The questions raised fall into two subject areas which will be addressed in turn. The content of the response to the first subject area has been provided by Phil Ward, Team Leader of Conservation, and the content of the response to the second subject area has been provided by a Senior Development Surveyor. Both officers work in the City Development Directorate. Phil Ward compiled the response.
Emergency repairs
The emergency works carried out by the owners are in response to an urgent works notice served by the council on the owners of the former York Road library. The powers of the authorities to serve such notices are under Section 54 of the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990 which allows local authorities to carry out urgent works to listed buildings if the owner defaults on the notice. The works specified must be “urgently necessary for the preservation of the building”. As to what is envisaged, the view of the Secretary of State is that;
“[the use of these powers] should be restricted to emergency repairs, for example works to keep a building wind-and-weathproof and safe from collapse, or action to prevent vandalism or theft. The steps taken should be the minimum consistent with achieving this objective, and should not involve an owner in great expense.”
Should the local authority carry out the works and then recover the costs, there is a right of appeal on the following grounds that the works are unnecessary, unreasonable or would cause hardship.
The works specified in the notices were written with the legislative framework and government guidance in mind. The schedule of works attached to the notices is reproduced below.
The schedule has been carried out with two variations: it was agreed that a small part of the building in the north east corner which has been fire damaged and will require replacement of all the floor and roof timbers should not be roofed over and that a steel door should not be installed at the rear. (The existing steel sheeting has been refixed: this will be monitored and its adequacy reviewed.)
To answer specific points raised:
- The sheeting has been securely fixed with battens. The lap of the sheeting at the ridges and at the abutments with the parapet walls should not be mistaken for loose covering.
- There have been very high winds over the last week and the sheeting has not blown off. Further battens have been fixed at vulnerable points and some small repairs made.
- Scaffold poles have been threaded through windows to tie the scaffold structure to the building. This is a temporary measure as the windows can be easily reglazed and avoids the permanent damage that is implied by the alternatives: fastening it to the building requiring screw fixings into the brickwork or forming new openings in the building.
- The ground floor windows are sheeted up with metal plates which makes the building secure to opportunistic trespassers. On balance, it is considered best to leave the upper floors unsheeted for amenity reasons, to allow surveillance of intruders (especially after dark) and also to allow air circulation. (Sealing up the building would provide ideal conditions for dry rot.)
In summary, the works specified in the urgent works notice are considered lawful and provide temporary shelter for the listed building until refurbishment takes place. The repairs appear to have been carried to an adequate standard in accordance with the schedule with a few exceptions mentioned above.
The condition of the building will continue to be monitored and further repairs carried out, backed up with further urgent works notices if necessary.
Schedule 1 attached to urgent works notice
- Remove all existing slate from the roof and place inside the building.
- Provide reinforcement to damaged roof structures to allow safe working and to support temporary roof described below.
- Line valleys with lapped heavy gauge Visqueen DPC or single-ply rubber membrane, held down with continuous strap laths laid along the length of the valleys. The visqueen or alternative should an upstand of a minimum of 300mm and should dressed into the gullies to ensure discharge of rainwater into down pipes.
- Cover all roofs in heavy gauge Visqueen DPC membrane, all membrane to be lathed at 300mm centres. Visqueen will be laid so that there is a continuous run from the sarking membrane down into the valleys.
- Tower to be covered with Visqueen
- Clear down pipes and gullies and refix missing sections of down pipe in UPVC sufficient to ensure that rainwater discharges to the gullies.
Fix steel door inside existing sheeting to rear door.
Sale and purchase price
There has been quite a long history connected to the efforts of the Council to dispose of this Grade II listed property. The property was offered for sale on the open market with various closing dates from 1 August 1997, but either these did not result in a conclusion of a sale or a satisfactory offer.
Finally, the property was reoffered with offers received by 6 September 2003, and the eventual purchaser, Mr Jason Butler’s offer was accepted. At that time there were a number of offers but he was the only offeror to propose a potentially viable scheme, being conversion of the property to offices to provide a new headquarters for his business as an estate agent. His offer was subject to receipt of planning permission.
Planning permission for the conversion of the property to offices together with an extension, was granted on 15 July 2004 with conditions. During this time the purchaser reduced his offer price due to the deteriorating condition of the building as a result of constant vandalism.
A valuation report from Lambert Smith Hampton, Chartered Surveyors, dated 21 November 2003 advised a market valuation of the property at minus one hundred and thirty thousand pounds, based on the costs of bringing the building back into an economic use. A comment in the report was that, due to the cost of refurbishing the building, location of the property and the inflexibility of the accommodation, there would not be expected to be any significant demand from owner occupiers or developers.
The prospective purchaser sought to agree all the conditions for the planning permission, in particular agreeing the specification of the stone exterior to the proposed office extension. When this was agreed, the sale was completed on 25 March 2005 at a price of £17,000 less the cost of defective title insurance. This price took into account the Lambert Smith Hampton valuation report, the work that the purchaser’s architect had undertaken in achieving a planning permission for this listed Grade II building and its very poor condition. Based on the report from Lambert Smith Hampton this represented the best consideration for the property.
The decision to accept the initial offer was authorised by the Departmental Director.
The statement that the building was offered for sale for £350,000 is noted. There is, however, nothing to prevent a building owner from asking whatever price they like (it is understood that a buyer willing to pay this price was not found). Similarly the book value of a property often relates more to the accounting principles adopted than to market value of the property.
Phil Ward
Team Leader Conservation
11th February 2011
