.communities.gov.uk/publications/planningandbuilding/changesdevelopmentconsultation

No listing would be complete without something from the excellent Hampshire County Council website: as an example try out this PDF Leaflet download – http://www3.hants.gov.uk/listed_buildings.pdf

The main problems with roofing are:-

that even small problems can cause big results

DIY is hardly ever worth it

Inexperienced roofer repairs often cause more problems than they rectify

Professional design is all important

Collection and disposal of water is vital

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Key words when considering any roofing problem or design are:-

Longevity, Lifecycle-Cost, Suitability, Compatibility, thermally-stable, orientation, ease-of-fixture, weight, lap and gauge, pitch, water collection and discharge, is pedestrian use required?, solar reflection, UV degradation, ease-of-repair, access, health-and-safety, jointing, insulation, strength to accept PV or Solar cells, ……..

A roof must keep the weather out, keep the heat in (or out, depending on the season) and be strong enough to not buckle under loadings caused by strong winds and snowfall. In some cases the roof must also be able to withstand atmospheric pollution that corrode and deteriorate even the most rebust coverings.

Environment also plays another factor in design and type of covering considerations: has climates are changing around the world local climates also change and wind speed and direction can many roofing problems. Depending on the direction of prevailing winds a roof will have positive or negative pressures on it at differing times. This means that some coverings must be designed to be fixed down more thoroughly than others (and adjoining walls securely bracket fixed to the roof frame for added rigidity).

As always Planning also plays a part in the design process. Buildings within Listing status or within a Conservation Area may have limited means of being improved to meet new weather or climatic conditions. Maintenance cannot be completed that alters the existing status-quo.

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This article cannot cover all the many forms of roofing whether they be pitched or flat: indeed many highly energy efficient buildings nowadays have very small roof areas (if any at all) due to a tapered design and the need to capture rainwater and solar gain etc…… To focus this article let me now centre upon what I have observed to be real issues in 2010. These divide into several categories:-

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1. Lack of understanding of new forms and materials by contractors – ignorance

2. Generally poor workmanship – couldn’t care syndrome or fraud

3. Inappropriate repair (often on cost grounds) – being conned by Roofers or poor DIY

4. Lack of appreciation of environmental effects – back to ignorance again

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You will notice that I am now referring to existing roofs. As an experienced Surveyor of homes certain things stick out from the norm or are often repeated as errors.

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Let’s get down to practicalities: you have a problem that usually involves leakage or deflection of a contour. What do you do? Let’s assume it is not something really simple that can be easily rectified in two minutes.

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One slate off a roof. The only way to reset the slate is to metal bracket it back on (otherwise you would have strip off a large band of slates to make the repair unobtrusive and the repair cost would become disproportionate). The resultant repair leaves the base edge of the lead strip visible; known as a ‘tingle” in southern England. When you see many on a slate roof it often means the roof covering is ‘suspect”.

Roof valley (a junction between roof slopes) leakage. Often a bedroom ceiling suddenly becomes damp and you get in the loft and see that a valley is the cause (wetted timbers immediately above the ceiling staining).

In this case lets get back to basics first: is this a leakage due to roof covering faults or a hole in a valley liner? Also we need to check that the problem is located near the visible staining – often the problem is well away from the damage being caused because water tracks along all sorts of pathways.

If a valley liner begins to leak it often creates localised, minor intermittent dampness. The loft is dark and if the loft ventilation is weak then you have the conditions that could favour dry-rot formation. Check the valley lining timbers very carefully for the tell-tale signs of Dry-Rot (discussed elsewhere on this web-site).

Assuming no dry-rot exists we need to discount all potential methods of leakage and assuming none exist then we need to positively verify that an external point source of water leakage exists.

Access then becomes the problem: often you cannot see the problem area and so a Builder with a long ladder is needed (or you must hire a cherry-picker or a scaffolding tower).

The problem could be a blockage in the valley, a pinprick hole in the valley lead, acid-rain corrosion leakage, damage caused by pedestrians (the TV or SKY aerial man who called out last month?), a birds nest, a slipped slate that fell and cut the lead, etc…. It is important to understand what caused the problems so you can seek to not perpetuate the scenario.

