Structural alterations in Hertford run through two separate approvals: planning, where the conservation area applies, and building regulations. We appoint the structural engineer, build to the calculations and coordinate the applications and inspections. We are a contractor, so the calculations always come from the engineer.
Who approves a structural alteration in Hertford
Two organisations, not one. East Herts District Council is the local planning authority for Hertford. Building control is not run by the council in house. It is provided by Hertfordshire Building Control, which East Herts owns jointly with seven other Hertfordshire local authorities.
On permitted development, one point is worth knowing. There is no Article 4 direction in force over the Hertford Conservation Area. The only conservation area Article 4 directions East Herts lists are the two made for Bishop's Stortford on 14 June 2017, confirmed on 15 November 2017. Conservation area controls still apply to your house, but Hertford has not had its permitted development rights withdrawn in the way Bishop's Stortford has.
Which part of the conservation area your street sits in
Hertford Conservation Area is not assessed as one uniform place. It was first designated in 1967, revised in 1981 and further amended in 1996. The 2017 appraisal divides it into six geographical identity areas, so the character findings that apply to your street depend on which of the six you are in.
Identity Area 2 is the north west quadrant. It takes in Bengeo Street, Duncombe Road, Church Road, Fanshawe Street, Wellington Street, Molewood Road, Nelson Street, Farquhar Street, Port Vale and Port Hill. If your address is on that list, the findings for that area are the ones an officer reads alongside your drawings.
Listed buildings in the historic core
Listed status is a real prospect in central Hertford. The 2017 appraisal records nearly 280 listed building groups inside the conservation area. It records three buildings listed grade I: Hertford Castle, 15 Fore Street, which is Shire Hall, and the Church of St Leonard at Bengeo. There are now four, because Historic England upgraded Hertford Quaker Meeting House in Railway Street to grade I on 9 May 2019, after the appraisal was adopted.
Where a building is listed, the consent and the structural design run together and the sequence is longer. We plan the programme around that, rather than starting on site and stopping.
The ground is not the same across town
Bearing material changes over short distances here. On the higher ground at Port Hill, Bengeo Street, Sele Farm, Cherry Tree Green, Sele Road and Thieves Lane, British Geological Survey 1:50,000 mapping shows Kesgrave Catchment Subgroup sand and gravel above the chalk. Molewood Road is mixed, with Kesgrave sand and gravel at its southern end and alluvium further down. At the Foxholes estate no superficial deposit is mapped at all, so chalk lies directly beneath the ground.
At Horns Mill the mapping is mid Pleistocene glaciolacustrine clay and silt over the chalk. Along the river channel on Hornsmill Road itself it is alluvium, so two materials sit side by side within a short distance. Underpinning, new pad foundations and pier positions are therefore designed for the address, not for the town.
- Structural surveys and engineer coordination
- Building control applications and completion certification
- Underpinning and foundation strengthening in sequenced bays
- Crack repair, helical bar stitching and masonry restraint
- Steel goalpost and portal frames to the engineer's design
Why Hertford Homeowners Choose GS Renovation
The authority you deal with here is split. Planning sits with East Herts District Council, building control sits with a separate company owned by East Herts and seven other authorities, and the conservation area sits over both. We keep the two tracks moving together: engineer appointed, calculations issued, application submitted, inspections booked at the right stages. One point of contact for all of it, fully insured, with a free quotation before anything starts.
- Temporary works and needling planned before demolition starts
- One point of contact on the phone, not a call centre
- Waste cleared as we go, not left piled in the garden
- Underpinning carried out in sequenced bays, never one long trench
- Dust screens and floor protection in occupied homes
- A written scope and programme agreed before work starts