01903 299063 Get a quote

Roofers in Chichester

Chichester was almost entirely rebuilt by the end of the 18th century, after brick took over from timber framing. We survey its slate, brick and flint roofs inside the Roman walls and beyond.

Get a quoteCall 01903 299063

Georgian brick, mansards and flint inside the walls

  • A brick terrace with chimney stacks

    Brick houses from the 18th-century rebuilding

    The Victoria County History says brick came into use here from the 17th century and the city was almost entirely rebuilt by the century's end.

    Read more about Brick houses from the 18th-century rebuilding

    Houses of that rebuilding carry old chimney stacks and valleys that deserve a close look.

  • A steep slate mansard roof

    Slate and mansard roofs

    The Royal West Sussex Hospital, begun in 1825, is stuccoed brick under a slate mansard, a roof with a steep lower slope and a flatter top.

    Read more about Slate and mansard roofs

    On slate like that, the nails that hold each slate tend to give way before the stone does.

  • Roof meeting a flint wall

    Flint walls with brick dressings

    The county offices in North Street are flint with brick dressings, one of the mixes the Victoria County History records in the city.

    Read more about Flint walls with brick dressings

    At the point where a roof abuts flint, the seal is a lead flashing, and that wants checking for lift and splits.

Street map of Chichester, west of central Worthing, with a pin on the town.

Chichester's walls, conservation area and planning records

Planning authority
Chichester District Council
Councils
Chichester District Council and West Sussex County Council
Conservation area
Chichester Conservation Area, extended after review to parts of Whyke and Orchard Avenue
Article 4
2018 direction: planning permission for solar panels on roof slopes facing a highway, open space or waterway
Listed example
The Market Cross, Grade I (about 1500, Caen stone)
From central Worthing
23.1 road miles, west, about 33 minutes by car

Chichester roofs

Brick, slate and flint inside the walls

Three questions a cathedral city's roofs raise, from slate fixings to who gives consent.

Chapter one

Slate, brick and mansards in a rebuilt city

The 18th-century rebuilding left Chichester with brick walls under slate, and slate rewards a survey that looks at its fixings.

Medieval Chichester was probably built mainly of timber-framed buildings, according to the Victoria County History, with brick employed from the 17th century. By the end of the 18th century the town had been almost entirely rebuilt, a rebuilding the Victoria County History remembers for its 18th-century doorways and fanlights, with roofs of the same age set behind them. The Royal West Sussex Hospital, begun in 1825, is a useful example of the next phase: stuccoed brick under a slate mansard. A mansard has a steep lower slope and a flatter upper one, which gives more headroom in the roof but puts more joints, valleys and lead dressings into the weather.

At a glance

  • Brick came into use here from the 17th century
  • The hospital has a slate mansard roof
  • Slate slips when its nails fail

1.1 Why a slate slips

A natural slate is held by nails or hooks through its upper edge, and the stone itself usually outlasts the metal. MyBuilder says slate laid well can run to 80 or 100 years or more, a span the metal fixings rarely match. Once a nail rusts through, the slate drops a few centimetres and leaves a gap, and the next gale can take it. A single slipped slate can often be re-fixed with a small strip of lead called a tingle, which holds it without a nail, but a roof where slates are slipping in every row is telling you the fixings are finished. We lift a few at the survey to see what holds them, and our slate roofing page sets out the options.

1.2 Pitch and headlap

How well a slate roof sheds water depends on pitch and headlap, the overlap between a slate and the one two courses below it. Cupa Pizarras says BS 5534 indicates a minimum pitch of 20 degrees for natural slate, in its example of a 500 mm slate with a 115 mm headlap, and warns off hook fixings on pitches below 25 degrees. A slate laid with too little overlap for its pitch will let in driving rain however good the stone is.

