Party Walls

The party wall act came into force in 1995 throughout the country. London, with its crowded streets, has had Party Wall legislation for over a 100 years.

Croft Structural Engineers provides a variety of different services to cover the varying aspects of the Act:

Providing design advice, details and calculations to allow party wall awards to be arranged.
The practice has the skills to act as Party Wall Surveyor for clients.
Providing advice to adjacent owners on their rights under the act.
Provide detailed technical advice to other Party wall surveyors.

What do the surveyors do?

Within the practice Asha Kumar and Chris Tomlin provide party wall advice, notices and awards.

Usually, the surveyors prepare a Schedule of Condition of the Adjoining Owner's property. This records the state of the premises so that any damage caused by the work can be identified and put right properly. This acts to protect both parties from unfair claims.

The surveyors prepare an Award that sets out who can do what, how and when. The Award may set out times of noisy work, arrangements for access to the Adjoining Owner's building and the like.

During the progress of the work, they may make a number of interim inspections to check that the rights and obligations of both parties are being properly looked after or discharged. The more complex the project, the more often the surveyors will need to be involved.

At the end of the works, the surveyors check the Schedule of Condition to identify any damage, and agree the remedial work needed or compensation in lieu.