Block Management in Swindon
Block, estate and leasehold management for Swindon. Compliance is tracked against Swindon Borough Council. Roughly 160 miles from our office.
Managing a Block in Swindon at a Glance
- Local authority
- Swindon Borough Council
- Authority type
- Unitary
- Building control
- Swindon Borough Council Building Control, in house
- County
- Swindon
- Fire and rescue service
- Dorset and Wiltshire Fire and Rescue Service
- Water and sewerage
- Thames Water
- From our Plymouth office
- Approx. 160 miles by road, a planned journey rather than a casual one
- Setting
- Inland
Who You Deal with in Swindon
A block in Swindon deals with Swindon Borough Council, a unitary authority, so building control, planning and housing enforcement sit with one body. Fire safety in the common parts is enforced by Dorset and Wiltshire Fire and Rescue Service. Communal water and sewerage is Thames Water.
The Residential Stock in Swindon
Modern and purpose-built rather than converted, which is unusual in this research. At the 2021 Census 14,584 of Swindon's 95,862 households, 15.2 per cent, were in a purpose-built block, but only 1,458, 1.5 per cent, were part of a converted or shared house, well under half the England rate of 3.5. Planned growth continues in the same vein, with the Wichelstowe extension supporting 4,500 new homes and the Kimmerfields town centre scheme up to 250.
Flood Risk in Swindon
Modest river risk, real sewer risk. The two main rivers through Swindon are the Ray and the Cole, both tributaries of the Thames. The council is the lead local flood authority for the borough, and its flood risk management strategy records that significant sewer flooding occurred in July 2006, November 2006, July 2007 and January 2008. Responsibility splits three ways: the Environment Agency for main rivers, the council for surface water, groundwater, gullies and ordinary watercourses, and Thames Water for sewers and mains.
The cost lands on the insurance schedule and on the reserve fund long before any water does.
Conservation Areas and Listed Buildings in Swindon
27 conservation areas, listed by name by the council and heavily weighted toward villages absorbed by the town: Badbury, Bishopstone, the Blunsdons, Chiseldon, Highworth, Liddington, four separate Swindon Old Town areas, Swindon's Railway, Rodbourne Cheney, the Wanboroughs and Wroughton among them. The Railway area is mapped as two polygons, the 1975 Railway Village and the 1987 Railway Works, merged into one conservation area in 2020.
Consent has to precede the Section 20 specification, not follow it, or leaseholders are consulted on work that cannot lawfully be done as described.
Higher-Risk Buildings in Swindon
Swindon is the only one of the Gloucestershire and Wiltshire places covered here that appears in the government's Building Safety Fund remediation table by local authority, with a banded figure of one to five eligible buildings, remediation started or completed on all of them but completed on under half. Counts of five or fewer are banded deliberately, to prevent individual buildings being identified. The fund covered buildings over 18 metres, and the statutory registration threshold is a building with at least seven floors or 18 metres in height and at least two residential units.
Above 18 metres or seven storeys the Building Safety Act regime applies in full. Below it, the Fire Safety Order and the 2022 Regulations still do, and that gap is what our building safety consultancy exists for.
Licensing and Permitted Development in Swindon
Two directions, and both catch work a block actually does. The Railway Village direction has been in force since 1980 and removes permitted development for painting the exterior of any building, as well as for extensions, alterations and porches, because the council judged that permitted development had to be controlled to stop the character of a nationally important early Victorian model village being spoilt. The Bishopstone direction, in force from March 2015, is narrower and aimed at one thing: installing, altering or replacing solar photovoltaic or solar thermal equipment on a dwellinghouse or a building in its curtilage.
This sits outside the lease entirely, but it still reaches us: satisfying the council is not the same as obtaining consent under the lease, and a leaseholder generally needs each.
Changing Managing Agent in Swindon
Changing agent is the company's decision, taken the way its articles require. The only part with a deadline is the notice the outgoing agent is contractually owed. On a higher-risk building the safety case, the registration position and the golden thread information all have to transfer intact.
See the handover sequence in full, and our fees, which are a fixed annual amount with no commission on contractor work.
What Else Changes About Managing a Block in Swindon
- Swindon is not part of Wiltshire Council's area and has not been since 1 April 1997, so every consent, every housing standards question and all flood liaison goes to Swindon Borough Council.
Going Deeper in Swindon
Towns and Villages We Cover from Swindon
Old Town, Stratton St Margaret, Haydon Wick, Priory Vale, Redhouse, Wichelstowe, Highworth, Wroughton, Royal Wootton Bassett, Covingham.
Service charge or accounts query? Email accounts@plymouthblockmanagement.com and quote your development and flat number, or .
Swindon Questions
Which Council Does a Block in Swindon Deal With?
Swindon Borough Council Building Control, in house. One body, so building control, planning and licensing sit together.
Who Enforces Fire Safety in the Common Parts in Swindon?
Dorset and Wiltshire Fire and Rescue Service, as the enforcing authority for the Fire Safety Order.
Who Supplies Water to a Development in Swindon?
Thames Water. A communal supply is the building's contract, not a leaseholder's, so report a loss to common parts through us.
Is Swindon Too Far from Your Plymouth Office?
It is about 160 miles, a planned journey rather than a casual one. Distance changes how site visits are scheduled, not whether they happen.
Is My Building in Swindon a Higher-Risk Building?
It is if it is 18 metres or seven storeys with two or more residential units, in which case it must be registered with the Building Safety Regulator.
Do We Need Consent for External Works in Swindon?
On a listed building or in a conservation area, yes, for much that would be permitted elsewhere. Get it before the Section 20 specification, not after.
Nearby Areas
Talk to Us About Your Building in Swindon.
A free, no-obligation proposal, written so it can be circulated to a board.