Party walls; method statements; detailed plans; balcony; structural engineers
Facts: Part of the roof-level cornice from a building owner’s property fell and damaged a first floor balcony spanning both the building and adjoining owner’s properties. An award was made authorising repair works, and appealed by the adjoining owner on various bases, including the fact that the award did not include adequately detailed drawings, or a method statement.
Decision: HHJ Bailey allowed the appeal, determining, in effect, that the adequacy of the award – in particular in terms of details provided in it – should be approached objectively, i.e from the perspective of a reasonable person reading the award, rather than subjectively, from the perspective of a person with a particularly high level of skill or knowledge of stonemasonry repair techniques.
The full judgment can be found here
