In this weeks property surveying blog post, we are going to be discussing party wall advising engineers, also known as checking engineers and the role they play in the party wall procedures.
In the event of structurally complex, or high risk construction work, an adjoining owners surveyor, or an agreed surveyor has the right to request the structural input of a structural engineer.
The structural engineers role will be to review the building owners proposed works, from the perspective of the adjoining owners property ensuring that the works pose the least amount of risk as possible, and are ultimately done in a manner which takes into account the adjoining owners property.
One of the most common misconceptions with the appointment of an advising engineer, is that the engineers role will be to redesign the project engineers proposals. This is not the case, the role is to simply ensure that the proposals are as low risk as they reasonably can be, and ultimately that the design takes into account the existing lay of the land.
Under the Party Wall etc Act 1996 and the allowances of Section 10, the agreed surveyor, or adjoining owners surveyor, has the right to recover his or hers advising engineers reasonable cost and expense from the building owner.
If you are planning on undertaking construction works to your property that are of significant or high structural risk we would advise speaking with the project engineer at the earliest opportunity, to prepare them for the potential advising engineer exchanges further down the line.
If you would like to discuss your party wall surveying requirements with our team of qualified and experienced surveyors here at Stokemont, give us a call now and we will be more than happy to advise and assist.
