Scaffolding in Benfleet, Hadleigh and Thundersley

Hadleigh, South Benfleet and Thundersley were three village parishes until 1929, when they were joined as Benfleet Urban District. The district had about 6,100 people in 1921 and 48,000 by 1971. Almost everything in SS7 was built in those fifty years: inter-war semis and bungalows on the roads between the A13 and the A127, then post-war estates and infill on the slopes up to Thundersley.

For a scaffolder that is a loft and re-roof district. The 1930s semi with a hipped roof is the standard job. A hip-to-gable and rear dormer needs a front and rear lift, a loading bay for the steels, and the scaffold adapted as the dormer goes on. See loft conversion scaffolding. The post-war houses are coming up for re-roofing now, with edge protection the roofers can work behind and a temporary roof where the programme cannot lose days to rain. See roofing scaffolding.

Thundersley sits on the Rayleigh Hills, on average about 200 feet up, and Bread and Cheese Hill carries the A13 up the main slope from South Benfleet. Hadleigh is on the ridge above the estuary, with Hadleigh Castle at its edge, a ruin partly because the London Clay under it slips. Streets off those slopes fall away side to side and front to back. Base plates and sole boards are set to the slope, the first lift is levelled off the standards rather than the ground, and on a steep drive we plan where the lorry stands before we plan the scaffold. Where the back garden is a storey below the front, the rear elevation is a lift taller than the drawing suggests. We measure that at the survey, not on the day.

Castle Point has two conservation areas. South Benfleet, designated in November 1988, covers the old village around St Mary's church, which is Grade I listed, and the old pubs beside it. Florence Gardens in Hadleigh, designated in 1997, is a group of bungalows tied to the Salvation Army farm colony founded there in 1891. A scaffold in a conservation area does not need extra consent in itself, but the work behind it usually does, and the old village streets are narrow and parked. We plan the footprint so the pavement stays passable.

Benfleet station opened in 1856 and serves Canvey Island as well as the town, so the roads around it and the B1014 over the creek carry Canvey's traffic to the A13 and A130. A delivery to a house near the station is timed around the school run and the morning queue. We say so at the survey.

Castle Point Borough Council is the planning authority, with its offices at Kiln Road in Thundersley. The roads belong to Essex County Council, and any scaffold standing on or over the public highway needs a licence through Essex Highways. Only the scaffolding contractor may apply, so we do; Essex Highways takes 15 working days from receipt to process it, the licence is valid for two weeks from the date of issue and can be applied for initially for up to 26 weeks, and a renewal takes three working days from receipt. Most SS7 houses have a drive, so most scaffolds sit inside the boundary and need no licence. A shop on the A13 through Hadleigh does, and the licence date then sets the start date. Structures wholly on private land do not need one.

Loft firms, roofers, renderers, builders on rear extensions and garage conversions, and homeowners whose builder has said "sort the scaffold". The tag on the standard is our word that the scaffold was safe on the date of inspection. If the plan changes, the number on the tag is the one to ring. One number, start to finish.

We cover Leigh-on-Sea to the east and Rayleigh to the north. Canvey Island is covered too. See all areas, or request a survey.

Ring 07490 092490, WhatsApp the same number, or fill in the survey card.

Request a survey