Deflected roof slope or contour? This is much more complex. If a flat roof (that must never be completely flat) deflects it will pond with water and deteriorate very quickly. If a pitched roof deflects slightly is might mean nothing important at all.

Flat roofs are not designed to deflect and so diagnosis is easier. I will not dwell here any longer apart from saying that if a flat roof is a rigid structure, such a concrete, and it deflects meaningfully then you need to get advice immediately.

However, if a pitched roof deflects this can be for many reasons. A Surveyor would need to obtain the history of the roof/building as his first method of analysis. Has something upset a longstanding equilibrium? Has a storm caused the problem? – therefore local weather patterns and trends are important to factor into your analysis.

Again the variations on a theme are so many that they cannot be listed here. A good Surveyor will have viewed as much of the exterior as possible, made detailed enquiries and will then inspect the loft space(s) involved. What he is looking for is stress cracks, timbers out-of-alignment, joints opened-up or split, rafters that have twisted, leakages that have caused decay (loss of strength).

What we Surveyors often find is design weaknesses; over-spacing and deficiencies. However, if the frame and liner felt are “performing well” (give them a clap!) then we must filter out the truly abnormal.

Typical defects are:-

1. · Contractors replaced slates with concrete tiles that are far heavier than slates and did not think to strengthen the frame at all.
2. · Decay has weakened principal rafters, purlins or struts.
3. · The nails fixing the slates to the battens have rusted away.
4. · The slates are delaminating/exfoliating.
5. · Valleys and flashings have worked loose or are damaged.
6. · Nowadays a “modern” problem is over-storage (too much weight loaded into the loft).
7. · Lack of ventilation causing condensation to drip down onto ceilings/insulation.
8. · Woodworm infestations.

I hope you can see that the complexity of roofing problems is a diverse matter and one that needs expert attention. If is doubt, consult an experienced Surveyor or perhaps a relevant Engineer or older/experienced Specialist Roofing company.

Special character of city “under threat”

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English Heritage says two-thirds of Conservation Areas at risk of neglect.

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This was reported – the main, front page headline – in the Winchester based Hampshire Chronicle in mid-2009.

Will the use of Article 4 Directives be extended so affected homeowners cannot even make small changes to their homes? Will Listed Building Officers use this new background influence to retrospectively demand past “improvements/works” are rescinded, new windows removed and replaced with single-glazed casements, paint colours changed, gutter types be replaced, Satellite Dishes removed or relocated, etc…… The list is potentially endless.

This opens up the old argument of just what is being protected? Also… all potential owners of Listed Buildings, or non-listed homes but within a Conservation Area, should always have a survey completed as added protection against retrospective claims (it doesn’t hold water that you didn’t do it – you are still liable).

Conservation should not mean “no change whatsoever”: districts and individual homes evolve with time and circumstances and often conservation policy and actions can cause district stagnation and either enhancement or depreciation in worth/value. A balance must be struck between parties to retain our bricks-and-mortar heritage.

In my own Town of Bishops Waltham, one of the Conservation Areas said to be “at risk”, we have several examples of such conundrums:-

High street shops have erected metal brackets to hold seasonal Christmas trees along the high street. Building Control officers sought for their removal as unauthorized development, mainly upon Listed Buildings, in a conservation area. Fortunately, common sense, for once, has intervened.

The larger, and more thorny, issue in Town at the moment revolves around a brownfield site as a possible Sainsbury superstore. Say No To Sainburys is plastered around town and feelings are running high.

Sainsburys say that nectar card analysis reveals that a large Store in town is more than required by the spending power of town residents alone and that a local store would encourage us to stop travelling to Fareham or Hedge End where giant stores abound, and are often grid-locked.

Local shops say NO, the town and high street would become a ghost town and destroy the quite charm of our market town. This NO faction, as always, are very vocal and believe the majority are against Sainburys.

Looking at this issue holistically and dispassionately, can our high street support an ever growing population with diverse needs, is parking adequate, are cars congesting what should be a pleasant shopping experience, how can our commercial centre grow and meet are needs?

