Crash!

[Paddy]

On another program I saw a few years back a woman had brought a basement flat. It had been newly done up by a "property developer" and sewage pipes were leaking into her home so she couldn't live in it.

I think this is rather common. I have visited someone in an expensive basement flat and it was bubbling up in the kitchen sink.

[Old Greg]

Imagine the endless legal fun if there were multiple contractors on-site (which isn't uncommon in such developments). Then there is the surveyor, the architect etc. They'll all have their own insurers who will be fighting like mad dogs to make sure they're not liable, and to make sure they can void the policy in some way if they are liable.

Each of the individual contractors probably did their job, but someone decided to knit it all together with Suity's BPM tool.

[Mordac]

Assuming they’ve got a builder with insurance cover for this.

Imagine the endless legal fun if there were multiple contractors on-site (which isn't uncommon in such developments). Then there is the surveyor, the architect etc. They'll all have their own insurers who will be fighting like mad dogs to make sure they're not liable, and to make sure they can void the policy in some way if they are liable.

[LondonManc]

That should be an interesting insurance claim...

Assuming they’ve got a builder with insurance cover for this.

[Old Greg]

On another program I saw a few years back a woman had brought a basement flat. It had been newly done up by a "property developer" and sewage pipes were leaking into her home so she couldn't live in it.

I'll have you know that's an Organic Water Feature.

[SueEllen]

There was a nutjob on one of Kev's programmes who was doing that until he/she/it found a spring or stream or something.

I forget how they got out of that but it Cost A Lot IIRC.

Here you go:

Deep concerns: the trouble with basement conversions | Life and style | The Guardian

On another program I saw a few years back a woman had brought a basement flat. It had been newly done up by a "property developer" and sewage pipes were leaking into her home so she couldn't live in it.

[Mordac]

Homes evacuated as Chelsea town houses collapse - BBC News



A seven-bedroom house in the block sold for £16m last year, according to property website Rightmove.

That should be an interesting insurance claim...

[Old Greg]

Old houses built in the 1700s and 1800s were only built to carry the weight of some light furniture and a few people living in them. If any improvements or additions are going to take place or if MF is visiting then an internal steel frame need to be added in the first instance. In this case the pics show that there has been no reinforcing prior to the works taking place.

I have been in several central London homes after renovation with support walls removed and no extra structure added. It is a miracle how the buildings stay up.

FTFY

[DoctorStrangelove]

I bet they were excavating a huge basement. That seems to be the most frequent reason for London building collapses.

There was a nutjob on one of Kev's programmes who was doing that until he/she/it found a spring or stream or something.

I forget how they got out of that but it Cost A Lot IIRC.

Here you go:

Deep concerns: the trouble with basement conversions | Life and style | The Guardian

[Paddy]

I bet they were excavating a huge basement. That seems to be the most frequent reason for London building collapses.

Old houses built in the 1700s and 1800s were only built to carry the weight of some light furniture and a few people living in them. If any improvements or additions are going to take place then an internal steel frame need to be added in the first instance. In this case the pics show that there has been no reinforcing prior to the works taking place.

I have been in several central London homes after renovation with support walls removed and no extra structure added. It is a miracle how the buildings stay up.

[TheGreenBastard]

....waiting for Scoots to link this to his property crash prediction

I want to know why his infallible TA didn't predict this.

[AtW]

I bet they were excavating a huge basement. That seems to be the most frequent reason for London building collapses.

^^^^ sockie alert!

[Uncle Albert]

I bet they were excavating a huge basement. That seems to be the most frequent reason for London building collapses.

[ChimpMaster]

....waiting for Scoots to link this to his property crash prediction

[SueEllen]

Homes evacuated as Chelsea town houses collapse - BBC News

Homes were evacuated after two neighbouring four-storey town houses collapsed in west London.

Emergency services were called to Durham Place in Chelsea at 23:35 GMT on Monday where the buildings, which were being redeveloped, had fallen in.

A 25m (82ft) cordon was put in place and about 40 people were told to leave nearby properties while drone teams and police dogs searched the rubble.

No injuries have been reported, London Fire Brigade said.

Station Commander Jason Jones said there had been "a total collapse of the buildings from the roof to ground level".

He added: "Nobody is thought to have been inside the building at the time of the collapse."

The Met Police said those living in nearby houses had been evacuated "as a precaution".

Local roads remain closed and police cordons are still in place.


The collapsed buildings form part of a terrace of houses which were built in the late 1700s opposite land owned by the Royal Hospital Chelsea - the home of the Chelsea Pensioners.

A seven-bedroom house in the block sold for £16m last year, according to property website Rightmove.

[Edited to say: Keeps happening around London as the builders don't realise old houses have crap or no foundations.]