Demolition and service disconnection

[SeanCrowley]

Hi,

Forgive what might be stupid questions (very new to all this!) - we are applying for planning permission for a replacement dwelling (demolish an old bungalow and replace with new two story house). During the 8 week planning period our architect will be working up detailed building regs drawings etc and preparing for tender, but I am trying to get ducks in a row so that hopefully if we can get building regs drawings finalised and a main builder lined up while the application is in planning that as soon as planning is granted we can get on with demolition and the project build.

 

I have heard that gas/electric company disconnection can take a while - so am wondering about just cracking on and arranging that myself now (you can apply to Southern Gas Network and UK Power Networks for the disconnection direct), as it does look like an up to 8 week lead time.

 

Would I need a temporary electricity connection during the course of the build? (looks like with electric you can disconnect or disconnect and set up temporary connection). Are there any other services I need to think about disconnecting? (I read online that water supply can be cut off by the builder/demo contractor)

 

Thanks!

[Conor]

Water is easy, turn off stopcock and cut the pipe.

 

Telephone lines are easy to disconnect / accidentally break.

 

Gas and electric require arranging well in advance. Your temp site connection will likely be dealt as a separate application and job to the disconnection. Fyi took 6 months to arrange my electric disconnection and temporary supply. Partly because new cable had to be brought in via my neighbour's property.

 

 

 

 

[Russdl]

@SeanCrowley  It’s not a stupid question, the stupid question is the one you don’t ask. I’m guilty. 
 

We have done the same as you are planning. 
 

As already mentioned, water is easy. In our case we turned it off at the meter, and started digging a hole in the plot where we thought it must be running. We found it quickly enough - it was miniature, 3/8th” iirc - and got some adapters to connect it to some MDPE and set up a standpipe T’ed off to a shed with a toilet and sink in it. 
 

BT or whatever they are called now turned up relatively quickly to remove their cable but if they hadn’t I suspect a site accident could have removed it as effectively. 
 

Gas took a while, but was not a big problem, we’re not using it anymore so it was a simple disconnect. 
 

Shortly after ours was disconnected a house nearby was demolished and the whole house was raised to the ground save for a tiny bit of wall with the gas meter attached (I guess they got bored of waiting?) I was quite astonished to see that but they didn’t seem to generate any problems for themselves by doing that. 
 

Electrikery. If you can plan ahead well enough, unlike me, then you can request a service alteration and set up a temporary building supply. If you’ve planned well enough then you won’t need to move that temporary supply, just connect it up to your new house when the time is right. 

[markharro]

We are about to demolish too. Got the elec in motion but unclear about water. Our house is built right on to the pavement and I suspect that means that there might not be any option to divert the supply ourselves to serve eg a site tap? Does this mean I have to pay Scottish Water ££ to disconnect in the pavement? Or is there a stopcock valve in the pavement that I can turn off to cut the supply from the pavement? Then presumably when the house is down if we haven't damaged the supply pipe majorly I can joint in an extension off to a site tap? Would this be feasible? We are obviously in Scotland and our supply pipe is lead.

[Conor]

Yeah, just find the stop tap in the pavement, turn it off, cut your supply pipe and fit an temporary tap. For your own sake, do not go near Scottish water about this.

[Canski]

On 07/05/2022 at 14:33, Conor said:

Yeah, just find the stop tap in the pavement, turn it off, cut your supply pipe and fit an temporary tap. For your own sake, do not go near Scottish water about this.

What do you do if you have searched and searched but can't find the stop cock ? (asking for a friend) 🙂

[Conor]

7 hours ago, Canski said:

What do you do if you have searched and searched but can't find the stop cock ? (asking for a friend) 🙂

Phone the water company. They'll come out and find it. Likely been tarred over at some point.