The same basic underlying factors are at play –

Is the status-quo set in concrete or can a market town grow sensibly to serve residents needs? Can large changes OR many small changes be made yet not spoil the essential character of our environment?

I recently toured Asturias through to Galicia in north-west Spain, an area of small farmsteads, rural in character and with breathtaking countryside and coastlines. Change is happening big-time : a coastal motorway is opening up the region and nearly all major Towns are having ring-roads built, cobbled-stoned high-streets created, etc…. Change is a part of life and they are embracing it (probably with EC grant funding, but that is another story).

People, buildings and environments must adapt to current needs and trends if a sustainable community is to be created, one in which our children may just decide to stay in, rather than make an early bee-line to the nearest City (civilization, as only our youth see it).

Whether it is to Sainburys objectors, local Conservation Officers or a Listed Building owner, I say the same thing; be tolerant and do not shut off change for the sake of it.

Metal brackets or a fully fledge, massive Sainburys stores are matters that require proper judgement plus an empathy with not only our own needs but also those of the whole community. What does common-sense say to you – no change or evolution in a controlled fashion?

Time will tell. To change or not to change?

This very much depends on what level of inspection is being completed and the complexity of the property.

A good Inspector we have risk and database researched your property before he/she arrives. This process should have raised various questions that will probably be added to the Inspectors normal list of standard queries.

Any Inspector will need to know the history of the land and buildings. This broadly splits into the following areas:-

• Tenure/Legal
• Planning and Building Control
• Limitations or special instructions (imposed upon or for the Inspector)
• Risks
• Documentation, Certificates and Service records
• DIY
• Insurance Claims
• Premises age and the dates of material changes/problems/events

So, the Inspector will not want to be bothered by your Pets/Dogs. Similarly young children may best be taken to neighbours/friends. A tidy environment is always easier the inspect than an untidy and unclean home.

The Inspector will want to get at and into all rooms and areas and so unlocking the garage, shed and side gate will all be appreciated. Moving the car off drainage inspection chambers is also a good idea; as would be taking the car out of the garage or car-port.

If you can take copies of important documents these will be invaluable to the Inspector but it is our experience he/she can just as easily take photographs of such documents.

So what questions and/or documents are important?

1. How old is the house?
2. Is it Listed (which Grade), in a Conservation Area or in a Smoke Control Area?
3. Are any Council Plans/Proposals known of that may affect the house or its plot?
4. Boiler age/installation and service/repair records.
5. Is mains Gas available and metered?
6. Are all other mains services connected and metered?
7. What private services are connected: do they pass to and from only public land OR do they pass over/under private land (and are they shared)?
8. Date of electrical system tests or of re-wiring/alterations.
9. Date of double glazing installation (FENSA certified or under Building Control?).
10. Planning Permissions and/or Building Regulation Approvals.
11. Who designed and constructed (and when) the Conservatory.
12. Lease details.
13. Any off-site buildings or parking facilities? Full details needed.
14. Do any off-site shared facilities
15. Management provisions, fees and charges + name and contacts details.
16. Tree Preservation Orders?
17. Trees removed: and when?
18. Have any Insurance Claims, Party Wall Act Notifications, Neighbour or Boundary Disputes happened – full details/outcomes needed.
19. Extensions and/or improvement or conversion plans, dates, descriptions.
20. Inserted insulation? Type, when and by whom?
21. Have the drains ever blocked, been repaired or renewed? Are any chamber covers hidden from view?
22. What works have YOU done, OR have been done by non-professional or non-specialists?
23. What fixtures and fittings form part of the purchase price and will be staying in the home when the sellers move out?
24. Which site boundaries do you believe to be yours?

Anything you can do to provide certainty to your answers would be invaluable to the Inspector. Remember that anything you can produce to help the Inspector here will probably go into his/her Report and both their client and that clients legal team will have one less thing to worry about – if you take the time and effort to fully cooperate here you are rewarded with less uncertainty at a later date.

Much of the above may be included in the Home Information Pack: at the time of writing these words it is our experience most Sellers, Solicitors and Estate Agents are not bothering to request these details are produced “up front” and so the existing marketing/legal system is not entering in to the spirit of HIPs: in our opinion this attitude is to the detriment of all home buying transactions.