Chartered Building Surveyor in Bournemouth

To find out some interesting facts about Bournemouth and places to visit in Bournemouth and the surrounding areas you can click on the boxes above.

To get a quote on a survey in Bournemouth, carried out by an Independent Building Surveyor, click on the 'Get a Survey Quote' box above.

If you book a survey with 1st Associated you will find that we take great pride in the quality of our survey and produce a very detailed survey report. We use plain English to explain any problems with the property to ensure that you understand the problems and how to resolve them.

We carry out residential structural survey and commercial survey in Bournemouth. Bournemouth is a town which is situated in Dorset.

Information on Bournemouth

Bournemouth is a busy seaside town with miles of beautiful sandy beaches and of course Bournemouth pier with its many attractions.There is a great walk from Bournemouth all the way to Sand Banks in Poole . If you approach Bournemouth itself from the seafront you walk initially through the park and come across a tethered hot air balloon ride that lets you view the city.

There are cliff lifts giving easy access to the hotels and Bournemouth International centre on the cliff top and a Land Train for a leisurely scenic view of the coast. There is a great walk from Bournemouth all the way to Sandbanks in Poole . If you approach Bournemouth itself from the seafront you walk initially through the park and come across a tethered hot air balloon ride that lets you view the city in the summer months. The town has many hotels, restaurants, cafes, bars and coffee shops to accommodate the many tourists who flock to the area.

Christchurch Road starts off as an estate agents, building society, banks and recruitment agency road from the Dean Park Crescent and Old Christchurch Road roundabout. We love the mix of architecture in Bournemouth and notably the three and four storey Victorian buildings which have been converted at ground floor level and have ornate mouldings over some of the windows known as pediments that were popular in the early part of the Victorian era. The pedestrianised section has a mixture of shops including an arcade within a converted Victorian building. If you keep your eyes above the retail shops you notice the art deco frontage at first and second floor level and there are three metal concaved windows further on.

Old Christchurch Road is a classic what surveyors describe as secondary and tertiary retail area which includes shops, lots of bars and restaurants and is one of THE roads to go out in Bournemouth and no doubt hosted many a stag night and hen night. There are also greengrocers, newsagents, job agencies and coffee shops of course. Predominantly the buildings along the road are three storey traditionally built. Some are four storeys and they are a range of early and late Victorian with some post war art deco style properties and the odd 60's development. What you need to do most on this road is lift your eyes above the shop fronts and you will see that some of the shops have stucco render to the corners known as quoins .

We have carried out many surveys in Bournemouth and so know the area very well. A lot of the architecture in the Bournemouth area is the 1930's to 1950's post war rendered properties with the semi-circular bays and the timber features on them Tudor style, many of them are rendered. There are also quite a number of flats and apartments as you get closer into Bournemouth city centre although the majority of these are in the centre. There are rows of Victorian terraces both with single height and double height bays (and the associated problems that they can cause). It is worth a drive along Holdenhurst Road from the Lansdowne roundabout and the Roundhouse end just to see how many different types of properties you get on one road. There is everything from the Victorian/Edwardian properties built in soft red brick (which you can see some of the repairs that have been carried out to the brickwork in cement mortar which will cause even further problems) with the Dutch or Flemish gable ends which is visible if you look above the shop fronts that have been added to them. You can see the bay windows many of which have now had replacement double glazing in (let's hope its structural double glazing so that there aren't any problems with the bay windows). Some of the older ones still have the timber framed windows and sliding sash windows.

Walk into the plaza area with its cafes and shops. Go up the hill to a pedestrianised section, or you can walk into the older part of the town. It's also worth having a look at the different arcades.

Going back towards the sea front is the theatre and sea life centre, as well as some good areas to park.

The main businesses tend to be at the top of the hill away from the holiday and shopping areas, towards the ring road. There are also lots of hotels and other places to have accommodation as well as some large blocks of flats and a few large houses that haven't been turned into large blocks of flats!

The architecture in Bournemouth area is the 1930's to 1950's post war rendered properties with the semi-circular bays and the timber features on them Tudor style. Many of them are rendered. There are also quite a number of flats and apartments as you get closer into Bournemouth city centre although the majority of these are in the centre. You have the rows of Victorian terraces both with single height and double height bays (and the associated problems that they can cause). Many of them have the larger commercial office blocks which range from the 1960's concrete frame buildings to the more modern brick clad probably with a metal frame beneath. It is worth a drive along Holdenhurst Road from the Lansdowne roundabout and the Roundhouse end just to see how many different types of properties you get on one road. There is everything from the Victorian/Edwardian properties built in the soft red brick which you can see some of the repairs that have been carried out to the brickwork in cement mortar which will cause even further problems with the Dutch or Flemish gable ends which is visible if you look above the shop fronts that have been added to them. You can see the bay windows many of which have now had replacement double glazing in (let's hope it's structural double glazing so that there aren't any problems with the bay windows). Some of the older ones still have the timber framed windows and sliding sash windows. Some of the bays have been rebuilt completely in plastic rather than just the windows themselves. There is the old fire station with the turret that you see on so many seaside resort properties. Some of the original older bays have plants growing out of them which is never a good sign. You may or may not notice there are hidden valley gutters as well. A lot of these properties have water coming out into the hopper heads. It is well worth putting this into Google Streetmap and have a look at the road all the way down till you meet St Pauls Road and the roundabout with the pedestrianised walkway underneath it which leads to East Cliffs. We certainly wouldn't mind carrying out surveys on any of these properties. Then on the same side of the street there is the large end storey plus concrete building no doubt we would take an educated guess it is from the 1960's. Across the road you have similar height commercial office buildings we assume on structural frames, probably metal structural frames, some with treated metal claddings done with brick fascias. Some using coloured glass as the feature. We think from memory one of them has the sunshades which are so popular with architects that aren't popular with everyone else and we have never been in a building where they actually work. The Old Christchurch Road starting from restaurant and park end, Horseshoe Common End where there is a glazed restaurant which always looks very modern where the roundabout goes to Deans Crescent . Old Christchurch Road is a classic what surveyors describe as secondary and tertiary retail area which includes shops, lots of bars (some of the biggest bars) as anyone that knows the area will tell you, lots of restaurants, Indian, Chinese, Greek and is one of THE roads to go out in Bournemouth and no doubt hosted many a stag night and hen night. There are also greengrocers, newsagents, job agencies and coffee shops of course. Predominantly the buildings along the road are three storey traditionally built. Some are four storey and they are a range of early and late Victorian with some post war art deco style properties and the odd 60's development. What you need to do most on this road is lift your eyes above the shop fronts and you will see that some of the shops have stucco render to the corners known as quoins.

