Steve Hards

@Mick Mac. I did.

Just updating, as promised... The structural engineer assessed the cracking on Friday. His conclusion was that it was too minor to worry about or worth pursuing the developers over. However, it doesn't change the fact that Farrans (and Mace, from whom we have still not heard) have badly managed our attempts to complain!

Thanks for the advice, Lowlander. Our solicitor was recommended by the structural engineer who is coming to look at it. I'll let everyone know how we get on!

@Mick Mac and @kibris - thanks, both for the suggestions. It's not clear at the moment whether a campaign or a softly-softly approach will work best. It will now depend on the quality of the response from Mace. HOWEVER, the Streetview suggestion was brilliant, kibris. The photo, which is from 6 months before, clearly shows that there was no crack at that time.

@Growlybear, you are right in the normal course of events but there are some additional circumstances to the costs we are incurring, which I don't want to set out in public, that our insurance won't fully cover. It would be small change and not a big deal to the developer to put us back in the situation we would have been if the damage had not been caused and we had hoped that their proclamations of being a 'considerate constructor' would mean that they would be responsive to our issues. As a result of our appeal for information two other neighbours have been in touch with us with similar experiences.

Hmm... We have just had an email from Farrans saying that the responsible company is called Mace Group, which appears to have been the contractor to Farrans all along. It has only taken them nearly 3 months to find a person in the Mace Group who should be communicating with us! We are not holding our breath :)

@Angelina - Don't forget too the torrent downloads often come with a dose of malware, which can cost to clean up.

landsberger Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > You could always try Harris corporately... Thanks for the suggestion, landsberger, but we did copy a couple of Harris Federation directors into some of our emails to Farrans, but they did not respond either. Perhaps one still has to write 'proper' letters to be taken seriously, but in these days one does expect companies to be a bit lighter on their feet, especially because Farrans' publicity trumpets that they belong to the 'Considerate Constructors Scheme'. This now seems to us to be mere PR window-dressing as 'Protecting the local environment' (part of the scheme's code of practice) doesn't appear to extend to nearby neighbours!

Thanks, James, I shall email you in a moment. Our experience has been that the site manager was pleasant and cooperative, but other than his acknowledgement of our emails, we have been ignored for three months now by anyone higher up in the company. That includes their managing director, other directors and some directors of Harris Federation, who commissioned Farrans for this work. Regards, Steve

At the end of November, severe vibration during the demolition of the old Lordship Lane police station site caused some cracking in brickwork in our house in Landcroft Road. We approached Farrans, the developer, for help with the cost of putting it right but they have refused to give a satisfactory response to numerous emails. It looks like they are hoping we will go away because we are not immediate neighbours and so not covered by the party wall legislation. My solicitor has asked me to find out if anyone else has been affected by the demolition or building work, hence my appeal here. If you have, please private message me and/or let us know your experience here. Thanks, Steve