Bat Survey - Penlan, Swansea
Helping clients without compromising on bat safety
Background
This property was a small, residential home that needed to be extended to allow room for an expanding family. A side extension and a loft conversion were proposed, and we were commissioned to scout the property for evidence of bats and determine how suitable the building would potentially be for bats.
Scoping Survey
Despite the roof being a few years old, it was in very good condition, with no gaps that we could see from our inspection, even when we surveyed it with binoculars and sent the drone up to get a better look at the roof. The roof already had skylights installed, illuminating the loft space - not exactly an ideal roosting area for nocturnal creatures!
The only potential features we identified that had potential to be used by bats were limited to the porch at the front of the property under gaps in roof tiles and lead flashing. Ordinarily, if there is potential for bats to be at a property, we would recommend an emergence survey. However, under these circumstances, we used our professional judgement to analyse how proportional and necessary this additional cost would be to our client. The porch is not attached to any part of the house that would be affected by the works, so in the unlikely even bats are present, the only effect on them would be minimal disturbance, in which case, a protected species licence may not even be necessary.
Therefore, in this case, we decided the additional surveys were not necessary, but made sure that the clients proceeded with care and had our number on hand in case any bats or evidence of bats were uncovered during the works.
Have you been asked for a bat survey? Contact us to see how we can help, or use our online form to get a quote!
