© Stroma Development Ltd 2012 | Version 1.1 Stroma – Property Dating Assessing The Age of Dwellings

© Stroma Development Ltd 2012 | Version 1.1Stroma – Property Dating

Assessing The Age of Dwellings


England and Wales• Pre 1900• 1900-1929• 1930-49• 1950-66• 1967-75• 1976-82• 1983-90• 1991-95• 1996-2002• 2003-06• 2007 onwards

If you are ever unsure of a property date, always select the older age band.

Northern Ireland• Pre 1919• 1919-1929• 1930-49• 1950-73• 1974-77• 1978-85• 1986-91• 1992-99• 2000-2006(not applicable)• 2007 onwards

Scotland• Pre 1919• 1919-1929• 1930-49• 1950-64• 1965-75• 1976-83• 1984-91• 1992-98• 1999-2002• 2003-07• 2008 onwards

Property Date Bands


Importance of Dating Houses

Identifying the age of a property is fundamental to the EPC process because the RdSAP software makes a whole series of assumptions based on the property age

• The age of a dwelling determines three important factors

– The assumptions correspond to the default U-values for the wall, roof and floor.

– It can also provide an indication to the buildings construction type.

– Ratio of floor area to window area


Ageing Properties

• If a house has undergone a conversion it must meet building regulations for the time of conversion – this means you can enter the age of the property as the conversion date (providing there is suitable evidence to prove it has met building regulations)

• For most cases dwellings built at the beginning of an age band would have received building approval under the earlier age band regulations

– i.e. a building being built in 1991 would have received planning for the 1983-1990 age bracket


Ways to Assess The Age

• Ask the occupants• Using documentary evidence• Local authorities• Changes in building regulations• Constructional features• Architectural style• Surrounding property's


External Indicators of Ageing Dwellings


Pre 1900

• A mixture of styles ranging from classical through to gothic• Covers a long period so there are many different fashions and influences• Generally characterised by ‘over ornamented features around doors,

windows, etc.• Use of local materials• Large chimneys, often several chimney pots• Mixture of styles• No driveways or garages• Solid wall construction• Sliding sash or wooden casement windows• Small front gardens• Old outbuildings – used to house outside loo• Internally, large houses had servant’s quarters in the

basement or attic.


Early Properties

• Oak nearly exhausted (not true for all earlier properties)

• Small panes of glass• Heavily panelled front door• Building Act 1774 imposed

restrictions on materials• Flat facades


Typical Gothic & Victorian Houses

• Front doors side by side• Slate roof coverings• Gable roofs• Ornamental moldings

around the windows and over the doors

• Wooden sash windows• Solid brick


Typical Gothic and Victorian Houses

• Brick decoration between floors

• Stone lintels with some embellishment

• No car parking facilities• Close to footpath


Early 1900s

• Whole streets developed at once• More consistency in style• Gothic arches and gables• Larger panes of glass used• Sash windows• Mainly solid masonry – although cavity starts to be introduced

in exposed regions of the country, generally narrow cavity• Tiled floor in porches• Narrow Cavity Walls (220+) & Solid walls are both used


1900 - 1929

• Steep pyramid shaped roof• Canted bay windows• Access directly of the street• No parking in lower end

buildings


1919 - 1929• 1920s saw introduction of 70ft rule – the minimum distance allowed

between houses, reducing the number of properties in an acre from 20-30 to 6-8

• This meant an larger property and garden size

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Lorategi-hiriaren_diagrama_1902.jpg


1900 - 1929

• Clay roof coverings• Large chimneys• Introduction of vertical

tiling• Steep roofs• Arts and crafts movement

inspired timber gable• Mock Tudor• Textured rendering


1900 - 1929

• Typical of late 1920’s building design

• Vertical tiling• No ornamental moldings• Low rise buildings most

common• Large pyramid shaped gable

roof


1920’s

• Large property• No integrated parking

facilities• Well spaced from

adjacent properties• Small roof tiles/slates


1930’s• Rounded Bay windows designed to fit metal casement windows (nearly all

now replaced) • Detached garage or space for car• Semi detached properties very common• Cavity walls commonly used throughout the UK• Hipped roofs• Still have chimneys• Properties have damp proof course installed when built• Council house estates – predominantly semi-detached and terraced

properties. Any flats built would be low-rise due to lack of lift technology• Density of properties is increasing again• Large growth of suburban estates• Introduction of non-traditional (system build) buildings such as

steel frame, timber frame, pre-cast and in-situ concrete


1930 - 1949

• Chimneys still common• Double bay windows• Buildings set further back

from the road• Squarer in design• Hipped roof• Cavity wall


1930 - 1949

• Double height bay window

• Tile hung bay• Casement windows• Hipped roof• Square in shape• Covered porch


1930’s Estate


Typical 1940’s

• Typical 1940’s detached house

• Square in design • Chimneys• Exterior soil pipe• Cavity walls now common

(250mm+)

