Dunkirk · 21.8 road miles north-west
Roofers in Dunkirk
Dunkirk has 1,302 residents (2021 Census), a listed church and school, and a scheduled World War II radar station close to the village centre. Send us a photograph of the roof that is troubling you and we will survey it, then give every fault a plain verdict and the reasoning behind it, so you can see why each call was made.
- Scheduled monument nearby
- A World War II Chain Home Radar Station stands a few hundred metres from the village centre
- Two Grade II listings
- Christ Church and Dunkirk Primary School, first listed in 1967 and 1986
- Nearest conservation areas
- At Hernhill, the closest to the village, and Swale Borough Council can settle any single address
- Scaffolding beside the road
- Kent County Council licenses it, at £52 a week for 2026 to 2027
Verdicts we reach on Dunkirk roofs
What we found
Roof beside the scheduled radar site
What it fairly needs
Read the list entry plan first.
What we found
Flat roof seam split, deck firm
What it fairly needs
Repair the seam and keep the roof.
What we found
Deck soft beneath the membrane
What it fairly needs
Renew deck and membrane together.
The fair ledger
A radar station, two Grade II listings and a leaking flat roof
Dunkirk has a scheduled radar station and two Grade II listings near its centre, with the conservation areas of Hernhill not far off. Three entries show where each of those could touch a roof job, then look hard at one flat roof.
Entry 01Scheduled site
The Chain Home radar station: a scheduled neighbour worth asking about
A World War II Chain Home Radar Station, list entry 1020388, is a scheduled monument a few hundred metres from Dunkirk's centre. Scheduled monuments have a consent system of their own.
A monument's consent, and where it applies
The monuments legislation of 1979 (AMAA, section 2) treats works to a scheduled monument as an offence unless they have been authorised. The rule concerns the monument and the land its list entry covers. That entry places the site 200 m north east of Christ Church, and a plan attached to the entry marks the boundary.
How close a given roof comes to the marked line is for the plan to show. We read the entry before booking scaffold at any property near the site, and the survey notes record what the plan showed. For a house that is nowhere near it the result is simply an ordinary roof job, and for one that is close we ask before a pole goes up. Our planning guide covers the usual rules.
Myth: A roof job near a scheduled monument always needs scheduled consent.
Fact: That consent concerns works to the monument itself, and the plan on its list entry shows how much land it covers.
What a survey near the site records
- The address, placed against the boundary on the list entry plan.
- Where scaffold would stand, and on whose land.
- Any digging for a scaffold base, since ground works close to a monument raise their own question.
- Photographs of the roof, kept for the file whatever the answer.
None of these steps delays an ordinary repair, and each takes a few minutes at a desk before anyone climbs a ladder. They make sure the one job that does need a consent never goes ahead without it, and that nobody has to take scaffold down again halfway through a week's work.
Scheduled
the status of the Chain Home radar station, Historic England entry 1020388
close to the village centre
Entry 02Listed buildings
Christ Church and the primary school: two Grade II roofs, two questions
Christ Church (list entry 1344004, listed 24 January 1967) and Dunkirk Primary School (list entry 1107903, listed 21 May 1986) are both Grade II. The route for each depends on what the building is used for.
Who is asked depends on the building
A listed building that is not in exempt church use takes its listed building consent from the council, here Swale Borough Council, wherever work alters what gives the building its special interest, with the permitted development rights for roofs continuing alongside. A church can follow a different route, and which one applies to Christ Church turns on how it is used today. We would confirm that with whoever manages the building before any roof work is proposed, and make no assumption.
A school is a different case again, since its roof work has to fit around the working week and keep pupils well clear of the access. Scaffold, ladders and deliveries all need a plan that the people in charge of the site have agreed beforehand. A survey of either building starts with photographs and a written account, so the right office is asked with the facts in front of it. Our roof inspections and surveys page sets out what a visit covers.
Does a Grade II listing on a school change how its roof is repaired?
Listed building consent comes into play wherever work alters the building's character, whatever it is used for, and a like-for-like repair is judged differently from a new covering. Swale Borough Council decides. We send it photographs and a short account of the work, then a price is written once its answer is in hand.
Listed roof, new covering wanted
Ask the right office
Gutter loose, board still firm
Refit it as before
Fascia boards rotten behind a gutter
Renew boards, re-hang it
Hernhill's conservation areas and Article 4
The nearest conservation areas are at Hernhill: Hernhill - Dargate, Hernhill - Fostall and Hernhill itself. Whether a given address is inside one is a matter for Swale Borough Council's published boundaries. Swale Borough Council can also say whether an Article 4 direction removes further rights at your address, so put that question to it early. Our order of checks never changes.
