A whole house renovation here runs into conservation area designations, a flood risk regime along the two rivers, and a character assessment that splits the town into 16 areas. Which of them apply to your address changes the programme and the paperwork. We coordinate building control, and appoint the structural engineer wherever the work is structural.
Two conservation areas run along the edges of the town
The Wey Navigation Conservation Area is one of them, designated on 2 January 2002 as part of a linear conservation area that runs from the River Thames at Weybridge to the Town Bridge at Godalming. Brooklands is the other, designated a conservation area in 1989. Elmbridge Borough Council states there are 26 designated conservation areas within the borough, covering more than 2,000 properties.
The whole Brooklands sub area of Weybridge lies inside that designation, and surviving sections of the banked racing track, which opened in 1907, are a scheduled monument. None of this stops a renovation. It changes what the outside of the house can do, and it adds time to anything visible from the street.
Elmbridge splits Weybridge into 16 character sub areas
They are numbered WEY01 to WEY16 in the council's Design and Character SPD Companion Guide for Weybridge, published in April 2012. Oatlands alone is grouped into five separate sub areas, so the guidance for a house in Oatlands Village differs from the guidance for one on Oatlands Chase. For a renovation touching the elevations, that document is where the council sets out what it thinks your street looks like. We read it before pricing external work, and tell you where a scheme is likely to attract questions.
The rivers decide part of the programme
Weybridge sits at the confluence of the River Thames and the River Wey Navigation, and Elmbridge Borough Council records that the two waterways define the western and northern boundaries of the settlement. The Environment Agency runs a flood warning area called River Wey at Weybridge, covering the River Wey at Weybridge, Wey Meadows and Hamm Court. A second, River Thames at Hamm Court, covers Shepperton Lock, Hamhaugh Island, Hamm Court Estate and Dorney Grove.
For a home extension on a site in a medium to high flood risk area in Elmbridge, the sequential and exception tests are not required, but a site specific Flood Risk Assessment is. Loft conversions are excluded from that requirement, as are first floor extensions built above an existing ground floor extension with no change of use. Establish which applies before the design is finalised.
Trees on the plot need six weeks of notice
In a conservation area in Elmbridge you must give the council six weeks written notice before felling or working on a tree. The statutory threshold is a trunk diameter over 75 millimetres, measured 1.5 metres above the ground. It is over 100 millimetres where the work is solely to improve the growth of other trees. Elmbridge's 2006 Weybridge appraisal quotes 100 millimetres, which predates the current regulations, so use 75 millimetres as the working figure. Six weeks is long enough to move a start date, so we raise it at the survey.
- Complete property refurbishments and whole-house renovations
- Staircase repair, replacement and balustrade work
- Cornice, skirting and period feature restoration
- Damp treatment, tanking and timber repairs
- Loft, floor and wall insulation upgrades
Trusted Home Renovation in Weybridge
Weybridge is just over 25 miles from our base in Potters Bar, so we will be straight about it. This is a town we travel for, and the work that justifies the journey is the larger structural or renovation project rather than a half day repair. If that is what you have, the distance changes nothing about how the job is run. One point of contact, the structural engineer appointed and coordinated by us, building control applications and inspections handled, fully insured. Rated 4.9 from 31 reviews on MyBuilder.
- Free follow-up visit after completion if anything needs attention
- A snagging list agreed and worked through before handover
- Itemised pricing, so you can see what every stage costs
- Clean, tidy and reliable tradespeople
- One itemised quote covering structure, services and finishes
- Aftercare and snagging support once the job is finished