Bournemouth, BH9 - Dorset | Party Wall Appointment
Bournemouth - Dorset, Party Wall appointment (close to Christchurch and Boscombe
Background: The works involved excavations within 3 m of the adjoining owner's foundations.
We were appointed by the building owner. The adjoining owner subsequently appointed us as the Agreed Surveyor.
The adjoining owner's house consisted of a ground floor flat and a first floor flat with both owning a share of the freehold, hence Notices were served to both flats.
The works involved the erection of a ground floor extension to the rear of the house.
Conclusion:
The Act requires Notice to be served on adjoining owners where their structures are within 3 m of the proposed excavations but only where the proposed excavations are proposed to be below the level of their foundations. Based on the age of the house and the fact that the building owner's property is located on lower ground it was fair to assume that the foundations excavations for the single-storey rear extension would be lower than the foundation level of the adjoining owners' house.
In terms of risk factors, circa 1 m of the proposed flank wall was proposed to run alongside the adjoining owner's flank wall. Excavations running alongside existing walls are more potentially detrimental to adjoining foundations. This was addressed in the Award by advising the maximum depth the foundations could be excavated before the engineer would need to be consulted to advise on using sequential excavations.