Heritage Conservation Surveying Services in The South-West
Pre-Purchase Surveys in Torquay and Devon
Purchasing a cob or vernacular heritage building can be an emotional experience as they can be beautifully charming and characteristic places to see your-self living. However, it's crucial to have a good understanding of its condition and potential risks associated with the building's construction so you can avoid potentially costly surprises. My pre-purchase surveys provide you with a comprehensive evaluation of the building's condition, highlighting any defects, structural concerns, or hidden issues that may affect its value or suitability. With our expertise, you can make informed decisions about how you move forward with your purchase.
I aim to undertake pre-purchase surveys to RICS level 3 Standard so you can be confident of getting a comprehensive view of your potential new home.
Defect Diagnosis and Reports:
Experiencing issues of damp or cracking in your heritage building can be concerning. My long experience of repairing historic buildings allows me to specialise in defect diagnosis. Often identifying the cause of the problem can be the hardest part with heritage buildings due to their non-standard style of construction and many potential variables. Assessing the impact of a given issue on a heritage structure, especially one as organically composed as cob can be essential to understanding your priorities when it comes to repair.
Structural Surveys:
As a specialist building surveyor, I can conduct in-depth structural surveys for cob, vernacular heritage buildings. I can meticulously assess the load-bearing elements, and overall structural integrity, identifying any areas of concern or potential issues. My detailed reports provide you with valuable insight into the cause, effects and solutions to structural concerns, whether it be bulges in a cob or stone wall, cracking in a wall or chimney, or movement in a roof structure. I provide recommendations to improve the safety and stability of your cherished building and where required, can co-oridnate with my associated structural engineers to provide detailed specifications for repair.
Condition reports:
Understanding the condition of your heritage building is vital starting point when learning about its maintenance requirements and ultimately its preservation. My comprehensive condition reports encompass a thorough examination of all aspects of your building, including walls, roofs, floors, doors, and windows and offer a clear assessment of the current state of your building to detail any areas requiring immediate, long or short-term attention or maintenance.
Planning and Listed Building Consent:
Helping heritage building owners stay on the right side of building conservation laws is important to me. I can help you compile listed building consent applications for the works you want or need to do. Give me a call if you are not sure whether you need consent and I'll be happy to advise. I can provide part, or all of the application and am happy to design material specifications, methodology's and schedules of repair for, or independent of a planning application.
For wider planning permission work I can put you in touch with my associate planning consultant who is experienced with the ins and outs of the planning authorities in Devon and the surrounding areas.