• Introduction of bungalows, but not common until after WW2


1940’s Estate

• 1940’s estate type housing

• Often on large estates• Square boxes• Plain features • Low cost housing


Post War

• During the war there was little property construction

• Immediately after the war there was a big need for properties, but limited resources or skilled labour

• System build properties used cheap materials and did not require high skill levels to build

• Massive numbers of system build properties were constructed in the post war years


System Built Post War House

• Cornish type 1 • Precast concrete panels• Due to skilled labour

shortage• Inherent defects• Easily identifiable


System Built Post War House

• Today most system built houses have had the external walls improved or replaced

• Located usually on large housing estate


1950 - 1966

1950s• Council house building but reverted to brick/stone construction rather

than system build• Large open plan estates• Steel casement windows (usually replaced with UPVC now)• Chimney’s still present on most properties until the 1960s, when gas

boilers became more common• Most properties now have a driveway and or garage• Bungalows became popular• Flat roof porches• Bay windows on non-council houses• Concrete roof coverings• Window openings increase in size and tend to be wider than

they are high


1950s Semi

• casement windows• Chimney’s• Cavity wall (260mm+)

• Plain flat fronted, simple in design

• Enclosed front garden


1950s semi

• Semi detached• Hipped roof• Small chimney• Single height bay window• Drive-way• Small front and rear gardens


1960’s

• Clean Air Act of 1956 greatly influenced the heating of dwellings and saw a reduction in properties with traditional chimneys. Solid fuels were rarely used

• Brick cavity walls (260+mm thick), with some use of timber boarding, tile hanging or concrete panels for sections of properties

• Chalet style bungalow with roof dormers• Tall tower blocks common from 1960’s• Attached or integral garages• Open plan rooms, lounge/dining room


1960’s

• Introduction of brick and block external walls – should be able to determine inner block wall during loft inspection

• Concrete roof coverings, slate rarely used• Flat or low pitched roofs covered in roofing felt• New materials employed for construction, including plastic

gutters to replace asbestos cement • Window areas are large and originally single glazed, with little

consideration for heat loss due to the low price of oil• Introduction of building regulations in Scotland in 1964,

England and Wales 1966 and Northern Ireland in 1972


1960’s Chalet Bungalow

• Cavity Wall• Concrete roof coverings• Car parking• Mix of gable and hipped

roofs• Use of different building

materials• Larger windows• Asymmetrical design• Introduction of coloured

panels to front elevation


1964 Semi Detached

• Concrete roof coverings• Cavity wall• Off road parking• Timber and stone cladding

becoming more popular• No front garden fencing


1960’s Terrace


Typical 1960’s Bungalow

• No front fencing• Large windows• Concrete roof coverings• Chimneys with less pots• Off road parking• Built in estates


Altered 1960’s bungalow

This bungalow has hadreplacement windowsand a new cloakedverge roof, which wouldsuggest constructionaround the easrly1980’s


1960’s Estate Style Housing

• Introduction of flat roofing for the main roof covering

• Integral parking facilities

• No front fencing• No chimneys


1970’s

• No chimneys, roof vents for central heating• Cavity walls measure 260+mm thick• Introduction of pre-fab trussed rafter roof, from mid 60’s, extensively from 1970’s• Wider variety in built form, reacting to sameness of 1960’s design• Increase in density of housing as the price of land increases – also off plot car parking• Soil stack integral to building• Cross wall construction still common, coloured panels used in front elevations • Change in building regulation requirements for roof insulation (still less than a quarter of

today) • Flat roofs, mono pitch and shallow pitch roofs become popular, particularly in low cost

housing developments• Use of timber and steel frame construction is common• The collapse of part of a concrete constructed block of flats (Ronan Point) in 1968 lead to the

demolition of a number of similar style buildings with others undergoing substantial strengthening work

• Small amount of insulation assumed by RdSAP in roof and walls


Early 1970’s

• Cross wall construction• Integral garages• No chimneys• Large front windows• High density housing• Built in soil stack


Early 1970’s

• Roof vents, no chimneys

• Cross wall construction

• Large casement windows

• Concrete roof coverings

• Small garden space


Mid 1970’s

1973 oil crisisincreasedawareness of needfor fuel efficiency;

