In a bid to boost new house building in Britain the Government are proposing to relax the rules on planning to make it easier for people to build and/or extend.
“we are proposing a new permitted development right to allow building up above existing buildings to promote new homes. This will bring particular benefits to town centres but also more widely where opportunities exist for well-designed development in the airspace above buildings”.
Strengthening Existing Walls and Foundations
The document highlights the need for strengthening to existing walls and foundations in order to support the additional storeys.
“The permitted development right would need to allow for the physical works required to construct or install additional storeys on a building. These could include works to strengthen existing walls, engineering works to strengthen existing foundations to support the additional storeys and works to provide safe and appropriate access and egress for any additional new homes within the building’s footprint”.
Competent Assessment of Existing Structure
Talking about this proposed legislation John Staves said,
“I recall working on the ‘Air Rights’ buildings over London railway Stations back in the 1980’s. These projects took advantage of the space. They typically needed new structures to be incorporated through the existing building down to new foundations to support the additional loads above. But the value gained made it feasible.”
“This form of development depends on a competent assessment of the existing structure which is called upon to support the additional loads”.
Chartered Structural Engineer
“The high structural content of this type of project means that a Chartered Structural Engineer with suitable experience of refurbishment and alterations should be employed to check the feasibility of such a scheme”.
Are you planning to add an additional storey to your property? Call us today on 0118 962 9666 for an initial discussion.
This consultation is open to everyone and runs from 29 October 2018 to 14 January 2019. Click here for more details.
