Demolish and rebuild checklist

[LiamJones]

Hi,

 

I’m sure I’ve seen a list before on here somewhere but can’t find it! 
 

can someone point me in the direction of a ‘red tape’ checklist around a demolish and rebuild. I’m currently considering sacking off the reno plans and starting again.

 

e.g self build warranty, CIL exemption form, heras fencing, HSE plan

 

Thanks, Liam

[Thorfun]

CIL exemption is the priority as far as I care! don't do ANYTHING until you have that. all the rest can kind of fall in to place as you move through the process. also the rest of the stuff depends on how you're building, who's doing the work etc. as if you're having a main contractor then a lot of that stuff is down to them to sort out.

 

best of luck and I've always thought demo and rebuild is the best way as you can build what you want rather than just make good what's already there as it's never exactly what you want as if it was you wouldn't need to renovate it. 😉 

[Canski]

You’ll need a section 80 demo notice and a section 81 response. Kill all services off. Also you may need an ecology survey. 

[Dave Jones]

dont kill all services you are going to need them and no fun paying twice.

 

Keep the electric and water, just move them out of the way for footings.

[LiamJones]

12 hours ago, Canski said:

Also you may need an ecology survey. 

Is there anyway to work out if this will be required, without prompting it to occur? 

[Dave Jones]

11 minutes ago, LiamJones said:

Is there anyway to work out if this will be required, without prompting it to occur? 

 

planning will tell you what they require. dont offer up anything!

[LiamJones]

1 minute ago, Dave Jones said:

 

planning will tell you what they require. dont offer up anything!

Indeed, but I’m trying to save myself some time. If they want an ecology survey that I need to wait a year to complete, I won’t be waiting, so will just crack on with the reno! If it take them 8 weeks to tell me that, I’ve wasted 8 weeks. 

[Dave Jones]

surveys dont take long as they are private companies. Turn them round in a week or so.

[LiamJones]

5 minutes ago, Dave Jones said:

surveys dont take long as they are private companies. Turn them round in a week or so.

Ah okay, I was reading about some ecology survey only being possible in May (I think), to do with when certain animals are ‘active’. Didn’t want to have to wait until next May!

[LnP]

43 minutes ago, LiamJones said:

Ah okay, I was reading about some ecology survey only being possible in May (I think), to do with when certain animals are ‘active’. Didn’t want to have to wait until next May!

That’s bat emergence surveys. The initial survey which looks for signs of bats and suitability for roosting can be done any time of year, but if the ecologist decides they need to do an emergence survey, where they look for bats at dawn and dusk, that has to be done between May and September. 

Edited July 16, 2023 by LnP

[Canski]

4 hours ago, LnP said:

That’s bat emergence surveys. The initial survey which looks for signs of bats and suitability for roosting can be done any time of year, but if the ecologist decides they need to do an emergence survey, where they look for bats at dawn and dusk, that has to be done between May and September. 

and I had to have 4 surveys through the summer and then a few weeks ago  another bat survey followed the next day by a nesting bird survey then and then a destructive bat survey with the ecologist supervising the stripping of roof tiles.  The only time anything was seen was when i left them alone for 30 mins.  DO NOT EVER LEAVE THEM UNATTENDED. 

[Canski]

5 hours ago, Dave Jones said:

 

 dont offer up anything!

That is sound advice. 

[LnP]

19 hours ago, Canski said:

and I had to have 4 surveys through the summer and then a few weeks ago  another bat survey followed the next day by a nesting bird survey then and then a destructive bat survey with the ecologist supervising the stripping of roof tiles.  The only time anything was seen was when i left them alone for 30 mins.  DO NOT EVER LEAVE THEM UNATTENDED. 

Maybe the advice is to find an ecologist you trust. We got our planning consultant to recommend one he'd worked with before and who he trusted.

 

Also, but I'm not 100% sure about this, I think they're looking not only for evidence bats have been there, but also that there might be places which sleepy bats might find attractive to roost in - gaps, nooks and crannies. We have two buildings which needed to be surveyed, a 1960s dormer bungalow and a dilapidated Victorian coach house. The plot backs onto a canal which raises the risk that bats will be around. I was sure we didn't have bats present but wanted to make sure there were no spots which bats might find attractive, so before the survey, I filled gaps and put chicken wire over holes. The ecologist crawled all over the place but gave us a clean bill of health, no need for emergence surveys.

[Pendicle]

We contacted planning office before we put in an offer on our site, inhabitable house on acre of land, lots of trees plus site next to wooded area. Told we would need ecology survey, due to house being empty for over a year and the amount of trees on and near site. Asbestos survey due to being built 1960s. Tree survey due to 4 trees having a TPO who would advise root protection. Ecology desk top survey and visit survey was done within 6 weeks and can be done at anytime of the year, but 2nd dawn dusk survey has to happen between may and July, we booked ours in January and the earliest they could do was end of june. Planning had also advised that demolition should happen between oct-feb, we are in Scotland, the ecology surveyor said the same thing. There is a website that you can use interactivity where you put your postcode in and they tell you if bats have been in your area. I will look for it and post, no bats in our case but we had Jackdaws. Regards utilities do not underestimate how long this takes and a shambles of service. We have moved electrics to box at boundary you would not believe the amount of calls, effort and time this took although our experience is very familiar to those here. Still have not managed to get water moved. We have also found it hard to get quotes for some surveys from ground investigation to tree survey with lots of chasing a top tip is to ask those who are working for you as the bat woman gave us a tree survey contact and put in a good word which meant he called and was able to fit us in. The tree protection officer gave us 3 contacts but only one replied and said they were not free for 3 months.

[Canski]

I had the same faff. I did manage to demolish in July though after my 5th Bat survey and 2nd nesting bird survey. As for an ecologist you can trust ... after speaking to many people about this it seems that none are trustworthy. Trust is good, checking is better.

 

From my experience not many ecologists want to do dawn surveys and prefer the dusk ones. I had to have a survey in August so the may and July bit is not accurate for England but things may be different in Scotland.

 

 

[Temp]

Best try and get a bat survey underway.