Roofers in Shaw
Shaw House, the church and the terraces of Shaw Road
Shaw has a Grade I house, a listed church and a Shaw Road terrace under an Article 4 area. We survey each roof and explain the options first.
Shaw roofs, from the House to the terraces
Around Shaw House
Homes near Shaw House, Grade I since 6 June 1952, in the Shaw House and Church conservation area.
St Mary's church surroundings
Houses near the Parish Church of St Mary, Grade II, first listed on 6 April 1967.
Shaw Road terraces
Numbers 11 to 73 Shaw Road are listed Grade II, and the council records an Article 4 area there.
Shaw, on Newbury's north-eastern edge
Newbury lies a short way south-west, with Speen to the west. Greenham is south, Cold Ash and Thatcham lie east and Enborne is to the south-west.
- Distance
- 19.3 road miles north-east of Andover
- Planning
- West Berkshire Council
The Shaw roof report
Local editionShaw cum Donnington, BerkshireA Grade I house and a terraced road
Terraces beside a Grade I house: what a Shaw roof asks of its owner and its roofer
Shaw is on Newbury's north-eastern edge, 19.3 road miles from Andover. This report covers its Grade I house, the Shaw Road terraces and their Article 4 area, building control and the scaffold fee.
Shaw House, St Mary's and a terrace in the middle
Shaw sits in the parish of Shaw cum Donnington, which counted 1,674 usual residents at the 2021 Census. Historic England's list records 15 listed buildings within about 500 metres of the centre. Shaw House is Grade I (list entry 1220445), first listed on 6 June 1952. The Parish Church of St Mary (1291032) is Grade II, listed on 6 April 1967, and so is the run of houses at 11 to 73 Shaw Road (1211388).
Three conservation areas reach this part of town on the council's map: Newbury Town Centre, Shaw House and Church, and Shaw Road and Crescent. The Newbury Town Centre area lies within about 0.75 km of the centre of Shaw. Which one covers your own house is a matter of the council's boundary, so it is something we check on the map at the survey and write into the note.
Terraces behave differently from detached houses. Roofs run on across several properties, party walls divide them, and a gutter or a valley may serve two or more owners. A leak in one house can start in the next. The survey therefore looks at the whole run where it can: the shared ridge, the line of the party walls above the roof, and the chimney stacks, which are often shared too.
Where houses are listed, as on Shaw Road, alterations that touch a listed house's character call for listed building consent first. Where they are merely unlisted neighbours, the work still has to be planned with them in mind. Our guide to listed building roof repairs sets out the consent route in full.
You receive the photographs with a short note under each. Where a defect belongs to the shared structure, the note says so, and that tells you whom to speak to about cost and consent.
The council's own name for one of the conservation areas, Shaw House and Church, links the two buildings in a single designation. A roof near either gets careful attention to colour and texture, because a mismatch shows from the lane.
Owners who are selling a terrace house find the same record useful. Dated photographs and a written note let a buyer's surveyor see what has been done and what has not.
A terrace roof is only as sound as its weakest joint. Slipped slates or tiles, failed lead at the party-wall stepped flashings and blocked valley gutters are the usual culprits, and all of them can be found from a ladder and the loft.
The Shaw Road direction and what BCS expects
West Berkshire Council's published data records an Article 4 area for numbers 11 to 79 (odds) Shaw Road, Newbury. A direction of this kind takes away some rights a householder would otherwise hold, across a defined stretch of road. The terms of this one are the council's to explain. If your house is on that stretch, ask West Berkshire Council what it covers before you alter any roofing detail, and request the answer on paper. We will send the question for you.
Building Regulations in Shaw come under Building Control Solutions (BCS), a Berkshire service with two councils behind it, West Berkshire and Wokingham. A private alternative exists in the form of a registered building control approver. At the survey we say which route we would choose, and why.
Weight is the rule that can catch a re-roof. Should the new covering come out 15 per cent heavier, or more, approval under the Building Regulations follows even for a small house, with a structural check beforehand. On a roof built for slate, heavy concrete tile is the swap to question first. The present covering is logged at the survey, so the comparison is on paper before you choose.
The other rule concerns the size of the job. A re-roof that keeps below 25 per cent of the building envelope and below 50 per cent of the roof is rarely referred to building control. One slope on a terraced house passes easily. A whole terrace roof does not, and that is a different conversation with BCS.
