Misadvised regarding building over sewer

virginblue4

Hi everyone, I’m after some advice if possible. 

I am just one week away from beginning an extension on the back of our house (approx 7m wide by 5m deep). 

We have a sewer running under the proposed build and I’ve been aware of this right the way through. The inspection chamber is in the side alley which we are NOT building over. When the architects made their site visit in April 2022, I mentioned this to them and jokingly made a comment that having to pay £720 to southern water for approval and a CCTV inspection was a rip off only to be told by the architect that in Portsmouth, Building Control would take care of it so I wouldn’t need to deal with Southern Water and save myself the £720 fee. Obviously this was a very welcome surprise. Since then, all plans have been approved by the council AND building control so we are good to start the build. 

Anyway, in January I was doing some more reading about everything and double checked the Southern Water website and it clearly states the requirements for if building control can deal with everything or if you need a Southern Water build over agreement. I met all of the requirements apart from one which states that if you are building over more than 6m of sewer you need an agreement. As our extension is almost 7m, panic set in and I emailed both my architects and building control to express my concern and frustration that I had need misadvised. My architects came back the next day to tell me that they stand by what they said and don’t see any reason that Southern Water would need to get involved and that building control should be able to take care of everything. They said they would contact building control directly to get their opinion and come back to me. They came back to me the same day saying building control do not foresee any issues and that I do not need to contact southern water. Building control called me themselves that night and jokingly told me that I seemed to know my stuff with all of the research that I had done but that they do not foresee any problems. They had enquired with southern water and would wait to hear back but he told me it wouldn’t be a problem based on all the dealings he has had with southern water on other projects. Fantastic, or so I thought!

I then get an email in the afternoon of Friday 24th February from my architects saying:

‘We have just received this email from Building Control, unfortunately a build over agreement with Southern Water will be required. It seems Building Control checked the wrong address when they did their drainage checks for the original application.’

I tried to call the architects but they had closed for the weekend. I managed to get hold of building control who said they were shocked by southern waters response and he thought they were being very anal about it. It’s all well and good saying that, but southern water are just following their own guidelines which is what I had highlighted back in January! He did say however to get the application put in and he would put pressure on southern water to get this pushed through ASAP so I don’t lose my contractor. 

Now I’m in a mad panic to try to get the application submitted although I can’t see how it will all be approved in time for the 6th March. Putting all that aside, where on earth do I stand? I went out of my way to question this on multiple times to be told both times that it would be fine and that approval from Southern Water would not be required. In terms of the £720 fee, do I have any recourse in trying to get this cost covered by the architect and/or building control? I’m not going to fight it at the moment as I just need to get everything sorted first but at the end of they day they are the experts, not me. Even so, I think I went above and beyond in highlighting my concerns for them to be dismissed by both parties. 

Any advice would be greatly appreciated. 

Thank you in advance. 

victor2

I had that issue when building an extension several years ago. The water company was Severn Trent in this case and I needed a camera inspection before and after the foundations were done to get their approval and acceptance. The issue was it was a shared sewer that Severn Trent have responsibility for. As with yours, the inspection chanber was outside the extension (it was deliberately designed to leave it outside).

The foundations had to go under the sewer pipe, which was about 1.5m down, and boxing was created around the pipe so that the concrete never came into contact with it. It took time to get their approval to proceed after I'd submitted the video (about 3 weeks I believe), but all went well and they acknowledged that no harm was done by the build when they got the "after" video.

 

Edit: I used an independent camera survey company, and submitted their report to Severn Trent, who subsequently approved the work.

Section62

virginblue4 said:

Now I’m in a mad panic to try to get the application submitted although I can’t see how it will all be approved in time for the 6th March. Putting all that aside, where on earth do I stand? I went out of my way to question this on multiple times to be told both times that it would be fine and that approval from Southern Water would not be required. In terms of the £720 fee, do I have any recourse in trying to get this cost covered by the architect and/or building control? I’m not going to fight it at the moment as I just need to get everything sorted first but at the end of they day they are the experts, not me. Even so, I think I went above and beyond in highlighting my concerns for them to be dismissed by both parties. 

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

If the architect/BC had got it right then you would have had to pay the £720 fee anyway, so trying to claim for that is probably a dead end.

What you may be able to claim for is any costs caused by a delay to your project if you can't start it when you wanted to while waiting for the go-ahead from Southern Water.

The take-away from the thread (albeit too late for you) is not to trust people like architects or building control to get things like this correct.  They are meant to be experts, but that doesn't mean they are, or aren't capable of making mistakes.

As the property owner there is nothing stopping you contacting the sewerage undertaker directly and asking the question.  If SW had replied to you in writing that no agreement was required then you would have cause for complaint if they subsequently decided one was (assuming no design changes on your part).  I would always advise people to do those sorts of checks themselves (ditto planning permission and covenant consent), rather than relying on others to get it right.

Doozergirl

I can appreciate your anxiety, but the reality is that as long as the design for the build over agreement is correct, you carry out the CCTV beforehand, the build over agreement will be issued.  

The BCO is responsible for checking the work during the build anyway.  Severn Trent won't get involved, they will just want the CCTV afterwards as well.  

It's a bit of a panic because of the timescales but I don't think there will be an issue.   If it's just over a straight run then it's probably only a matter of ensuring the foundations sit lower than the pipe and bridging over it with a lintel.   Building Control know what needs to be done.  

You can speak to ST yourself if you want about the possibility of trying to speed up their reply that allows you to start work, I've always found them to be really helpful and friendly.  Even if it isn't, I'd probably take the risk and go ahead because you have the paper guidance yourself and the people around you to ensure it's correct.  I know they appear to be laissez-faire but there can't be any great engineering challenge being presented if they thought the BOA  wasn't needed.  

SpudGunPaul

Doozergirl said:

I can appreciate your anxiety, but the reality is that as long as the design for the build over agreement is correct, you carry out the CCTV beforehand, the build over agreement will be issued.  

The BCO is responsible for checking the work during the build anyway.  Severn Trent won't get involved, they will just want the CCTV afterwards as well.  

It's a bit of a panic because of the timescales but I don't think there will be an issue.   You can speak to ST yourself if you want, I've always found them to be really helpful and friendly.  

You're right there, the OP's in Portsmouth. 

Doozergirl

SpudGunPaul said:

Doozergirl said:

I can appreciate your anxiety, but the reality is that as long as the design for the build over agreement is correct, you carry out the CCTV beforehand, the build over agreement will be issued.  

The BCO is responsible for checking the work during the build anyway.  Severn Trent won't get involved, they will just want the CCTV afterwards as well.  

It's a bit of a panic because of the timescales but I don't think there will be an issue.   You can speak to ST yourself if you want, I've always found them to be really helpful and friendly.  

You're right there, the OP's in Portsmouth. 

Sorry, got it mixed with someone else's reply.