Heritage Cases

Condonation / Approval for Unlawful work to a structure older than 60 years old. Motivation for work Our client’s goal is to convert the existing dwelling structure into a commercial building that would accommodate small retail spaces. This is not uncommon in the area as most of the old houses have already been converted to retail or office spaces. The task mostly involved minor changes to the internal layout. The exterior of the original house would mostly remain unchanged except for minor changes, namely the replacement of the existing timber windows & doors with new aluminium windows within the original openings. The existing structure already had existing large street facing window / door openings which were built in the past. Most of the work involved the removal of the old wooden floors on ground floor level as the floors appeared to be infested with wood ants. Interior Work The initial intention was to commence with the clean out all of the timber elements inside the house before the fumigation was conducted on the property, this involved existing floor boards, skirtings on the ground floor level and also internal timber doors through the house. The work commence on the 27th October 2023 During this process, the client was not happy with the condition of the timber windows as some windows had obvious damages caused by age, water rot and wood ants. The client then instructed the contractor to remove all the old wooden windows and replace with aluminium windows as most of the old windows had already been replaced with new aluminium by previous owners. Exterior Work During the strip out process more wood rot caused by water damage or wood ants or both was noted in the floor structure and enclosed balcony walls above the balcony. The timber joists and beams were severe damaged and needed to be removed for safety reasons. It was also obvious that the dry wall enclosure was added on and did not match or compliment the original structure in any way and in order to get the existing structure back to its former glory this enclosure had to be removed. The existing exterior face brick walls were painted black to refresh the look and feel for the structure while enhancing the beauty of the Edwardian House with the use of accent colours. The timber floor structure above the verandah was also replaced with a new timber deck and light weight translucent roof as a modern element to the old fashioned house. The motivation behind going ahead prior to obtaining the permit from the Amafa was to complete the refurbishment of the structure and have the building refreshed and ready for the December break. The use of painted face brick is quite common in the area as there are many such structures with similar age with painted face brick. This protects the beauty of the face brick patterns while modernising the structure. The Outbuildings The existing outbuildings were in very poor condition. The structures were poorly built with single skin walls which contributed to the severe water egress and dampness within the outbuildings. The wooden roof structure and windows had damage from rot which resulted in the overall poor condition of the structures. It was also obvious that the outbuildings were built much later than the original dwelling and had very little to no historic value. It was never the clients intention to demolish the existing outbuildings but after most of the property was consumed with rubble from all the timber structures it only made sense to demolish the outbuildings and have the rubble removed at the same time as the timber rubble. In addition to the demolition of the outbuildings, one single new structures were also erected along the rear boundary.