Chartered Building Surveyor in St Albans

To find out some interesting facts about St Albans and places to visit in St Albans and the surrounding areas you can click on the boxes above.

To get a quote on a survey in St Albans, carried out by an Independent Building Surveyor, click on the 'Get a Survey Quote' box above.

If you book a survey with 1st Associated you will find that we take great pride in the quality of our survey and produce a very detailed survey report. We use plain English to explain any problems with the property to ensure that you understand the problems and how to resolve them.

We carry out residential structural survey and commercial survey in St Albans. St Albans is a town which is situated in Hertfordshire.

Information on St Albans

Framed by the M1 to the west, the M25 to the south and the A1(M) to the east, with London only approximately 22 miles away, is the city of St Albans which is still thriving.

The Catuvellauni tribe in the Iron Age originally called the town Verlamion, which is thought to mean 'the settlement above the marsh', but after the Roman occupation it became the first large town on Watling Street where travellers stopped when travelling north. It is here that the Romans built the town of Verulamium by the River Ver, which was only second in size to London . In AD 60/61 the town was ransacked in the Boudiccan rebellion.

The town was rebuilt over the years with fine buildings such as a theatre, temples, baths and private residences. At some point before AD324 the Christian martyr, St Alban, was beheaded for his beliefs on a hill where the imposing cathedral now stands. The town eventually fell into disrepair some time after AD400.

The Cathedral of St Albans was started in 1077 as a tribute to St Alban, but there is evidence that other abbeys to St Alban were on this site before the present Cathedral. At one point in time the Abbey was the main abbey in England and the first draft of the Magna Carta was produced here.

The old Roman town now lies under Verulamium Park and the old buildings of Verulamium were used to build St Albans . If you go to the Norman Abbey tower some of the well made Roman bricks can be seen.

St Albans grew up in the 12th century around the Abbey and the medieval street pattern is still there in many parts of the town along with some of the buildings from that time.

In 1381 St Albans there was disquiet in the town when the townsfolk wanted more control of issues in the town as opposed to being lead by the Abbots. The Peasants' Revolt ensued and in 1403-1412 the Clock Tower was built symbolising the towns independence from the church.

The town catered for people travelling through and numerous inns were created around the Abbey to cater for those stopping for a break or for a bed for the night. Many of these are Tudor inns which are timber-framed buildings and are still in existence in George Street , St Michael's Street , Fishpool Street and Sopwell Lane, The White Hart Hotel in London Road and Ye Olde Fighting Cocks, situated near the lake at Verulamium, reputed to be one of the oldest public houses in the country. Over the years we have carried out a number of pub surveys as well as many house surveys in this major Roman settlement which is also on Watling Street .

In Abbey Mill Lane the palaces of the Bishops of St Albans and Hertford can be seen and Some of the inns have changed use over the years and are now either offices or retail outlets or residential houses and some are hidden behind 18th century and 19th century frontages. At 1st Associated we carry out commercial surveys on public houses and business premises as well as residential properties and we have a particular interest in Listed buildings.

With the arrival of the railway in 1868 the coaching trade declined, but the railway with its links to London lead to further development in St Albans . In 1877 the town received a Royal Charter making it a 'city' and the Abbey Church was made into a Cathedral.

The 20th century has seen a big expansion of the city and following the second World War the town grew to accommodate people moving out of London to the suburbs. The town also attracts a number of tourists due to its long and rich history.

Verulamium Park is a spacious area surrounding a large lake. It has the distinction of being a commuter town and house prices are certainly at the higher end of the market. In our experience it does have the advantage of being a beautiful market town with a stunning Cathedral. The range of shops is from national High St shops to local retailers with the Maltings Centre just off the High St and St Christopher's Place offering many places to shop and off course the market too which is held on Saturdays and Wednesdays. The city has a wealth of interesting historic buildings and in the High Street you can climb the medieval Clock Tower which was built at the start of the 15th century to enjoy a fabulous view from the top of the 93 steps in what was a lookout tower to warn the townspeople of fire or conflict. Just outside the city in contrast to the historic buildings is Willows Farm Village which is an all year round centre including indoor play areas as well as the farm animals set in the beautiful Hertfordshire countryside.

