Roofs on a hilly former Kent village, now a Bromley suburb.
West Wickham stands on rising ground south of Beckenham, and its roofs range from old High Street buildings to suburban streets. We survey the slope, then quote one total.
Hasted described the parish as high ground and very hilly. On a sloping plot we plan ladder footing, the scaffold base and the route for materials before we price, because the access can matter as much as the roof.
Houses on a sloping street
Historic England's list names 18 High Street, The Swan Public House and the Unigate Dairies building, all Grade II. A roof on a listed building follows the council's consent route, not our estimate alone.
Clay tile roof on an older building
West Wickham was a Kent village before it joined Greater London. Because roofs of several periods sit side by side, we survey each house on its own evidence and make no assumption from the street it stands on.
Suburban homes with tiled roofs
Map of West Wickham and the neighbourhoods around it, with Crawley for reference.
West Wickham is a London suburb on hilly ground south of Beckenham, a former Kent village that the London Borough of Bromley now governs.
West Wickham, stage by stage
Three short chapters on how West Wickham's ground and history shape a roof job, how its listed buildings are handled, and what Bromley asks once a repair grows.
Stage 01 · The ground
Hasted's 1797 account describes West Wickham as hilly and varied underfoot, and both facts affect how a roof is reached and drained today.
Edward Hasted, in his 1797 survey of Kent, called West Wickham high ground and very hilly, with a soil of chalk in some parts and gravel, sand and some clay in others. The village belonged to Kent then. It now sits inside the London Borough of Bromley, on hilly ground south of Beckenham, and the old description still helps us picture the place a roofer actually visits.
It changes the work around the roof more than the roof itself. A tile is fixed the same way on a slope as on the flat, but getting to it is different. A ladder needs a firm, level foot, and a scaffold on a falling pavement or drive needs its base packed and levelled before a pole goes up. Materials and waste have to travel up and down safely, so we look at the front steps, the side path and the garden at the survey and plan the route before a quote is given. Where access is difficult, we flag it and explain how it affects the price. If the house stands on a bank or has a long front path, tell us when you book, since that changes how materials come up.
On a sloping West Wickham plot
Because rain leaves the roof through a gutter and a downpipe, and the ground at the bottom has to take it. Hasted records chalk, gravel, sand and clay in different places, and ground like that does not drain evenly from one plot to the next. Water thrown against brickwork by a short downpipe, or a gutter that spills over its lip because the outlet is clogged, can leave walls and fascias damp for years. We check that gutters fall towards the outlet and that downpipes discharge clear of the house. Our gutters, soffits and fascias page explains the repairs, and what a guide to national costs suggests for them.
Before climbing we photograph the slope from the garden and from the road, so the report shows the roof as you see it. We check the level of the ground at the foot of the wall too, since a raised path can bridge a damp-proof course and send damp upwards. Then we go up. Slipped or cracked tiles, ridge and verge condition, valleys and flashings all go into the report with photographs of your own roof. A report that shows the slope, the access and the repair together is easier to price fairly, and easier for you to check.
Stage 02 · Heritage
A pub, the Unigate Dairies building and 18 High Street are listed Grade II, and larger roofs like theirs need a different kind of care.
Those three listings sit alongside an older record. Hasted notes that the church was built in the reign of Henry the Seventh by Sir Henry Heydon, who also built what Leland, quoted by Hasted, called "that right fair manor-place" in West Wickham, and the steeple was repaired in 1642. The village has a long record of building and rebuilding, and a roof that is part of that record deserves a slower approach.
Bromley's planning officers. Work that alters a listed building's character needs listed building consent, and the borough decides whether a given roof repair is such work. Swapping a handful of tiles may be treated very differently from laying a new covering or altering a chimney. Our planning post sets out the wider rules. Ask the borough before you book and pass us their answer, and we will put the agreed scope in the written price.
Terms on a listed or larger roof
A listed High Street roof is agreed on paper before it is touched.
Often they do. A pub or a converted works building can have a pitched roof joined to a flat one, with a parapet, a valley gutter or a lead-lined channel between. Those junctions are where we spend the most time, because a long valley gutter carries water from a large area and a small fault spoils a lot of ceiling. If the building is commercial, our commercial roofing page explains how we approach flat membranes, gutters and access on larger roofs.
On a flat section, the membrane is the waterproof layer, and its type decides the repair. We identify it, test the falls, and tell you whether patching will hold or the section has reached the stage where renewal costs less over time. Either way the whole job comes as one total in writing, and the photographs show what each recommendation rests on. An extension added later can have a different covering from the main roof, so we survey each section as a roof in its own right. Hasted's mention of a manor-place is a reminder that nobody can know what a historic roof has been through from the street; the loft and the photographs tell us.
Stage 03 · Permissions
Like-for-like repairs are simple. Bigger roof jobs involve the borough, its building control service and the highway authority for your road.
West Wickham sits inside a London borough, with the Greater London Authority sitting over the borough, so the nearest planning and building control contact is Bromley's. Bromley's planners can tell you whether your West Wickham road falls in a conservation area, which is the designation to rule out on an unlisted house. A listed address, or a flat, is a separate question.
The Planning Portal's cut-off is 25 per cent of the building envelope and 50 per cent of the roof, measured separately; staying below both normally means no building control application. Swapping to a covering 15 per cent heavier or more, or to one whose fire performance differs markedly from the old, changes that answer. Bromley runs its own building control, and for a bigger job we would contact them before fixing a date. Our roof replacement page covers what a full re-roof involves.
Ahead of a larger West Wickham job
Section 169 of the Highways Act 1980 requires a licence whenever scaffold poles or boards occupy a road or footway, and the body that issues it is the highway authority for that particular road. In London that can differ from one road to the next, so we ask when we see the address and settle the licence with the scaffolding supplier, who will know the lead time. Scaffolding wholly within your own front garden or drive does not need one, though a car parked outside may still get in the way. Whoever quotes for your roof, check whether the price includes VAT and scaffolding, because the standard VAT rate is 20% and the gap between two totals can come down to those.
Bats have full legal protection, as do their breeding and resting sites, and GOV.UK guidance counts roof repair or replacement as work that can reach them. Droppings or a roost in the loft pause the work while we take advice. Should water already be coming in, the first visit is about making things safe, with the lasting repair agreed afterwards. Tell us your road, which side of the hill you are on and the slope that concerns you.
Mostly through access and drainage. On a sloping plot a ladder needs a level, firm foot, a scaffold base may need packing, and waste needs a safe route down. We check the steps, path and garden at the survey, plan the route, and note any extra work the slope brings in the written price. Gutters and downpipes are checked too.
Some may be, so put your street to the London Borough of Bromley and ask about any conservation area designation. If your house or building is listed, as some on the High Street are, you also need to ask Bromley's planning team about listed building consent, and we put the proposed work to them precisely in writing.
The authority and its rules depend on the road, so we ask when we see the address. We settle the licence with the scaffolding supplier and confirm the lead time when you book. Scaffolding that stays on private land, for example a front garden, needs no highway licence, and the survey tells us whether that works for your house.
Planning officers at Bromley decide whether the work affects the building's special character, and so whether listed building consent is needed. A small matching repair and a new covering may get different answers. Put the question to them before booking; we will then set out materials and method so they can respond to the actual job.
Tell us your road and the slope that worries you, mention any listing, and we will plan the access and the survey together.
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