Cargate's conservation area
Cargate was designated in 1980, and Rushmoor's Article 4 direction there covers chimneys and flues.
Roofers in Aldershot
Roofs in the Home of the British Army, from Cargate to Wellesley
Aldershot is the Home of the British Army, a town of barracks, canal and conservation areas south of Farnborough. Each roof is climbed, photographed and then priced once.
Aldershot's roofs, from the 1854 camp to Wellesley
Barracks and military lines
Permanent brick buildings replaced the camp's wooden huts, among them the Wellington, Stanhope and Marlborough lines.
Wellesley's new homes
Outline permission in 2014 covers up to 3,850 homes on former army land, with building begun in 2015.
Map of Aldershot with Weybourne, Badshot Lea, North Camp, Hale, Farnborough marked around it.
Map data © OpenStreetMap contributors. Loads only when you ask for it.
Aldershot, south of Farnborough on the Basingstoke Canal
North Camp lies to the north-east, Ash to the east, Tongham to the south-east, Badshot Lea to the south, and Weybourne and Hale to the south-west.
About 3.8 road miles south of Farnborough · Rushmoor Borough Council and Hampshire County Council.
Work we carry out around Aldershot
Aldershot, camp and canal
Aldershot roofs, from canal barges to Article 4 directions
How an army camp was supplied with slate and brick by canal, which Article 4 directions and listed buildings touch roof work today, and which bodies inspect and license work around Aldershot.
| No. | Chapter | The figure it turns on |
|---|---|---|
| 01 | Canal barges, 20,000 tons and an army town | 20,000 tons by canal in three years |
| 02 | Cargate's chimneys, Wellesley's aerials and three conservation areas | Cargate direction 2020; Wellesley direction |
| 03 | A listed Grade II* church, building control and scaffold | Grade II* church; 26 listed buildings |
Chapter 01 of 03
Canal barges, 20,000 tons and an army town
Aldershot's growth in four published figures
- 1854military camp built, army arrives
- 20,000 tonsof materials carried by canal in three years
- 39,807residents of the Aldershot built-up area, Census 2021
- 3.8 road milessouth of Farnborough from the A325
Aldershot has been the Home of the British Army since the 1850s, and its building history reads like a supply chain. When the military camp went up from 1854, the Basingstoke Canal brought timber, bricks, roofing slates and iron pipes by barge, some 20,000 tons of material over three years. The camp's wooden huts were later replaced by permanent brick buildings, among them the Wellington, Stanhope and Marlborough lines, according to the 1911 county history. In 2021 the Census counted 39,807 residents across Aldershot's built-up area.
What a supplied town means for a survey
Slates were among the materials delivered to the camp, but that was the 1850s. The town has grown, been rebuilt and been repaired for a century and a half since, so a delivery record from the canal years cannot tell you what covers any house in Aldershot today. We use the history for context and the survey for facts, and the report keeps the two clearly apart.
The survey starts at the ridge and works down. Measurements come first, then photographs of ridge, hips, verges, valleys and flashings, and hand tests of a few fixings to see whether slates or tiles hold. Where a roof is slated, we look for slipped slates, rusted nails and broken corners. Where it is tiled, we look at the nibs, the battens and the underlay. Up in the roof space, a torch lights the underside of the slates or tiles, and any daylight, damp or torn felt is photographed too.
Our slate roofing page explains how slates are repaired, re-fixed and replaced, and when a slate roof has life left in it. For stacks, our chimney repairs page covers pointing, flaunching and flashing. When the evidence supports a repair, a repair is the quote you get.
Natural slate hangs from a batten by nails through its head or its centre, or is held by a hook or clip. When a nail corrodes, the slate slides, and a short run of slipped slates is the usual sign of nail failure. We count the slipped slates, check whether those still in place are sound, and tell you plainly whether re-fixing or re-slating is the better buy for your roof.
Chapter 02 of 03
Cargate's chimneys, Wellesley's aerials and three conservation areas
| Direction | What it covers | For roof work |
|---|---|---|
| Cargate Article 4 direction | Works visible from a highway or open space, including chimneys or flues | Ask Rushmoor before stack work |
| Wellesley Article 4 direction | Antennas on a chimney, wall or roof slope, front gates, windows | Ask Rushmoor before fixing a dish |
| Employment land direction (2022) | Offices and light industry converted to homes | A change-of-use rule |
| Town and district centres direction | Shops and takeaways converted to homes, in force 6 March 2023 | A change-of-use rule |
Aldershot's conservation areas include Aldershot Military, designated in 2003, Aldershot West, designated in 1980, and Cargate, also designated in 1980. Rushmoor's Cargate Article 4 direction, made as an immediate direction on 31 July 2020 and confirmed in January 2021, covers homes within the Cargate area and works visible from a highway or open space. Among them are windows and doors, porches, hard surfaces, painting that departs from the traditional treatment, and chimney or flue work of any kind, whether installing, changing or removing one.
