Statutory repair

A bit like picking up the wrong card from Community Chest in Monopoly, we have been given a statutory repair notice for our building, an Edwardian sandstone tenement of eight flats, over four floors.

Today, three surveyors from the city council came with the building contractor to have a meeting about the work. Another resident and myself donned hard hats and climbed the scaffolding to examine the condition of the stonework.

It was an opportunity to discuss various options and get an idea of the extent of the work. The section in this image is from a previous repair which has now come away. The good news is that the building is essentially very sound and relatively few blocks of stone will have to be replaced, but there are a huge number of smaller repairs and almost all of the window sills will have to be replaced. The stone by stone survey starts next week as the 20 week project starts in earnest.

We may all be skint after that, but we will have a beautiful and safe building to live in.