Birchington · 25.1 road miles north
Roofers in Birchington
Birchington is a coastal town with a Grade II* church, a Grade II fountain and horse trough on its list, and a designated conservation area. A survey here works out which of those touch your address, checks how the fixings suit an exposed site, then reads the roof. After the survey, one written total price.
- All Saints
- The church is listed Grade II* and follows the Church of England faculty route
- Listed street pieces
- The Fountain and the Horse Trough, both Grade II
- Scaffold fee
- Kent County Council, £52 per week for 2026 to 2027
- Folkestone to here
- 25.1 road miles, about 39 minutes
What a Birchington survey finds, and what it does about it
What we found
Verge edge working loose along a gable
What it fairly needs
Re-bed it and fix each edge piece.
What we found
Worn covering on a house inside the conservation area
What it fairly needs
Ask Thanet before any price is set.
What we found
Fascia and soffit rotten along the front eaves
What it fairly needs
New boards, vents and a fresh gutter.
The fair ledger
All Saints, a listed fountain, exposed fixings and a Birchington re-roof
Birchington has a Grade II* church, two Grade II street pieces and a conservation area, and it lies on the coast. The three entries below each close on a stamp: repair, replace or check.
Entry 01Listings
All Saints church, the Fountain and the Horse Trough
The Church of All Saints is listed Grade II*, and The Fountain and The Horse Trough are each listed Grade II. They are three different kinds of entry.
A church, and two listed objects
Historic England lists All Saints as entry 1094681, first listed on 10 April 1951. It is a Church of England church in use, so repairs to it go through the Church of England's faculty system. The Fountain, entry 1491457, and The Horse Trough, entry 1489855, were listed in November 2002 and are street furniture, not roofs, so no roof work is involved in either.
What matters for a house is that a listing is specific. Each entry covers the building or object it names, and a house nearby needs a list entry of its own before listed building consent comes into play. Our pitched roofing survey looks the address up on the list first, and then turns to the slopes.
The result is that a Birchington quote starts from a clear record. We note the list status of the house, the conservation area position and the route for any consent, and the photographs and the notes travel together. If a question is still open when the roof is looked at, the quote says so in plain words, and the work waits.
Myth: A listed fountain on my road means my roof is protected too.
Fact: A listing covers only the building or object named in the entry. Your roof is judged on its own record.
Reading a Birchington address
- Is the building All Saints itself? The faculty route applies.
- Is the house on the list in its own name? Consent applies on top of permitted development.
- Is it inside the conservation area? Thanet District Council confirms.
- If not, the usual planning and Building Regulations questions apply.
That order stops a job being priced on the wrong assumption, and it takes minutes at a desk before anyone goes up a ladder.
1094681
Historic England's number for All Saints church, listed Grade II*
Historic England list entry
Entry 02Exposure
A coastal town: how fixings are worked out for an exposed roof
Birchington is on the coast. For the slate maker Cupa, coastal areas are graded with higher exposure, and that grade is what steers the fixings.
Fixings worked out for the site
Cupa lists tall buildings, and those on slopes, hills or the coast, among the sites graded with higher exposure. Marley adds that BS 5534 takes in batten selection, fixing methods, wind uplift formulas and a way to calculate the fixings a site needs. Taken together, the nails, clips and battens on a Birchington roof are chosen for the site in front of us, and not for some average one.
Marley notes that BS 5534 is a code of practice and not law, but mortar alone is no longer relied upon to hold ridge and hip pieces. So when a ridge or a verge is re-done here, it is re-fixed mechanically as well as bedded. The same working-out governs a new roof, where it comes before the first batten goes on.
It is also what makes a repair honest. If the fixings are sound and only a few pieces have moved, they are refixed. If the fixing is missing along a whole run, the survey says that a patch would be a short-lived answer and explains what a proper one involves.
Three points on a fixed covering
- A piece that has slipped
- Batten it hangs from
- Clip or nail holding it
A roof is only as secure as the smallest fixing in each course.
Does a coastal Birchington roof need different fixings from one inland?
The fixing specification is worked out site by site under BS 5534, and a coastal site is graded with higher exposure, so the working-out allows for it. That is a method, not a rule that every coastal roof gets the same nails. The survey records the specification for your house on the sheet you keep.
Where the survey looks on an exposed roof
- Each verge edge, for movement under the fixings.
- Ridge and hip pieces, for bedding with no fixing behind it.
- Clips, for any that have gone missing.
- Battens at the nail line, for softness.
No wind speed or storm is quoted for the town. The method is to grade the site, calculate the fixings and check the roof against the result. The survey sheet records what was found at each point, with photographs, so you can see for yourself.
