Big estate agency fined £120k for unauthorised works at Grade I listed branch
Judge calls Knight Frank ‘reckless’ after firm ignored conservation officer’s advice over alterations to listed building.
Knight Frank has been slapped with a £120,000 fine for unauthorised alterations to the Grade I listed building that houses its Bath estate agency branch, after a court found the works had damaged the property’s historic character.
Bath & North East Somerset Council brought the prosecution against the upmarket estate agency and its contractor Emery Brothers Ltd after the firms carried out work without listed building consent. The council’s Conservation Officer had advised them in July 2022 that any works affecting historic fabric required consent.
Knight Frank ignored advice
Despite the advice, Knight Frank instructed Emery Brothers to remove and replace the building’s original timber floor structure and stone wall tops with modern materials. The alterations were discovered during a council site visit to the Wood Street site in February 2023.
Both companies admitted carrying out the work but abandoned their initial claim of urgent safety concerns after the council obtained expert evidence and then argued the changes did not affect the building’s character.
The case “demonstrates the council’s determination to uphold the law and protect the city’s historic buildings”.
District Judge Brereton ruled, however, after the two-day hearing, that the works had altered the historic character of 4 Wood Street. He called Knight Frank’s conduct reckless, and gave the agency a £120,000 fine, plus £40,000 in costs and a £2,000 surcharge. Emery Brothers were fined £70,000 for negligent conduct, with £20,000 in costs and the same £2,000 surcharge.
Councillor Matt McCabe says the case “demonstrates the council’s determination to uphold the law and protect the city’s historic buildings”.
Difficult one as if asked the majority of conservation officers will state that consent is needed for everything and then state your need their paid for advice on it (£1,000 for an hour!) then require works that are totally in appropriate. They will not discuss what constitutes s.7 of the act or reply to correspondence in a timely or expeditious manner if at all. Too often the cost of consent is much greater than the works required. Conservation officers should be seeking to encourage and support the repair and maintenance of historic fabric not frustrate it.