1.3 Lead on mansards and parapets

A slate roof is only as dry as the lead around it. Where a mansard meets its dormers, chimney stacks and parapets, the weather seal is sheet lead, and the thickness is named by a code: code 4 is the usual choice for flashings, with code 3 kept for soakers, the small bent pieces tucked under each course. We check for splits, ridges lifted by heat and old sealant smeared over a failing joint. Replacing the lead properly takes more than a dab of mastic, and our lead roofing page explains what that involves.

Slate facts for a Chichester roof

Natural slate minimum pitch
20 degrees in the BS 5534 example (500 mm slate, 115 mm headlap)
Hook fixings
Not on any pitch below 25 degrees
Well-installed slate
80 to 100 years or more
Slate re-roof, typical UK
£100 to £180 per m²

Source: Cupa Pizarras; MyBuilder slate roof cost, updated 21/08/2026

Chapter two

Consent in a cathedral city's conservation area

Inside the walls and across the extended conservation area, the first question is what the building is and who must approve changes.

Regency rooftops of slate and lead with the sea beyond
Regency rooftops of slate and lead with the sea beyond

The Chichester Conservation Area was extended after a review of its appraisal, reaching east to include parts of Whyke and north-west to Orchard Avenue, Orchard Gardens and the Brewery Field, as the Chichester Society reported in 2017. That widened the number of streets where a change to the outside of a house gets a second look, so a house that sat outside the line a few years ago may now sit inside it. The practical effect on a roof is narrower than people expect. Replacing a covering with the same kind is not normally development that needs planning permission, and the conservation area on its own does not change that.

At a glance

  • Article 4 covers solar on street-facing slopes
  • The Market Cross is listed Grade I
  • The cathedral follows the Church's own approval route
Old clay tile roof over a flint wall in a downland village
Old clay tile roof over a flint wall in a downland village

2.1 The 2018 Article 4 direction

What does apply is an Article 4 direction, made on 21 March 2018 and confirmed that September. It requires planning permission to install, alter or replace solar PV or solar thermal equipment on any roof slope of a house, block of flats or outbuilding where that slope fronts a highway, open space or waterway. It says nothing about tiles or slates as such. If you are planning a new roof with panels on the street side, speak to Chichester District Council first, and see our guide to a new roof with solar for how the two jobs fit together.

Old clay tile roof over a flint wall in a downland village
Old clay tile roof over a flint wall in a downland village

2.2 Listed buildings and the cathedral

The Market Cross, erected about 1500 in Caen stone, is listed Grade I, and many other buildings in the centre are listed at lower grades. Under the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990, works that affect a listed building's character need listed building consent, so before any covering changes on a listed house we ask the council what applies. Chichester Cathedral is a Church of England building in use, so it falls under the ecclesiastical exemption and the Church's own approval route, not the council's. Bats and nesting birds are protected, which is why an old city roof gets a look in the eaves and at the ridge for roosts and nests before any stripping begins.

2.3 Behind the Roman walls

The Victoria County History records that Chichester lies on the low coastal plain and that its walls and gates are Roman in origin. Houses close to the line of the walls can back onto very old masonry, so before scaffold boards bear against a wall or ground we ask what is behind it. Works to a scheduled monument need scheduled monument consent, granted by the Secretary of State, and we would ask the council to confirm the status of a wall before fixing anything to it.

Who decides, by kind of work

WorkWhere it is decided
Same covering back on an unlisted houseNot normally planning permission; check for an Article 4 direction
Solar panels on a street-facing slopePlanning permission under the 2018 direction
Roof work on a listed houseListed building consent where character is affected
Roof work on the cathedralThe Church of England's own approval route
Source: Chichester District Council Article 4 direction (2018); Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990; Ecclesiastical Exemption Order 2010

Chapter three

Re-roofing a house behind a Chichester frontage

Close streets, shared walls and awkward access shape a re-roof here as much as the covering itself does.

