Roofers in Portchester

Fareham Borough Council records that the Portchester (Castle Street) Conservation Area was designated in 1969 to protect the village and Portchester Castle, and that its boundary was extended in 1975. The village occupies a promontory at the head of Portsmouth Harbour, and the castle, which dates from the 3rd century AD, stands at the end of that promontory beside the shore. On any roof inside the boundary, the opening task is to establish which parts are original and which have been patched, because the covering you match is the covering the council expects to see from the street.

1.2 Chimneys and the lead around them

Because the direction names chimneys, a stack that leans or crumbles needs a word with the planning team before anyone takes it down or rebuilds it in a new form. The direction covers replacing a chimney as well as altering one, so even a rebuild to the same design is worth raising first, and the council can tell you where your plan sits. On most stacks the first thing to fail is the lead flashing, the sheet-metal collar that seals the stack to the slope, followed by the pointing and the pots. Royston's brochure lists lead codes 4, 5 and 6 for flashings, and we choose the weight to suit the job. Our chimney repairs hub covers all three.

1.3 Keeping the covering you have

On a slope the public can see, we stay with the existing covering unless you and the council agree a change. The survey begins with photographs taken on your roof, so the choice between repair, patch and replacement rests on evidence you can see. One written total follows, and it allows for the extra care a conservation-area roof deserves, such as sorting good tiles for reuse. If you are buying a house here, ask whether earlier owners changed the covering, because a change made without checking the direction can cause trouble at sale.

Portchester Castle is listed Grade I, and so is the Church of St Mary inside its walls, both first listed on 18 October 1955. St Mary's serves as the Anglican parish church and remains in regular use, which brings it under the ecclesiastical exemption: building work goes through the faculty jurisdiction rather than a listed building consent application. Anything that alters the exterior of a church can still call for planning permission as well. If you look after the church or a building in its grounds, ask the parish and the diocese how the faculty route applies before you appoint any roofer. We supply photographs and a priced scope for that file.

3.1 Houses that neighbour a listed landmark

A house close to the castle or church is not itself listed unless its own list entry says so, but it sits in a conservation area and under the 2015 direction. Check your address against the national register of protected buildings, then put the direction to Fareham Borough Council's planning team. If the house is listed, any change that touches its character needs listed building consent, and a repair in matching materials is judged differently from a change. We check the entry before pricing anything.

3.2 Shared walls and chimney breasts

Where a roof meets a wall shared with a neighbour, work at that junction can touch their property. Removing a chimney breast calls for Building Regulations approval every time, and one on a shared wall can raise party wall questions too. We explain both at the survey, and handle the Building Regulations notification where the work is notifiable.

3.3 Scaffold on a Hampshire road

Many roofs here can only be reached from scaffold erected on or above the public road or pavement. Section 169 of the Highways Act 1980 requires a licence for any scaffolding that obstructs a highway, and in Portchester the issuing body is Hampshire County Council. Per Hampshire County Council, the scaffold firm does the paperwork on a customer's behalf, so no forms land on your doormat. The county insists on a lead time of ten clear working days before the intended start, and the first two weeks cost £211.90. We work the start date around that gap from the first visit, and a leak gets a temporary cover while the licence is processed.