Massive electric cable through my planned garage

Trizboy

Hi
My apologies if this thread is in the wrong place, it just took me an hour to work out how to post it!
I want to build a new double garage behind my current garage which I wanted to knock down.
Started digging out ready for architect/ builder etc but there's a massive electric cable going straight through the middle of where I want the garage. According to Western Power's plans the cable runs down our boundary, along the side of current garage then out to power the whole of the close we live in. Unfortunately, it runs straight through the middle of the garage under concrete base and through the middle of where I want the new garage. As our garden slopes uphill I had to dig 80+ tonne of soil out to get to the level I want but the cable runs uphill too! I certainly can't afford to get Western Power to move it because their charges are astronomical.
My question is: is it possible to get building regulations approval to build a garage over the cable? If so, can the garage base be 20cm above the cable as current garage is?
I'll try to add a photo of the cable later when I can work out how to do it.
Thanks in advance

Aylesbury_Duck

I suggest you call the power company and ask them. They have a vested interest in what you're planning, plus they need to know about your plans because your work could put the supply at risk.

As I understand it they can veto your work, impose conditions on it or insist that the route is moved before you commence work. If you proceed without contacting them and there's a subsequent problem it will be a lot more expensive than paying them to move it in the first place, if that's even an option.

z1a

Can they not be forced to move it if it's in the wrong place to start with?

EachPenny

z1a wrote: »

Can they not be forced to move it if it's in the wrong place to start with?

How do you know it is in the wrong place?

Trizboy wrote: »

According to Western Power's plans the cable runs down our boundary, along the side of current garage then out to power the whole of the close we live in. Unfortunately, it runs straight through the middle of the garage under concrete base and through the middle of where I want the new garage. As our garden slopes uphill I had to dig 80+ tonne of soil out to get to the level I want but the cable runs uphill too! I certainly can't afford to get Western Power to move it because their charges are astronomical.
My question is: is it possible to get building regulations approval to build a garage over the cable? If so, can the garage base be 20cm above the cable as current garage is?

Utility plans are usually a guide to the location - somewhere on the drawing it will tell you that the plan is indicative and the actual location needs to be determined on site.

Before you get to building regulations, the first thing you need to check is whether the electricity company will allow a build over. I think the answer to that is almost certainly 'no'. They will want to maintain access to the cable for repairs and replacement, and there is also a significant safety risk. People wouldn't expect there to be a live electricity main running under the floor of a building at a relatively shallow depth, so there is a risk of someone drilling a hole in the floor and hitting the cable.

You need to look in your deeds to see if there is anything in there about the cable. I would expect you to have some form of wayleave agreement which will give them the right to have the cable where it is, there should be a plan indicating more accurately where the cable is located, and the agreement probably prevents you building anything within a certain distance of the cable.

On a more general point, if anyone is aware of (or suspects) a main electricity cable runs underground through their property then it is always best to get the company to come out and locate it on the ground before starting to dig. Assuming it will be where a plan shows it to be is very dangerous... tbh you are very lucky not to have damaged the cable, with potentially fatal results.

Trizboy

Thanks for all your replies, I'll have to contact Western Power.
We weren't aware of the cable before we started to dig and once we started it stayed level until we were about 2/3 of the way through then it started to go uphill. I figured if the current garage was laid on it there shouldn't be any reason why the new one shouldn't be too. Probably not good reasoning but I'm certainly not a builder. I only want a new garage.
Still can't work out how to add a picture. Cable is 20cm below top of current garage slab so garage was obviously built right on top of it but I've no idea whether the garage was built the same time as the house or later. House was built in 1962 so regulations have changed a lot anyway. Their plans show the cable running down the boundary line and down the side of the garage not right under the middle of it. We found it when digging by hand so we knew it was there before getting the digger in luckily. They wouldn't have access to it at the minute anyway or not without demolishing my garage which I don't think I'd agree to.
I'll see what they say.
Thank you all for the info supplied.

Davesnave

Trizboy wrote: »

House was built in 1962 so regulations have changed a lot anyway. Their plans show the cable running down the boundary line and down the side of the garage not right under the middle of it. We found it when digging by hand so we knew it was there before getting the digger in luckily. They wouldn't have access to it at the minute anyway or not without demolishing my garage which I don't think I'd agree to.

Your agreement might not be sought. Utility companies are generally friendly, but if their supply was compromised, they'd dig up the floor and worry about the niceties later. They probably wouldn't need to demolish.


It doesn't matter what the regulations were; the garage is obviously later than the cable, so if there's no build over agreement, it probably shouldn't be where it is.

MX5huggy

Are you sure this is a live cable? A replacement may have been Installed as indicated on the plan.

EachPenny

MX5huggy wrote: »

Are you sure this is a live cable? A replacement may have been Installed as indicated on the plan.

That's something the OP needs to get Western Power to work out.

In the 1960's the records of utility plant (e.g. cables) would have been kept as lines drawn in ink on film sheets - either with OS plan data on them already, or more often as an overlay sheet. If a copy of the plan was needed the 'overlay' and the correct OS sheet would be fed through a dyeline printer together to produce a paper plan with the utility plant shown 'overlaid' on an OS background. Obviously the accuracy of the finished plan depended on the reprographics technician correctly lining up the overlay and OS plan.

The OS plans would be either 1:1250 scale or 1:2500 (1970's onwards). They were only accurate to a metre or so. Revisions of the OS plan could also see features such as buildings and roads 'moving' by several metres. Therefore an overlay sheet drawn using one OS plan as the 'base' could be completely wrong if used with a later (revised) OS plan.

That system continued to be used until the 1990's when information was transferred into digital systems. This involved the original plans being digitised and matched (as best fit) to the newly produced OS digital mapping.

The result is that any historical records held by the utility companies shouldn't be thought of as anything other than 'a guide'. A cable shown running along a boundary line could easily be two or three metres away from that boundary line.

The exception would be things like wayleave plans where the position is often shown with a measurement from a feature (e.g. 3'6" from a fence), but even those rely on the features (e.g. the fence) not being moved subsequently. Hence the need to always get things checked on site.

Kernel_Sanders

Your pic has to be already on the internet for it to be posted on this site. You can do this by using a file hosting site such as tinypic.com . No need to register, just click grey 'choose file' button to navigate to the pic (presuming you are using a smartphone) then the green upload button, which should generate the required URL.

unforeseen

You need to look in your deeds to see if there is anything in there about the cable. I would expect you to have some form of wayleave agreement which will give them the right to have the cable where it is, there should be a plan indicating more accurately where the cable is located, and the agreement probably prevents you building anything within a certain distance of the cable.

It's more likely that the cable was installed during the building of the house and close. In effect the house was built over an existing structure. More pertinent would be was there a build over agreement?

Homersimpson

As above contact WPD and ask them to check if its live (if they think its dead they usually spike it for free - fire a blade through the cable to ensure its dead).

Don't build over it and if it looks like its High Voltage (modern HV cables are red but older ones can be black or hessian wrapped the same as LV) stay away from it even more when digging.

If you hit an HV cable (or even an LV main cable) not only will it knock out a large area but the risk to you don't bare thinking about (there will be a slight ringing in your ears, fortunately you will be nowhere near them!).

Seriously be really careful and don't try and cut any corners. If it is live and HV ask WPD if they can make it dead while you dig around it and if you can split duct it. I doubt they will agree and will want it diverted around the garage but it doesn't hurt to ask.