• started to make houses more energy efficient

• introduce wall insulation• much smaller windows• double glazing introduced



1980’s

• Building design starts to come back• Cavity walls measure 270+mm thick• Cul-de-sacs in estates• Mixed styles in same estate• Double glazing in dark wooden frames• Chimneys start to reappear for gas flame effect fires• Reduction in use of asbestos for external building materials

i.e. soffits• Introduction of roof vents• Enclosed front garden often with paved space for a car and

integral garage• Complicated roof shapes, occasionally with dormer

windows


1980’s

Dark window framesConcrete roof tiles Dark bricks

• Variation in design on estates• Off road parking• No chimney


Early 1980s

• Dark wood double glazing

• No chimney• Integral garage• Small floor area• Close to neighbouring

property


Typical 1980’s

Picture above shows good example of a dormer window with dark wood surround

Mock Tudor becoming popular again


Example of a Flat

• Flats in general follow the same architectural principles as housing

• As you can see dormers in the roof no chimneys and dark wood window frames


1990’s

• Often small plots, small property footprint and garden area• Different materials and slightly different styles in same development• Cavity walls measure 270-300mm thick• Often inclusion of some of the following features:

– Bay windows– Mock pillars– Porches– Decorative brickwork

• Shared drives for several houses• Small detached homes, narrow gaps between properties• Studies, utility rooms, downstairs toilet and en-suite bathrooms become

more common• Introduction of trickle vents over windows


Typical 1990’s

• Mixture of styles• Small plot size• Double glazed• Modern building techniques

with the use of UVPC


House Built in 1997

• Date stamp on front elevation

• Decorative brickwork• Small plot size• Cavity wall• Off road parking


Further Examples of 1990’s


2000 to Present Day

• The owner/occupier is almost certain to know the original build date of the property

• Increased density of housing• Encouragement to develop Brownfield sites – so lots of post 2002 inner

city developments• High purchase and building cost mean 3 storey houses and rooms in roof

more common. • Timber frame construction popular again• Big developments with a few different property designs• Weep holes above openings• Soil stacks are built externally to the property• Double glazing may have the date stamped in the bead


2003 Estate

• This building was built in 2003, in a low cost housing estate

• Much harder to date as they do not follow any of the previous architectural features

• The inside window bead may well provide an accurate date for when the building was constructed


Post 2000


2008 Onwards

Land is at a premium in the UK, which is steering building regulations and planning authorities to ensure more efficient use of land

• Increased use of Brownfield land• Increased density of housing within developments• Encouragement to build up


Windows

From this photo you canclearly see the datestamped in the bead of thewindow. In this case 12.09.2008


Building Your Skills

• Establishing the date of a house by identifying style/construction is not an exact science, the training given should only be used as a guide

• You can:– Ask the seller (do not solely rely on this)– Ask a neighbour– Look at old maps– Look at neighbouring property's


Internal Identifiers of Age

• Period fireplaces • High skirting boards• Ceiling roses • Heavily panelled

doors• Cornicing• Decorative architrave

around windows and doors


Housing age test

© Stroma Development Ltd 2012 | Version 1.1Stroma – Property Dating SA AC REGIONAL 1 © STROMA CERTIFICATION LTD v1.4 15/4/2011












Answers













Date from style

If previous approach does not establish the age develop your own dating skills in increments:

– Start by putting the property into 1 of 3 broad age bands• Pre WW1• Interwar• Post WW2

– After this add in detail:• Pre WW1• 1920s• 1930s• 1945-59• 1960s• Post 1970sIf you are ever unsure of a properties age band, select the older band


Summary

• As with all skills and techniques the more do you and the more experience you gain the better you will become at assessing the age of properties

• It is not an exact science but with some consideration of what you have learned today coupled with your own field experience it should make your assessment much easier in the future

• Dwelling types vary immensely from area to area

• The style of the property is dependent on who the intended occupants are i.e. private or social housing

• Dwellings can also be changed from there original plan to something completely different and sometimes it helps to have a look at the neighbouring properties to aid you in your assessment


Sampling

• Sampling is a process used to assess a large number of similar dwellings by identifying and surveying a representative group and applying the results to the whole group. Typically this will be most appropriate for social housing


Sampling-Process

• 1. Identify the dwellings which share similar characteristics – the landlords stock must be divided into groups of dwellings which share similar characteristics. This information can be gathered from the landlord’s asset management database. If the DEA is not directly involved in the group selection then they should understand how the groups were derived

• 2. Identify common elements – identify elements which are common to all the dwellings in a group, such as age band, build type or heating system

• 3. Customize the dataset for known variations – Identify elements which are different, there should be no more than six differences between two or more dwellings

• 4. Enter data and produce an EPC for each dwelling – The DEA must visit a sample of the dwellings to verify that the variations based on the landlords database are correct. The number of properties visited is determined by the group size


Sampling

Please note…

• It is unlikely you will have to use sampling. You may want to use it if you are contracted to produce EPCs for a very large block of flats

Sampling is not required within the DEA portfolio


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© Stroma Development Ltd 2012 | Version 1.1 Stroma – Property Dating Assessing The Age of Dwellings