Scaffolding in Billericay

Billericay's conservation area was designated in September 1969 and extended in 1983, north to the railway cutting at Crown Road and south to take in Chapel Street, Sun Street and the west side of Laindon Road. It is the largest in Basildon Borough and holds more than forty listed buildings, most of them along the High Street, which runs north from Sun Corner where the B1007 meets the A129. Many of those fronts are medieval or Georgian and stand tight to the pavement.

For a scaffolder that means three things. A scaffold on a High Street frontage stands on the public highway and needs a licence with its lead time built into the programme. Access to the rear is through the building or the yard behind, so the rear elevation is planned at the survey. And old fronts are not plumb or square, so the standards come off sole boards and the first lift is set with more care than an estate house needs. Repointing, re-roofing and shopfront work are the usual jobs. See painting and rendering scaffolding and roofing scaffolding.

The railway came in 1889 and turned a market town into a commuter town, and Billericay Urban District was formed in 1934 to manage the growth. The roads that fill the gap between the High Street and the station are 1930s semis with hipped roofs and bays, with larger detached houses on wide plots around them. That is a loft and re-roof district: hip-to-gable, rear dormer, a front and rear lift, a loading bay for the steels. The detached houses bring bigger scaffolds, full perimeters for a re-roof or a render, and often a conservatory to bridge at the back. Norsey Wood and the plots around it put mature trees close to elevations, which decides where the lifts go. See loft conversion scaffolding.

Queens Park, on the north-west side of the town, was started in the late 1970s, mostly built through the 1980s and finished in 2001. The houses are reaching the age where roofs, fascias and the first extensions come round together. Estate roads are wide but the closes fill with cars, and many plots have the garage in the way of the flank. We plan the lorry position and the loading bay on the survey.

Billericay stands on London Clay capped by the Claygate and Bagshot Beds, sand over clay, which is why the town has springs and why the ground can change within one street. Sole boards go under every standard.

Basildon Borough Council is the planning authority for CM11 and CM12 and has four conservation areas: Billericay, Great Burstead, Little Burstead and Noak Bridge. 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. A scaffold in a conservation area does not need extra consent in itself, but the work behind it usually does. Most Billericay houses have the drive to keep the scaffold inside the boundary, where no licence is needed.

Loft firms, roofers, renderers and decorators, builders on extensions and refurbishments, and shopfitters on the High Street. Homeowners whose builder has said "sort the scaffold" ring us and we survey it with the builder. The tag on the standard is our word that the scaffold was safe on the date of inspection. One number, start to finish.

We cover Brentwood to the west and Basildon to the south. Wickford 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