- The address against Swale's conservation area maps.
- The council's list of Article 4 directions.
- The listed building list, for the house and its neighbours.
Where a flat roof actually fails
A membrane that has split at a seam, lifted at an upstand or collected a pool in a hollow can be dealt with locally, provided what lies beneath is sound. The same questions apply whether the roof sits over an extension, a garage or a porch, and the survey asks them in the same order each time. A deck that has gone soft under it cannot, because a new covering needs something sound to bond to. So we press the deck, look along each upstand and trace any ceiling stain back across the roof. The verdict follows from what the deck turns out to be like.
Falls matter too. BS 6229:2025 sets a minimum finished fall of 1:80 for membrane flat roofs, so the design calls for a steeper fall to cover tolerances on site. Our flat roofing service describes both repairs and new roofs.
Entry 03Flat roofs
A flat roof over an extension: patch the seam or relay
A flat roof is a deck, a waterproof membrane, upstands where it meets a wall and a drip trim at the edge. The survey decides which of those has failed before anyone proposes a new roof.
1:80
the minimum finished fall for a membrane flat roof in BS 6229:2025
designed steeper for site tolerances
- Deck under the membrane
- Waterproof membrane
- Upstand against the wall
- Drip trim at the edge
When a pool points at the deck
- A hollow that holds water after rain has stopped.
- A deck that gives underfoot beside the pool.
- A ceiling stain directly below the hollow.
Where all three show together, the deck has moved or softened and a seam repair would not last. A deck that has to go is replaced in sections, laid with the fall in mind, and the membrane goes on only once the boards are dry and fixed firmly. Where only the seam has opened, the repair is a small job and we price it as one. The written total covers access and scaffold as well, so there is nothing to add afterwards, and it names the one thing the roof needs rather than three it might. A roof that needs only the seam done gets the seam done, and a roof that needs the deck gets the deck, each with the reasoning set out beside the figure.
Dunkirk lies 21.8 road miles north-west
Dunkirk is north-west of Folkestone, about 29 minutes by road. Send photographs with a short note on what the roof is doing, and a survey visit is arranged at a time that suits you. The written price is one total and arrives after the visit. If the house is near the radar station or is a listed building, mention it, and the right checks are done beforehand. Photographs of each slope from the ground, taken in daylight, are all the first look needs, and a note of where inside the house any damp has shown helps us as much as the pictures.
Dunkirk roof questions, from the radar site to the flat roof
Does a roof near the Chain Home radar station in Dunkirk need scheduled consent?
Scheduled monument consent concerns works to the monument itself, and a house roof near it is not automatically caught. The plan attached to the list entry settles how much land is covered, and we read it before scaffold is booked at any property close to the site. If your land is inside the marked area, the monument's own consent has to be dealt with first, before a roofer starts. If it is not, the job is an ordinary roof job, and the survey notes record that conclusion.
Who decides on roof work to Christ Church or Dunkirk Primary School?
For a listed building outside exempt church use, listed building consent comes from Swale Borough Council. Christ Church may follow another route depending on how it is used today, and we would confirm that with whoever manages it rather than assume. We can survey either roof and describe its condition in a report, with photographs, so that whichever office is asked has the facts and the answer comes back sooner.
Is any Dunkirk address inside a conservation area or an Article 4 direction?
The nearest conservation areas are at Hernhill, and Swale Borough Council settles whether an address lies in one. On Article 4, Swale's own table lists a borough-wide direction made on 21 July 2026: a restriction on the change of use of dwellinghouses (Use Class C3) to a Small House in Multiple Occupation (Use Class C4). That direction is about use, and its entry says nothing of roofs. For anything else, ask the same council about your house early, and pass its reply to us.
Do I arrange the scaffold licence myself for a Dunkirk roof?
No. Kent County Council charges £52 per week for a scaffold permit in 2026 to 2027, and the skip or scaffolding company should submit the application for you, in that council's words. We arrange it with our scaffolder. If the scaffold is never on the road at all, there is no highway permit to obtain, and the survey settles which case you are in before a date is fixed.
Who handles Building Regulations for a Dunkirk re-roof?
For Swale addresses the STG Building Control Partnership, on 01634 331133, is the team to ask. The Planning Portal's test is under 25 per cent of the building envelope and under 50 per cent of the roof; inside both, a re-roof is not normally an application. A replacement covering 15 per cent or more heavier than the covering it replaces brings an approval requirement of its own. We can describe the work to STG first if that helps, and a structural opinion is sensible before such a covering is ordered.
Roof trouble in Dunkirk? Describe it and send photographs.
The survey comes first, then a single price in writing.