Structural alterations in Amersham are judged against a local plan adopted in 1997 and a core strategy adopted in 2011, both now administered by Buckinghamshire Council. The town also has four conservation areas of its own. We appoint the structural engineer, build to the calculations, and coordinate building control from application to sign off.
The plan your alteration is judged against
Buckinghamshire Council is the local planning authority, and the adopted plan covering Amersham is still the Chiltern District Local Plan, adopted on 1 September 1997. It carries alterations adopted on 29 May 2001 and was consolidated in September 2007 and November 2011.
The Core Strategy for Chiltern District, which sits alongside that local plan, was adopted by the council on 15 November 2011. The two documents have to be read together, so confirm the current position with the council before you commit to a design.
Permitted development rights in the built-up area
No Article 4 direction on Buckinghamshire Council's register removes householder permitted development rights inside Amersham's built-up area. The directions that touch the town cover poultry production, agricultural buildings and means of enclosure. The direction that once covered development near Amersham train station is recorded as rescinded by Chiltern District Council on 27 March 1991.
The Chilterns National Landscape boundary also excludes both Old Amersham and Amersham-on-the-Hill, including the High Street, the station and Sycamore Road. It does take in land on the south western edge, including the Shardeloes estate and the ground around Amersham Hospital. A 1975 Article 4 direction covers land near Shardeloes House, roughly 1.7 kilometres west of the Old Town and outside the built-up area.
Four conservation areas in one town
Amersham has four conservation areas of its own: Amersham Old Town, Shardeloes Parkland, Elm Close and the Weller Estate, the last three all designated in 1992.
Two of them contain no listed buildings at all. The council's leaflet shows a dash against Elm Close and the Weller Estate in its listed building count, and says the twentieth century areas were designated mostly to preserve good examples of estate house building of the period. Listed building consent is not the question there. The character of the estate is.
Building control for extensive internal alterations
Buckinghamshire Council requires a full plans building control application for extensive internal structural alterations to any building, and for loft conversions. Across the two areas covering Amersham the Valuation Office Agency counts 7,670 dwellings, 2,430 of them built before 1945.
We appoint the structural engineer, submit the application, and build to the approved drawings. Inspections are booked and attended as the work reaches each stage. You get one point of contact for the engineer, the council and the site.
- Bressummer and bay window support to period frontages
- Building control applications and completion certification
- Wall plate, joist hanger and restraint strap installation
- Steel goalpost and portal frames to the engineer's design
- Steel beam and RSJ installation
Trusted Structural Alterations in Amersham
Because this is a contractor's job, not a designer's. We do not produce structural calculations and we are not surveyors or architects. We appoint a structural engineer to produce the calculations, build precisely to what is specified, and coordinate the Buckinghamshire Council building control application and inspections around the work. One point of contact, fully insured, free no obligation quotations, and a firm rated 4.9 from 31 reviews on MyBuilder.
- Temporary works and needling planned before demolition starts
- Waste cleared as we go, not left piled in the garden
- Every alteration certified rather than quietly built over
- Building control inspected at foundation, steel and completion
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