Location, location is the key in Bournemouth with some fantastic properties in areas such as Westbourne and Southbourne. Of course properties close to the coast with fantastic views come at a premium price. If you are looking to buy a home in this scenic part of the country then 1stAssociated would be pleased to carry out a survey in Bournemouth for you to ensure that your seaside home does not have any hidden problems. Our chartered surveyors have vast experience of carrying out surveys in Bournemouth and throughout Dorset; you can see examples of some of the surveys in Bournemouth that we have carried out on the website.

Building Survey Bournemouth

If you are planning to book a building survey on a property you are purchasing in Bournemouth or the surrounding area then we would like to assure you that we always send a suitably qualified and experienced surveyor to carry out the job. This ensures that you get expert advice on any issues that we may find with the property we are surveying. All our surveyors are members of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors - RICS - and are Independent Chartered Building Surveyors. Being 'independent' means that they are working for you and you alone; they do not work for a mortgage company or an estate agents, so they have your best interests at heart.

All our survey contain lots of images, clearly showing any problems that we have identified at the property such as woodworm, rising damp or cracking to the walls. We also use sketches in our survey which are aimed at helping you to understand how certain areas are constructed or to help show more clearly a problem that we have identified. You will also find lots of definitions of any building terminology that we may use in our survey, as we firmly believe in 'Plain English' and really want you to fully understand what we are saying in the survey report.

 

Independent Chartered Building Surveyor

1st Associated Chartered Surveyors cover the whole of the UK including all areas of Dorset for example in:

Abbotsbury which has beautiful 16th century cottages and a fascinating historical background dating back to the Bronze and Iron Age, Boscombe where you can try out Europe's first artificial surf reef, Alderholt, Beaminster, Bere Regis, Blandford Forum, Bournemouth a popular seaside resort with sandy beaches and pier, have a great day out at the Tank Museum at Bovington, Bridport, Broadmayne, Broadway, catch a ferry to Brownsea Island where the first Boy Scouts group was established, Burton Bradstock, Cerne Abbas which has the largest hill drawing in Britain, the Cerne Abbas Giant, Charminster, Charmouth, Chesil Beach a vast 18 miles of Jurassic Coast, Chickerell, Child Okeford / Shillingstone, Christchurch with the magnificent architecture of Christchurch Priory, Corfe Castle with of course the ruins of Corfe Castle, Corfe Mullen, Crossways, Dorchester where Thomas Hardy lived for most of his life, East Lulworth, the pretty village of Easton with wide streets and Portland stone houses, Ferndown, Gillingham, Hamworthy, the seaside town of Highcliffe on Sea, go fossil hunting on the beaches at Lyme Regis, Poole Harbour which is said to be the second largest natural harbour in the world next to Sydney, Portland which quarries the famous Portland stone which has been used in many prestigious buildings including the restoration of St Pauls Cathedral, Preston, Puddletown, Sandbanks which reputably has one of the most expensive land values in the world, Gold Hill in Shaftesbury where the famous Hovis bread advert was filmed, Sherborne which has two castles and a 15th century abbey, Stalbridge, St Leonards, St Ives, catch the ferry to Swanage, visit Old Wardour Castle near Tisbury, Upton, Upwey, Verwood, Wareham where you can visit the rescued apes at Monkey World, West Bay, West Knighton, West Lulworth, West Moors, Weymouth

 

 

We always recommend that people have a building survey carried out by an Independent Chartered Surveyor. It is laughable to expect that a mortgage owned / estate agent owned surveyors will give impartial advice. Call an Independent Chartered Surveyor on 0800 298 5424 for an impartial survey.

1st Associated provide house survey, commercial survey, engineers reports, property training plus more all carried out by RICS surveyors in Bournemouth and the surrounding areas.

Contact us today for a free, no obligation quotation, including building survey, structural survey, homebuyers reports and pre sales reports, for Bournemouth and the surrounding towns and villages.

Get a survey quote:

Residential Building Survey Quote

Commercial Building Survey Quote or Schedule of Condition Quote

We carry out Structural survey, Structural Building survey on Residential properties and Commercial properties throughout Dorset.

 

References:

Whilst a lot of this is written from general knowledge and local knowledge of the area and here are some websites that we think will be of interest to you in the Dorset area some of which we have used for information and we would like to give them credit for this.

Zoopla.co.uk; bournemouth.co.uk/; dorchesterdorset.com; theheritagetrail.co.uk; dorchester.co.uk; visitweymouth.co.uk; iknow-dorset.co.uk; lymeregis.org; tankmuseum.org; dorsets.co.uk; vrpool.co.uk; isleofpurbeck.com; nationaltrust.org.uk; cerneabbas.org.uk; dorsets.co.uk; abbotsbury.co.uk; dorset-newforest.com; visitdorset.com