The city's building stock
Norwich held thirty thousand people by the middle ages, which made it England's second city, and the centre still shows it: flint and brick, pantile roofs, timber frames behind later frontages, more than thirty surviving medieval churches, and a street pattern that never got rationalised. Around that core the city runs outward through red brick terraces, the white Costessey brick that came into fashion in the early nineteenth century, and the inter-war suburbs.
Then there's the fire. Two blazes in 1507 took about 40% of the city's housing, and the rebuilding changed what Norwich is made of. Thatch gave way to tile, timber framing gave way to brick, and the city council's appraisal records that integral chimneys and upper floors arrived in Norwich earlier than in other parts of England. A good deal of what reads as medieval Norwich is the rebuild.
The older stock rewards a careful look. As brick came into fashion, timber-framed buildings were refaced in it, so a Georgian frontage in Norwich is frequently a wrapper around something considerably older, and the roof structure behind it will tell you so. Sash windows get replaced, chimney stacks get capped, and the fabric behind a smart elevation often has a longer story than the estate agent's particulars suggest.
The ground underneath
Chalk and flint were mined under Norwich from the Middle Ages until the Second World War, and the workings were never comprehensively mapped. Groundsure puts it at more than 34,000 properties, around 37% of the city area, that could be affected by subsidence from that past mining. In 1988 a double-decker bus dropped into a hole on Earlham Road. A house on Merton Road went into one in 1936.
What tends to come up
- Movement. Shallow foundations, soft ground, and the mining legacy above. Old cracking is common in Norwich and most of it is historic and harmless. The job is telling that apart from the cracking that is not.
- Subdivided townhouses and flats above shops. Fire separation, sound, the state of the shared roof, and who actually maintains what.
- Damp in solid walls. Usually a repair problem rather than a rising-damp problem, and usually made worse by the cement and impermeable paint applied by the last owner.
- Listed and conservation-area consent. The city centre conservation area covers the whole of Norwich inside the medieval walls, and there are sixteen more across the rest of the city, taking in several of the Victorian suburbs buyers most want. Norwich City Council is the authority, and the consent question is easier answered before you buy than after.
Which survey
A conventional inter-war or post-war Norwich house in sound condition is usually well served by a Level 2 (Homebuyer) survey. Anything traditionally built, listed, subdivided, or showing movement wants the depth of a Level 3 (Building Survey). If you send me the address I'll tell you which one the building needs, including when the cheaper one will do.
Common questions
Should I worry about Norwich's chalk mines?
It's worth understanding, and the reality is calmer than the word mines makes it sound. Chalk and flint were mined under the city from the Middle Ages until the Second World War and the workings were never fully mapped; Groundsure puts more than 34,000 properties, around 37% of the city area, as ones that could be affected by subsidence from that past mining. The mining search itself is a conveyancing search your solicitor orders. My job is to inspect the building for the movement history that would make that search urgent, and to say plainly when the answer needs a specialist.
There's cracking in the house I'm buying. Is that normal in Norwich?
Cracking is common in the older Norwich stock, and most of it is historic and harmless: shallow foundations on soft ground, settling over a century or two. Some of it is progressive and expensive. Telling those apart is the substance of the survey, and I'll show you the evidence for the view I take. Where the answer needs someone else, I'll say so and say why.
About defect diagnosis →The house is Georgian. Does that mean it's a Georgian house?
Often not. A Georgian frontage in Norwich is frequently a refacing of something older, and the roof structure, chimney breasts and party walls behind it will tell the real story. It matters because an older building behind a newer face has different construction, different defects and different consent constraints.
Do I need consent to alter a house in the city centre?
Very possibly. The city centre conservation area covers the whole of Norwich inside the medieval walls, and there are sixteen more across the rest of the city, taking in several of the Victorian suburbs. Many of the buildings inside them are listed as well, and Norwich City Council is the authority. The consent question is far easier answered before you buy than after you have exchanged and started planning the work.