Roofs on Stroud church halls, schools and community buildings

Start by settling who owns the building and who is entitled to say yes. A parochial church council, a school's governors, a village hall committee and a local authority each follow their own procedure, and nobody should book scaffold until the right body has signed the job off.

Listed status adds a second layer. The council makes the point that no grade of listing is lighter than another: the whole building is protected, in every part. A hall within the curtilage of a listed church or school is treated as a curtilage structure, and for those the council recommends a call to its conservation department to find out where it stands. The district also has 41 conservation areas, so an unlisted hall may still sit inside one. Ask the planning team first, before any slate is lifted.

Under planning law, a re-roof that matches the old one and does not alter the building's appearance is generally not development. Listing and Article 4 directions are separate questions, and each needs its own answer.

A listed church that is in use for worship sits under the ecclesiastical exemption. Section 60 of the 1990 listed buildings Act switches off the usual controls for an ecclesiastical building while it is in church use. In the Church of England, permission for roof work comes instead as a faculty, issued through the diocese's Consistory Court. The Chancellor decides, with formal advice from the Diocesan Advisory Committee.

Other denominations are covered by the 2010 exemption order in their own ways, so ask your own denomination what it requires before drawing up a specification.

The picture changes once a building stops being used for worship. Because the exemption turns on current ecclesiastical use, a redundant or converted church normally needs listed building consent from the council, like any other listed building, and so does a hall that was never a place of worship. If you are unsure which category yours falls into, ask the diocese or the planning team first, and give your roofer the answer in writing.

Community buildings are rarely one roof. A pitched main hall in slate, clay or stone slate often sits beside a flat-roofed kitchen, a lean-to store and a run of box gutters. Each part ages differently and carries its own cost and consent position, so a sensible survey treats them separately.

Schools bring access and timing issues. Scaffold in a playground, noise near classrooms and safeguarding arrangements mean work is often pushed into the holidays, and materials must be on site before then. Halls that hire out rooms need to protect their income, so start dates may be worked around bookings, regular classes and any annual events that fill the building. We ask early what the diary looks like, and we plan the work in phases so the building stays open for as long as possible.

Valley mills share many of the same slate and stone roofs but serve industry, and our guide to roofing Stroud's historic mill buildings covers that different set of problems.

Most committees raise money in instalments, through appeals, grants and hire income. A roof can be repaired the same way if the survey is written for it. We sort what we find into three bands: faults letting water in now, faults likely to do so within a year or two, and wear that can wait. The written quote then sets out the phases, so a trustees' meeting can approve the first phase while seeing what follows.

A few habits make the process smoother.

• Keep the survey photographs. A funder, the diocese or the council may ask what condition the roof was in.
• Ask what is included. Slates, flashings, gutters and rooflights should all be named in the quote.
• Protect the interior first. If rain is already coming through, a temporary make-safe keeps the hall usable while the money is found.
• Share the scaffold. Access equipment is a large part of many jobs, so phases that use the same erection cost less than phases that each need their own.

From the ground and, where it is safe, from close up, we note slipped or cracked slates and tiles, the state of ridge and verge, flashings at chimneys and parapets, gutters and downpipes, and the structure inside the roof space. In older halls the timbers get particular attention for damp and movement. Flat roofs are checked for drainage, because standing water is common on larger spans.

Many committees also ask about solar panels, and whether they are sensible depends on the roof's condition and loading; our answer on whether an old commercial roof can take solar panels explains the checks. Where a hall has a barn-style sheeted roof, see farm building and barn roof sheets for the sheet and safety points.

To begin, send the building's address, its listed or conservation status if you know it, and a few photographs. Our survey leads to a written quote for the whole job, and finished work comes with a 10-year workmanship guarantee in writing. Other commercial work we take on is listed on the commercial roofing page.