Request Expert

Expert has been a Party Wall Surveyor since 1999 (three years after the Party Wall, etc, Act 1996 came into force throughout England). He has been involved in numerous Party Wall disputes throughout England. He had acted as a Party Wall Surveyor on behalf of one of the UK's largest supermarket chains in the past, in relation to the development of new super stores throughout England. The range of projects that he has been involved in included residential, commercial and industrial developments. The client base ranged from small domestic owners, property developers to large national & multi-national companies. Some of the projects Expert had previously dealt with, involved complex phasing, thus making impact of the works on the adjoining premises extremely complex to recognise. In such cases, through his vast knowledge of construction processes as a Construction Project Manager has was able to identify the key issues by requiring essential information from the design/construction teams, necessary to assess the full impact of the proposal on the normal operations carried out within the affected Adjoining Owners premises (e.g. excessive noise, dust/fume emissions, water ingress, perceived H&S threats, security issues concerning unauthorised access, future maintenance issues, etc). Hence, through such an understanding of design and construction processes, Expert had been successful in protecting the Adjoining Owners from unwarranted activities thus averting further disputes.

The issues of compensation for damages and security of expenses are acknowledged by many Practitioners in this field as too contentious to deal with. However, practical experience in this field has also enabled Expert to rise up to such challenges, as and when required. Furthermore, Expert has been involved in cases of breaches of the Party Wall Act, where upon distinguishing the compliance failure, the consequential damages following such breaches had to be assessed. Such assessments included quantifying the extent of the damage, the impact on the premises use/performance or breaches of regulations, codes of practices, British Standards and remedial costs involved. Such assessments of consequential failures, which quite often have an impact on various aspects of building performance or component failures, require detailed knowledge of construction technology, building regulations, estimating and construction law. Expert's detailed knowledge has enabled him to embrace all such matters seamlessly, thus assisting a legal challenge to be lodged quickly and cost effectively by relying on a single source of reference without undue need to involve several Experts. He has also assisted lawyers to lodge claims on behalf of the aggrieved parties and attend mediation sessions to assist in resolving the disputes out of court.

In assessing Party Wall matters, quite often a wider understanding of other relevant issues would be necessary, when assessing such issues. Throughout his dealing with such matters, Expert has also been able to compile valuable experience in other allied areas including, access licences, tower crane licences, access to neighbouring land Act and Rights of Light, where The Party Wall Act may/may not be applicable and other matters equally had to be considered, when compiling Party Wall Assessment Reports on behalf of entities requiring instigation of the relevant notifiable works on their behalf.

Expert is currently a member of Pyramus & Thisbe Club (North West & London Branches) and a Fellow member of the Faculty of Party Wall Surveyors (FPWS). He is also on the national register of the FPWS as a Third Surveyor, in order to resolve any disputes amongst Party Wall Surveyors.

Expert had successfully acted as an Expert Witness on behalf of a Client whose property was extensively damaged by unauthorised works to the Party Walls. Expert provided both expert advice to the aggrieved party and their legal team on Party Wall legislations and carried out a survey of damages including providing costs for remedial works. On such basis, the legal team acting on behalf of the aggrieved party secured a deal amounting to a substantial sum to be reimbursed to them for the damages and other relevant costs including legal costs.