Roofers in Worthing

Worthing grew as a seaside resort, and its early streets still read that way. Bedford Row and Copping's Row, later Marine Place, were built south of Warwick Street between 1802 and 1805. Liverpool Terrace and Park Crescent followed between 1826 and 1833, and Park Crescent is described as the grandest architecture of its period. The early terraces run to three or four storeys, usually stuccoed but occasionally in cream or yellow brick, as in the Steyne and Bedford Row, and many have full-height curved bay windows. To a roofer that description raises two questions at once: how do we get up there, and what happens where a roof meets render?

1.1 Reaching a roof four storeys up

Height decides the first week of any job on these terraces. Under section 169 of the Highways Act 1980, the highway authority has to license any scaffold standing on or over the pavement, and in Worthing that authority is West Sussex County Council. It asks for a minimum of 10 working days' notice, and £266 buys a month's licence. The wait is built into our programme, and you can ask who makes the application. We plan the survey and the start date around that wait instead of promising a day we cannot keep. You get a verdict first, backed by pictures taken on your own roof: repair it, patch it or replace it. After the survey you are sent one total price in writing, and any quote you set beside it should say whether scaffolding and VAT are in.

1.2 Stucco, bays and lead

Stucco is a hard render skin over brickwork, and it cracks and blows where water gets behind it, so the junction of roof and wall matters more than the slope itself. Where a curved bay carries a small roof of its own, we look hard at the lead flashing: a strip pushed into a slot in the masonry and folded over the covering, so rain runs over the joint instead of into it. Soakers are the small bent lead pieces that sit between tiles and a wall. Lead comes in numbered codes. In Royston Lead's brochure, code 4 sheet at 1.80 mm is listed for soakers and flashings, while codes 5 and 6, at 2.24 mm and 2.65 mm, are listed for flashings and valley gutters, the channels where two slopes meet. Which weight a bay gets depends on the detail. Our lead roofing and leadwork page explains the choice.

Three landmarks show how differently the older buildings of Worthing are treated, because their consent routes differ. Numbers 1 to 14 Park Crescent are listed Grade II*. Christ Church, built by subscription between 1840 and 1843, is also Grade II* and belongs to the Church of England. Holy Trinity is a red brick Gothic church, and its tower and spire date from 1888. On any of them, a roofer's job starts with the paperwork, not the ladder.

3.2 A church that is still in use

Christ Church is an Anglican church with regular worship, so the ecclesiastical exemption applies: roof works are authorised through the faculty jurisdiction, not by the council through listed building consent. Whether planning permission is also needed turns on whether the exterior changes. A Catholic or Methodist church in use, or a Baptist or United Reformed church held on the qualifying trusts, goes through its own denomination's approval, while other faiths apply for listed building consent. Whatever the church, we find out which route applies before quoting a single slate, and we tell you openly if the answer lies outside our hands. For a parish this usually means a conversation with the church's own officers before the scaffolder is called, and we are happy to join it.