Party Wall Appointment
Tottenham, London N17
(London Borough of Haringey)
Close to Bruce Grove and Tottenham Hale. Within the catchment of our Finchley office.
Background: The works required excavation for foundations within 3 m of the Party Fence Wall and below the level of its foundations. The wall separated the building site from that of the adjoining owners' rear gardens.
We were appointed by the building owner. Some of the adjoining owners did not wish to appoint the building owner's Surveyor as Agreed Surveyor and instead appointed their own Surveyor.
There were seven adjoining owners affected by the works.
The works involved excavations to construct a new bungalow.
Conclusion:
A wall surrounded the building site, separating the rear gardens of the neighbouring houses from the bungalow which was proposed to be erected abutting the wall.
The risk of the proposed new bungalow foundations undermining the wall's foundations was considered together with the necessity of closing the gap between the proposed bungalow and the wall.
There were also risks to the foundations of a house that bordered the site as the bungalow's foundations were proposed to be excavated alongside it and to a deeper level.
The Awards addressed issues such as the necessity to excavate for a trial pit in the first instance to determine the depth of the existing foundations, utilising hit and miss sequenced excavations to avoid undermining the wall's foundations, to leave a small gap in order to ensure that the bungalow's flank wall would not bond with the boundary wall and to ensure that the roof of the bungalow would not drain onto the wall's footings, which would risk undermining them.