Farnborough Extensions, Surveys and Structural Engineering

The station area terraces share party walls on both sides, which means notices to two adjoining owners rather than one on a mid terrace project. If the property is semi detached or terraced, or if the foundations for any new element sit close to a boundary, the Party Wall etc. Act 1996 is likely to apply and notice has to be served before work starts. We can confirm the position once we have seen the property, and serve the notices as part of the same project rather than leaving you to arrange it separately.

Yes. Planning permission and building regulations are two separate systems. An extension that is entirely permitted development still needs building regulations approval, and that is where the structural calculations, insulation, ventilation and fire safety detail are assessed.

Yes. Alongside Farnborough we regularly work in Aldershot, Farnham and Camberley, and across the wider Hampshire border area from our office in Fleet. Bear in mind that some of those neighbouring towns sit under a different council to Farnborough, so the planning and building control route can change from one to the next even over a short distance.

It depends on where the foundations sit and whether you are cutting into a shared wall. On a semi detached or terraced property with foundations close to the boundary, notice is usually required. On a detached house set well back from every boundary, often it is not.

Yes. A survey after purchase is common where a defect has appeared, where an alteration is planned, or where a previous owner's work needs assessing before further work is designed.

It can. Across Farnborough the underlying ground is commonly Bagshot and Bracklesham sands and gravels, free draining across most of the town, and that has a bearing on foundation depth, on how a new bearing is detailed, and on how close to mature trees a foundation can sensibly go. That is a general description of the area rather than a statement about any particular plot, so where foundations are involved we design against what an investigation on the site actually shows.

Yes. The areas around St Michael's Abbey and Farnborough Hill carry heritage designations, and Rushmoor holds a local list alongside the statutory one. Where any of that applies to a property, permitted development cannot be assumed, and on a listed building even internal alterations can need consent. We establish which of these apply to your address at the start, because it can change the structural solution as well as the paperwork.

Farnborough falls under Rushmoor Borough Council. It is the local planning authority, with Hampshire County Council above it for highways matters such as skip permits and any scaffold that reaches the pavement. That matters because a set of calculations and drawings has to be submitted to the authority that actually covers the address, and on this patch the boundaries run close together, so neighbouring towns can sit with entirely different councils.

That is what the calculation determines. It depends on the clear span, what the beam carries, whether the load is uniform or point loaded, and the deflection limit appropriate to what sits above. There is no reliable rule of thumb.

Yes. Farnborough is fully within our normal working area for building and structural work, from Queensmead, Cove, North Camp and Farnborough Airport through to the surrounding streets. Cove and Southwood plots usually have side access, which makes beam delivery straightforward; the older terraces near the station rarely do, and that is the single biggest driver of cost difference between two otherwise identical Farnborough jobs.