Marshalswick Lane and Marshals Drive have some larger properties together with Park Street and Ragged Hall Lane.

Building Survey St Albans

If you are planning to book a building survey on a property you are purchasing in St Albans or the surrounding area then we would like to assure you that we always send a suitably qualified and experienced surveyor to carry out the job. This ensures that you get expert advice on any issues that we may find with the property we are surveying. All our surveyors are members of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors - RICS - and are Independent Chartered Building Surveyors. Being 'independent' means that they are working for you and you alone; they do not work for a mortgage company or an estate agents, so they have your best interests at heart.

All our survey contain lots of images, clearly showing any problems that we have identified at the property such as woodworm, rising damp or cracking to the walls. We also use sketches in our survey which are aimed at helping you to understand how certain areas are constructed or to help show more clearly a problem that we have identified. You will also find lots of definitions of any building terminology that we may use in our survey, as we firmly believe in 'Plain English' and really want you to fully understand what we are saying in the survey report.

 

Independent Chartered Building Surveyor

1st Associated Chartered Surveyors cover the whole of the UK including all areas of Hertfordshire for example in:

Abbots Langley, the birth place of the only English Pope Nicholas Breakspear/Pope Adrian IV and a town we have often carried out surveys in, Baldock, Berkhamsted, Bishops Stortford, with its well known school, Borehamwood, home to Elstree Studios, Broxbourne, with its Paradise Wildlife Park, Cheshunt, a commuter town being only 14 miles from Charing Cross and easy to get to when carrying residential and commercial surveys, Harpenden, with the Common; an area of natural beauty, Hatfield, with elegant St Albans House, Hemel Hempstead, with its magic roundabout great fun to negotiate on the way to doing a building survey, Hitchin, Hertford, county town of Hertfordshire, Knebworth, with the Gothic Mansion Knebworth House and its gardens and park, Letchworth, an attractive Garden City with the first roundabout in the UK where we have carried out many property reports, Potters Bar, at junction 24 of the M25, Radlett, in the valley of Tykes Water, Rickmansworth, with the large Aquadrome Local Nature Reserve, St Albans, famous for its Cathedral and a delightful city to visit as a chartered surveyor with its many historical buildings, Stevenage, just off the A1 at junction 7 and 8 Watford, and its large shopping centre, Tring, home of the famous Rothschild's Natural History Museum, Watford, Welwyn Garden City between St Albans and Stevenage and picturesque Wheathampstead.

 

We always recommend that people have a building survey carried out by an Independent Chartered Surveyor. It is laughable to expect that a mortgage owned / estate agent owned surveyors will give impartial advice. Call an Independent Chartered Surveyor on 0800 298 5424 for an impartial survey.

1st Associated provide house survey, commercial survey, engineers reports, property training plus more all carried out by RICS surveyors in St Albans and the surrounding areas.

Contact us today for a free, no obligation quotation, including building survey, structural survey, homebuyers reports and pre sales reports, for St Albans and the surrounding towns and villages.

Get a survey quote:

Residential Building Survey Quote

Commercial Building Survey Quote or Schedule of Condition Quote

We carry out Structural survey, Structural Building survey on Residential properties and Commercial properties throughout Hertfordshire.

 

References:

Whilst a lot of this is written from general knowledge and local knowledge of the area and here are some websites that we think will be of interest to you in the Hertfordshire area some of which we have used for information and we would like to give them credit for this.

Breweryhistory.com, Thomas Wethered and Sons, MarlowsSociety.Org.UK, Aylesbury Brewery Company, InformationBritain.co.uk, DestinationMiltonKeynes.co.uk, MiltonKeynes.com, TheCentreMK.com, Xcape.co.uk, MKMuseum.org, NewportPagnell.org, MKHeritage.co.uk, Britinfo.net, MarlowTown.co.uk, TheMarlowRegatta.com, BucksCC.gov.uk, HighWycombeSociety.org.uk, PostCarbonLiving.com, Buckinghamtoday.co.uk, GerrardsCross.gov.uk and VisionofBritain.org.uk