Detached and semi-detached homes dominate Brentwood's residential mix, with pockets of older properties around Brentwood Town and Shenfield High Road, newer estates toward Hutton, and a stretch of bungalows along Warley Road and Hartswood Road. The most common airspace project here is a single-storey or chalet-style home being raised to two full storeys. A smaller number of rooftop schemes come forward on older mansion-style blocks and 1960s low-rise flats nearer the town centre, where the structure was designed with future loading in mind.
Our practice has covered Brentwood work for many years from the Essex office, and the surveyors are RICS regulated. The work typically runs alongside daylight and sunlight reports for the planning submission to Brentwood Borough Council.
As well as providing daylight, sunlight and rights of light advice, our role would be to make contact with the occupants of the existing building to establish any concerns regarding the development. We will work closely with the professional team to identify the initial questions and look at how these can be addressed.
It is our experience that maintaining the same point of contact for the duration of the project offers the existing occupants’ reassurance and continuity.
Project scope depends on the site. For a homeowner-led upward extension, the focus is the Party Wall etc. Act 1996, protection of the structure below, and a neighbour-by-neighbour conversation about the implications of the new storey. Notices need to be served on every adjoining owner where a party wall is involved, and the timing of that affects the construction programme.
Where a developer is adding new flats to the roof of an existing block, the role widens. We make initial contact with each leaseholder below the proposed units, hold attended meetings to talk through plans, record a Schedule of Condition for each affected flat, and act as the continuous point of contact through the build. Airspace projects in Brentwood typically sit alongside daylight and sunlight, party wall, and rights of light assessments on the same site.
The same surveyor stays on the project from start to finish, calls reach a qualified surveyor rather than a call centre, and every new instruction starts with a free initial assessment.
Over the past four years, CHP have worked very successfully with us in their capacity as party wall surveyors. Through his calm, sensible approach and excellent communication skills James Crowley, in particular, gained the trust and confidence of the entire team and stakeholders. Looking forward to working with CHP again.”
- Clare Goggin, Jackson Coles
The main protection sits in the Schedule of Condition. Each flat below the development has a documented record of its state before any work begins. If damage is later alleged, it can be checked against the schedule rather than argued from memory or photos taken after the fact, which makes disputes much shorter.
Leaseholders also retain their statutory rights to quiet enjoyment and protection from damage, and the occupant liaison surveyor gives them a named person to raise concerns with throughout construction. Planning sits with Brentwood Borough Council, which reviews airspace proposals on amenity, design, character, and neighbour impact grounds. A free initial assessment covers the most likely route on a given site and the surveying workstreams that will run alongside it.
Get in touch.
Head Office
2-6 Boundary Row
London, SE1 8HP
Essex Office
2-6 Boundary Row
London, SE1 8HP
020 3714 4090
Get in touch.
Head Office
2-6 Boundary Row
London, SE1 8HP
Essex Office
2nd Floor, 10 High Street
Wickford, Essex
SS12 9AZ
020 3714 4090
enquiries@chpsurveyors.com
