Builder has knocked down one wall of brick outhouse then gone home for weekend. Is this safe?

[ToughButterCup]

So, @DaveAF is the arbour still up - gales haven't dropped it for them  .....  ?

 

Locally there's a WW2 relic (coast-guard lookout) that looks much the same as the image you posted,  is really  Jerry-built, walls thinner, (single brick walls)  concrete roof thinner and  open to the full force of the winds in the bay (Morecambe). Over 70 years old. Both that concrete roof - and the one next to yours -  will take some shifting.

[Tom]

On 11/11/2023 at 10:49, DaveAF said:

Hi

my neighbours builder has knocked down one wall of their brick and concrete slab outhouse and retired for the weekend.

This can't be safe can it? 

 

 

Was thinking the same, those ledges on the remaining far wall would probably have supported bunks.

Bit of a shame to get rid of it really

[Super_Paulie]

i found a bomb shelter 2inches below the grass in my garden, but it was basically a bit of corrugated steel. Wouldn't fancy my chances against the Luftwaffe but i guess it made people feel safer. Think id take your neighbours bunker over that any day.

[DaveAF]

3 hours ago, ToughButterCup said:

So, @DaveAF is the arbour still up - gales haven't dropped it for them  .....  ?

 

Locally there's a WW2 relic (coast-guard lookout) that looks much the same as the image you posted,  is really  Jerry-built, walls thinner, (single brick walls)  concrete roof thinner and  open to the full force of the winds in the bay (Morecambe). Over 70 years old. Both that concrete roof - and the one next to yours -  will take some shifting.

Unfortunately not. The professional arrived this morning with a Kubolo mini JCB and pulled it down. Nearly tipping his Venice over in the process a couple of times. At least it's not going to fall on our fence but its a shame that a bit of mysterious local architecture has gone and no one is any the wiser as to what it was. 

[DaveAF]

50 minutes ago, Tom said:

 

 

Was thinking the same, those ledges on the remaining far wall would probably have supported bunks.

Bit of a shame to get rid of it really

It'll probably turn out to have been of special architectural interest. Gone now. 

[DaveAF]

5 hours ago, joe90 said:

Why? Frankly unless children were at danger next door it’s only their business unless it was likely to fall on your fence or property 🤷‍♂️

Yes all the above are the case. Kids next door, concern about our property. That's reason enough. 

[DaveAF]

4 minutes ago, DaveAF said:

Unfortunately not. The professional arrived this morning with a Kubolo? mini JCB and pulled it down. Nearly tipping his vehicle over in the process a couple of times. At least it's not going to fall on our fence but its a shame that a bit of mysterious local architecture has gone and no one is any the wiser as to what it was. 

 

[billt]

5 hours ago, joe90 said:

With the thickness of the walls and roof I think it was an air raid shelter. 

 

+ 1. There were one or 2 similar buildings in the suburb I lived in when I was young which had definitely been air raid shelters. There's a WW2 pill box next to a canal near us of the same sort of construction, but octagonal. I think it has some sort of protection, may be listed. It's in a conservation area.

[Blooda]

Almost certainly an air raid shelter.  And look like Midhurst White bricks.   Midhurst Brickworks - Wikipedia

 

16 hours ago, billt said:

I think it has some sort of protection, may be listed. It's in a conservation area.

 

It's too late now but you could have applied to get it listed, Which would have annoyed the Neighbours. Given the house is 1930's, and so the shelter is still in the context of the property it was built to protect.  And given it is built from white [maybe Midhurst Bricks. There would have been a good chance of it being accepted.  

[Adsibob]

6 hours ago, Blooda said:

you could have applied to get it listed

Why on Earth would the OP want to do that? Great way to piss off your neighbour, who you then have to live with until one of you dies or moves.

[Blooda]

18 hours ago, Adsibob said:

Why on Earth would the OP want to do that? Great way to piss off your neighbour, who you then have to live with until one of you dies or moves.

Agreed it would.

 

The OP @DaveAF has posted several problems with works being carried out by his neighbours, hence the suggestion was in that context and included "Which would have annoyed the Neighbours".

 

But besides that the building has enough social, industrial and contextual merit that it should be protected to some extent......   Hides Awaiting the Onslaught 

 

 

[Adsibob]

5 hours ago, Blooda said:

But besides that the building has enough social, industrial and contextual merit that it should be protected to some extent......   Hides Awaiting the Onslaught 

Take a photo of the building, print it and hang it up in a museum. Then knock it down (the building, not the museum).

Edited November 15, 2023 by Adsibob

[DaveAF]

On 13/11/2023 at 09:16, Mr Punter said:

That looks very difficult to safely demolish without a large excavator.  It looks like a coal shed, but a bit too clean inside.

 

Send pics of the progress.

Sadly I cannot as they returned with a small excavator on Monday and used it to knock it all down. 

[SteamyTea]

My house, an ugly 1987 box is just inside the boundary of a world heritage site.

I can't even change my timber shed without permission, or use a lighter, or darker tone of woodstain on the windows.

(expletive deleted)ing nonsense, not as if every single place withing half a kilometer of a disused mine must be preserved.

[DaveAF]

On 14/11/2023 at 07:54, Blooda said:

Almost certainly an air raid shelter.  And look like Midhurst White bricks.   Midhurst Brickworks - Wikipedia

 

 

It's too late now but you could have applied to get it listed, Which would have annoyed the Neighbours. Given the house is 1930's, and so the shelter is still in the context of the property it was built to protect.  And given it is built from white [maybe Midhurst Bricks. There would have been a good chance of it being accepted.  

I was going to ask what might be the conditions that would allow a local council to grant planning permission that might lead to the knocking down of a potentially listable structure but then I looked at the site plan drawn up for the project and there's no outhouse / air raid shelter marked on it.

Maybe the council didn't know it was still there? Who knows.