What the Cargate direction means for a stack
An Article 4 direction removes specified permitted development rights within a mapped area, which means work needing no application elsewhere can need one inside it. For a roofer the chimney is the main question. Repair in matching material is usually straightforward, whereas altering, shortening or taking down a stack is the kind of work to put to Rushmoor's planning team first. Each address is checked, and our guide to Rushmoor's conservation areas and roof work explains the framework.
Wellesley and the roof-slope aerial
The Wellesley direction applies to part of the new development, near the Aldershot Military conservation area. It covers windows, front hard surfaces, front gates, walls and fences, and microwave antennae on a chimney, wall or roof slope that faces a highway. If you are fitting a dish to a roof in that area, ask Rushmoor first. Outline permission in 2014 covered up to 3,850 new homes on former army land south of the canal, and building started in 2015.
Aerials and dishes are small fixings with large consequences. A dish bolted to a chimney puts a load on old pointing, and a dish on a slope means holes through the covering. If one is going on a roof anywhere in the town, a survey of the stack or slope beforehand shows whether it will hold and whether the fixing points can be made watertight.
The employment land direction of 2022 and the town and district centres direction of 2023 concern change of use, not roofs. We mention them because a converted unit often needs its roof surveyed, and looking at the roof before the scheme costs less than mending a leak afterwards.
Chapter 03 of 03
A listed Grade II* church, building control and scaffold
Four facts for an Aldershot roof job
- Grade II*Aldershot Methodist Church, NHLE 1155955
- 26listed buildings within 900 m of the centre
- 10 daysclear working days of Hampshire scaffold notice
- 2 weekscovered by the first Hampshire licence fee
Aldershot has 26 listed buildings within 900 m of the centre, among them 23 Lansdowne Road, 26 and 28 Grosvenor Road and 27 Grosvenor Road, all Grade II, and Aldershot Methodist Church, listed Grade II* on 30 April 1981. A Methodist church in use sits under the ecclesiastical exemption and follows the Methodist Church's own consent system, and if the building has left that use, listed building consent applies instead, so the route is confirmed with Rushmoor's planning team before any roof work on it. For the Grade II houses, work that alters their character needs listed building consent.
Inspection comes from a shared team
Rushmoor's building control is delivered by the Hart and Rushmoor Building Control Partnership, working from Rushmoor's Farnborough offices, with a registered building control approver as the private choice. Neither is needed for a few refixed slates. Two Planning Portal limits mark the no-application zone, 25 per cent of the building envelope and 50 per cent of the roof, and where the new covering is 15 per cent heavier than the old or more, approval follows a structural check.
The figure50%of the roof marks the second boundary of the Planning Portal's no-application zone25% envelope boundary50% roof boundarySource: Planning Portal, building regulations for re-roofing
Scaffold in a garrison town
Hampshire County Council licenses scaffold on Aldershot's roads. Hampshire County Council makes the scaffolding company the applicant, expects 10 clear working days of lead time, charges £211.90 for the first 2 weeks and £72 for each further 2 weeks, and does not extend a licence. Roads near barracks and the town centre are busy, so we agree the scaffold's position, the pedestrian route and the skip location at the survey. Poles wholly on private ground need no licence.
Flats call for extra care. Rushmoor makes the point that flats carry no permitted development rights at all, so everything bar a strict like-for-like swap, or work leaving the building looking the same, goes to the planners. If you manage a block, the roof is treated as a planning matter from day one of the survey. Weather matters too: the Met Office's South Farnborough averages for 1991 to 2020 show 118 wet days a year and around 53 days of air frost.
Re-slating a terrace can run past a fortnight, and a delay means a new application, so the dates carry margin. You are told early if the weather threatens the programme.
Aldershot roof questions, from Cargate stacks to Wellesley dishes
Can I fit a satellite dish to a roof slope in Aldershot's Wellesley area?
Rushmoor's Wellesley direction covers microwave antennae on a chimney, wall or roof slope that faces a highway, along with windows, front hard surfaces, gates, walls and fences. It applies to part of the development, so ask Rushmoor's planning team about your own address before anything is fixed to a roof.
Does the Cargate Article 4 direction restrict repairs to a chimney stack?
It covers works visible from a highway or open space, including chimney or flue work that installs, changes or removes one. Repair in matching material is a different matter from alteration. We confirm each Aldershot address with Rushmoor's planning team before pricing stack work, and your report records the answer.
Does Aldershot Methodist Church's Grade II* listing mean listed building consent for its roof?
Not necessarily. A Methodist church in use falls under the ecclesiastical exemption and follows the Methodist Church's own consent system, If the building has left Methodist use, the route becomes listed building consent, and we confirm which applies first. Listed building consent is the route for listed buildings outside the exemption, such as the Grade II houses.
What scaffold terms apply for re-slating an Aldershot terrace?
Hampshire County Council wants 10 clear working days of notice, charges £211.90 for the first 2 weeks and £72 for each further 2 weeks, and never extends a licence, which is why a long job needs margin. A terrace re-slate can run past a fortnight, so the dates carry spare days and the pavement route is planned at the survey.
Garrison-town roofs we reach beyond Aldershot's centre
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An Aldershot roof, climbed and logged before pricing
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