Party walls add a separate Act. Work to a party wall, such as cutting into it to form a new flashing, can call for notice to the neighbour under the Party Wall etc. Act 1996, and the party wall surveyor, not building control, handles that. We flag it at the survey.
An enquiry to BCS about a terrace takes a little more care than one about a detached house. We describe the whole run, mark which houses are involved, attach the photographs and say what is proposed for each slope, so that the answer covers the job and not just one front door. The reply is passed on to every owner concerned, unaltered.
Before any cutting into a party wall begins, the survey records its condition with photographs, so that any later dispute starts from the facts and not from memory.
Nothing here troubles a simple repair. A refixed slate or a cleared gutter is maintenance.
“On Shaw Road, a roof is rarely one owner's alone, and the council's direction adds a question.”
Scaffold and the weekly fee on Shaw Road
A terrace on a through road puts the scaffold in the public highway, and section 169 of the Highways Act 1980 requires a licence for that. The grantor is West Berkshire Council, and the rules fit on one short list.
- Who applies: the scaffolding provider to West Berkshire Council, never the resident
- Notice: no less than 10 working days before erection
- Fee: West Berkshire Council charges £125, plus £71 per week, for as long as the scaffold stands
- Private roads: outside the licence altogether
A weekly fee changes how we plan. Materials are delivered ahead of the frame, and the strike day is fixed at the point of booking. A terrace roof can be re-covered one house at a time, and where two neighbours share a ridge, arranging their work together lets one frame serve both.
Hoarding and parking are the other items on the council's side of the desk. If the frame needs a protective hoarding, or if it would stand over a space on the road that the council controls, the booking has to cover that too, and we confirm both points with the council before you are promised a date.
Shared frames raise their own questions. Who pays for the weeks? Whose consent covers the shared flashing? We put both on paper before anything is booked, and nobody is asked to contribute to work they did not agree to.
Shaw's roofs call on practical services, matched to the survey. Roof repairs deal with slipped slates and failed flashings. Chimney repairs restore shared stacks whose pointing or lead has failed. Lead roofing covers stepped flashings, soakers and valleys, the places lead sheet has long been used.
People who live on a through road deserve consideration. We fence the first lift, fix the boards tight, hang netting for debris and keep the footway open or agree a safe way round. Neighbours hear in advance, and the skip and deliveries get fixed positions.
A frame on a through road has to cope with the weather, and so does the programme. A wet day stops the roof but not the licence, so the start date has spare days in it, and anything left open is sheeted when work stops. After a gale, netting and sheeting are checked before anyone climbs again, and we tell you if the programme has moved.
Delivery matters on a road with parked cars. Tiles and slates arrive in a short window agreed with you, a hoist or conveyor takes them up, and nothing is left on the pavement overnight.
Finally, the road is swept, the rubbish leaves with us and the photographs arrive with you.
Shaw roofs: the Article 4 area, party walls and the weekly fee
My Shaw Road house is in the Article 4 area. Can I still replace slates?
West Berkshire Council's data names the area, and only the council can say what the direction removes. Ask it what the direction covers before altering anything, and keep its reply on paper. Restoring the same slates is the safest course. Our team will send the question and return the reply to you.
Do I need my neighbour's agreement to repair a shared terrace roof?
For your own slope, usually not. For work that cuts into a party wall, such as a new flashing, notice may be needed under the Party Wall etc. Act 1996, and a party wall surveyor handles that. Any such step is flagged at the survey, with the name of whom to approach and what notice the neighbour is entitled to.
How much is a scaffold licence for a Shaw terrace?
West Berkshire Council charges £125, plus £71 per week, and the scaffolding provider applies at least 10 working days ahead. Frames on a private road need no licence. Where neighbours share a ridge, one frame may serve two roofs, and we put the weekly cost on paper before anything is booked.
Does Shaw House being Grade I affect roofs on other streets?
Only the listed building itself needs consent when work alters its character. A neighbouring house is judged on its own listing, if any, and on the conservation area it sits in. Part of the survey is a National Heritage List search under your address, with the outcome and any entry number noted in your file.
Ask about your Shaw roof
Send your road and a roof photo. We survey it, sort the consents and put one price in writing.
10-year workmanship guarantee, in writing.