ATi Damp SurveyIndependent damp surveys in City of London
The City has few homes and they are unlike anything else in London: the Barbican and Golden Lane estates, a scattering of Victorian and Edwardian mansion flats, and a growing number of converted office buildings. Concrete, listed status and shared building services define the problems here rather than brick and ground level.
City of London housing, and what it does when it gets wet
The Barbican is Grade II listed concrete, and that combination is unusual and constraining. Exposed board marked concrete cannot be treated, coated or altered without consent, and the estate has its own standards for what may be done inside a flat as well as outside. Concrete is also thermally conductive, so cold bridging at slabs, columns and window surrounds is inherent to the construction rather than a defect in the ordinary sense, and the answer is heating, ventilation and internal detail rather than anything applied to the structure.
The mansion flats bring shared parapets, valley gutters, lightwells and long communal stacks, and the water that enters at roof level appears several floors below and often several flats along. In a building with a single freeholder and dozens of leaseholders, establishing the path of the water is what determines whose service charge pays for the repair.
The office to residential conversions are the newest stock and the least tested. Deep floorplates, extensive glazing, mechanical ventilation and layouts that were never designed for domestic moisture loads. Where ventilation was specified for an office and is now serving kitchens and bathrooms, condensation follows and it is a design outcome rather than a resident failing.
What we are usually called out to in City of London
- Cold bridging at slabs, columns and window surrounds in listed concrete construction
- Listing constraints ruling out coatings and alterations that would be routine elsewhere
- Mansion block leaks entering at parapet level and appearing several floors down
- Service charge disputes needing an independent view of where the defect actually is
- Office to residential conversions with ventilation never designed for domestic moisture
- Lightwell and internal courtyard drainage that nobody has inspected in years
Where we cover
We survey residential property throughout the City and the streets immediately around it.
- Barbican
- Golden Lane
- Smithfield
- Blackfriars
- Aldgate
- Farringdon
- Fleet Street
- Moorgate
- Bank
Postcode districts
- EC1
- EC2
- EC3
- EC4
Book a survey in City of London
Same day response to every enquiry, and your written report within 24 hours of the visit. Put your postcode in the form and we will confirm cover and fee the same day.
Book a surveyOr call 020 3355 4944.
City of London questions
Can anything be done about condensation in a listed concrete flat?
Yes, though not by altering the concrete. Listing rules out coatings, cladding and most visible intervention, so the work has to be done through heating, ventilation and internal detail: keeping surface temperatures above dew point where it matters, providing ventilation that actually moves the air it is rated for, and treating the specific cold spots rather than the whole envelope. A report that recommends insulating the structure is a report that will be refused consent.
Water is coming into our flat from the common parts. Where does that leave us?
In a stronger position than it feels, provided the path is documented. Roofs, parapets, valley gutters, lightwells and communal stacks are normally the freeholder's responsibility and are funded through the service charge. What is missing in most of these disputes is not goodwill but evidence about where the water is actually entering. Our report supplies that, with readings and photographs, which is what turns a complaint into a repair instruction.