What changes inside the line
Thanet District Council lists 27 conservation areas, Birchington among them. Whether an address lies within the boundary is settled by the council, and the national map is only a guide. Inside a conservation area the planning questions grow, and an Article 4 direction can take away further rights, so check with Thanet District Council before work is booked. Our planning guide explains the wider picture.
Building Regulations are a separate question. In the Planning Portal's guide, no application is normally needed with less than 25 per cent of the building envelope and less than 50 per cent of the roof affected, and a new covering 15 per cent or more heavier needs approval. Thanet District Council has its own Building Control team, and a registered approver is the other route.
Most of this is paperwork done before the work, and it keeps the job short once it begins. A conservation area makes the order of the questions important, not the roof itself harder to mend, and a plain repair on a sound roof is a job these checks should clear quickly.
Entry 03Re-roof route
The Birchington conservation area and what a re-roof asks of it
Birchington's conservation area is one of 27 on Thanet District Council's list. Whether your address falls inside it is for the council to say.
Three Birchington roofs
Loose pieces, nothing else wrong
Refix and test
House inside the line, covering tired
Ask the council
Battens soft across a slope
Strip and re-batten
What shapes a re-roof quote
- Size and pitch of the roof
- Covering chosen
- Scaffold and its licence
- Condition of the timber beneath
One written total price
Three enquiries before a scaffold goes up
- The council: is the address inside the conservation area, and is any Article 4 direction in force?
- Building control: does the re-cover fall under the test, or is it a heavier covering?
- The highway authority: is a scaffold licence needed from Kent County Council?
All three replies go into your notes before a start date is fixed. Kent County Council licenses scaffolding on the public highway and its position is that the scaffolding company should submit the application; we arrange it with our scaffolder.
Church, coast or conservation area: which one frames your Birchington roof?
Message a few photographs or ask for a visit. We reply with a verdict on each fault and name any enquiry that has to be answered before work is ordered, so you know the order of events before anything is booked.
Folkestone to Birchington by road
Birchington is 25.1 road miles north of Folkestone, about 39 minutes by road. At the 2021 Census, Birchington parish had 10,395 usual residents. Send a photograph or two to begin: one broad shot per slope, and a tight one of the problem. The survey follows, and the price is written once the roof has been seen. If a house is listed, say so in the message.
Birchington roof questions, from All Saints to the clips under a ridge
Does the listing of the Fountain and the Horse Trough affect roofs in Birchington?
No. The Fountain and The Horse Trough are each listed Grade II as street pieces, and a listing covers only what its entry names. Your house is judged on its own record: its own list entry if it has one, the conservation area if it lies within, and the ordinary planning rules otherwise. We look each address up before a price is set. If the house is on the list, we tell you what that means for the survey.
How are the fixings on a Birchington roof chosen for a coastal site?
They are calculated for the site under BS 5534. Cupa says coastal areas are graded with higher exposure, so the calculation allows for it and does not copy a stock sheet. Marley notes that fixing to BS 5534 is not required by law, yet mortar alone is no longer relied upon to hold a ridge, so mechanical fixings go in as well, and each one is listed on the survey sheet.
Who licenses a scaffold on a Birchington street?
Scaffolding on the public highway is licensed by Kent County Council, £52 per week for 2026 to 2027, and its position is that the skip or scaffolding company should submit the application. We arrange it with our scaffolder. Poles and boards that stay wholly within your own boundary need no highway licence, and the survey notes which case yours is, so the quote does not shift later.
Does the Church of England faculty route apply to my house near All Saints?
No. All Saints is Grade II* and a Church of England church in use, so repairs to it follow the faculty system. A house nearby follows its own listing, if it has one, and the planning rules for its address. If you are unsure whether your house is listed, we look it up on Historic England's list at the start of the survey. That avoids the mistake of treating a neighbour's answer as your own.
Does re-covering a Birchington roof need building control approval?
The Planning Portal gives two limits: less than 25 per cent of the building envelope and less than 50 per cent of the roof affected. A covering 15 per cent or more heavier needs approval. Thanet District Council's own Building Control team, on 01843 577522, tells you where your house falls, and we put that question to them before a date is fixed.
Is Birchington's conservation area a barrier to a new roof?
Birchington has a designated conservation area, and Thanet District Council says whether an address falls inside it. For an Article 4 direction, check with Thanet District Council as well. A repair is a smaller question than a new covering, and both enquiries are made at the start, so the replies are on file before any scaffold goes up on your street.
Birchington roof to look at? Send a photograph first
You'll get one written total price.