A PLANNING application has been submitted to Darlington Borough Council to repair a Grade II listed building.

A heritage assessment has been prepared by ELG Heritage to accompany an application for Listed Building Consent for remedial works of stabilisation at 12 Skinnergate, Darlington.

The building suffered fire damage in May 2018 and has been stabilised by the insertion of scaffolding in the interim period. The building remains in a precarious condition and to enable ultimate repair of the building, remedial works are required to take down those areas which are unstable. The works will enable safe access for repair works to commence.

It was not possible to go inside the frontage building due to its condition following the fire and historic features were not readily evident. However, a small section of cornice was seen within the rear north-eastern room which should be used to inform replacements in any restoration scheme.

The main building appears to retain historic floorplates, floors, joists and lath and plaster to the walls, however all are beyond repair following the fire damage. The internal floors and ceilings have collapsed and require replacement. Two large steel beams have been previously inserted beneath the first floor to enable the opening up of the retail unit to the rear. The offshoot is visible only at first floor height, the ground floor being entirely open.

There is considerable communal interest in this building as it has been host to several retailers over time.

Discussion on local social media sites confirms positive memory and associations particularly with Wildsmith’s Grocers.

A structural survey of the fire damaged No.12 was undertaken by Mason Clark Associates on August 7, 2019. This suggested that the building was in danger of further collapse but that the perimeter walls of the main building were generally structurally sound, provided that lateral restraint to the walls was maintained. A number of works were recommended however in order to undertake such works the building had to be made secure. A further report by Billinghurst George & Partners dated October 8, 2020 identified that any attempt to modify the current gable restraint scaffolding to install a permanent tie system would appear very difficult and risks further movement and collapse particularly as support from floors is no longer present. They also note that simply retying the opposite gables will not address the current lean and hence not solve the issue. They recommend that the gables be reduced and rebuilt. Please see the separate reports referred to for more information.

The second floor of No.12 has now fully collapsed and the dividing wall between the two rooms has dropped and pulled away from the front elevation. The internal walls cannot be repaired, and the rear elevation is also in poor condition and requires rebuilding. The first and second floor walls internally do not align and therefore provide no support to each other. At the junction of the rear elevation and offshoot the masonry has sheared and failed. It is suggested in the report that the free-standing wall which abuts the rear elevation will require removal as it sits upon fire damaged timbers.

The frontage building is of greater significance than the remainder of the structure.

To view and comment on the planing application, visit https://publicaccess.darlington.gov.uk.