Where houses stand shoulder to shoulder, the roof is rarely a private matter. A chimney stack often sits on the wall shared with next door, and removing a chimney breast, the Planning Portal says, always calls for Building Regulations approval, and GOV.UK counts taking a chimney off a party wall as notifiable work, with notice due well before the work starts. If a stack is simply leaking, repointing or re-flashing it is a smaller step, and our roof repairs page covers what we do before suggesting anything bigger. Either way we tell your neighbour what we plan, so nobody finds a scaffold at their window without warning.

At a glance

  • Removing a chimney from a party wall needs notice
  • A scaffold on the street needs a highway licence
  • A written quote follows the photographic survey
Row of concrete sectional garages with weathered grey corrugated roofs
Row of concrete sectional garages with weathered grey corrugated roofs

3.1 Scaffold on a city street

On a street without a drive, the poles and boards go on or above the public highway, and Highways Act 1980 section 169 then calls for a licence, which West Sussex County Council issues as highway authority. The firm erecting the scaffold files the application, and the county asks for at least 10 working days' notice, so a start date has to allow for it. The scaffold is also a major part of the price: MyBuilder gives about £850 to £1,200 for a standard two-storey house, and a chimney can add to it.

Row of concrete sectional garages with weathered grey corrugated roofs
Row of concrete sectional garages with weathered grey corrugated roofs

3.2 Gutters, parapets and shared roof lines

Where roofs sit side by side, rainwater from two slopes often meets in a valley or a lead-lined gutter along a parapet wall, and a blocked outlet there can send water into the wall instead of the downpipe. We clear the outlet, check the lining for splits, and look at the pointing on the parapet, because a cracked joint lets water behind the lead. Leaves and moss collect fastest in these hidden channels, so they are the first thing we photograph from the ladder.

3.3 Repair, re-cover or replace

We count slipped slates and tiles, test the fixings, look at the lead and check the timbers, then say which job is the smallest one that closes the fault. The Planning Portal puts the Building Regulations line at less than 25 per cent of the building envelope and less than 50 per cent of the roof, so a modest repair rarely triggers an application, while a full strip may. Part L can then ask for better insulation. The council's building control team or a registered building control approver deals with it, and where the work is notifiable we handle the notification. Once the roof is finished the waste goes with us and the site is left clean, which matters on a street where a skip may need its own permit.

National guide prices for a city house

  • Moderate roof repair£500 to £1,000
  • Ridge re-bedding or replacing£300 to £600
  • Chimney repointing£500 to £2,000
  • Scaffold, two-storey house£850 to £1,200
  • Hipped re-roof, semi-detached£8,000 to £12,000

National ranges only. The sum you pay appears as a single total in the quote we write after the survey, and any rival offer should be checked for VAT and scaffolding. Source: MyBuilder price guides for roof repair, new roofs, chimneys and scaffolding, updated 21/08/2026.

Roofing services for Chichester houses

Chichester roof questions, from slate to cathedral

Can a few slipped slates on an older Chichester brick house be fixed singly?

Often, yes. Where only a handful have dropped, each can be re-fixed with a lead tingle, or replaced with a matching slate, without disturbing the rest. The test is why they slipped. If the nails have rusted through only in one corner, a local repair is sensible. If slates are slipping across the whole slope, the fixings are at the end of their life, and photographs of your roof show why and recommend re-slating.

Does the Chichester Conservation Area Article 4 direction stop me re-roofing?

No. It concerns solar PV and solar thermal equipment on roof slopes that front a highway, open space or waterway, and it requires planning permission for those. Putting back the same slate or tile is not usually something planning permission is needed for, though a listed house is a separate matter. Check with Chichester District Council before you change materials or add panels, and send us anything they put in writing.

Does a church roof near Chichester Cathedral follow the same consent rules as a house?

Not always. Church of England, Roman Catholic, Methodist, Baptist Union and United Reformed churches in use come under the ecclesiastical exemption, each with its own approval process. Other faiths and any church that has closed for worship need listed building consent from the council, and a scheduled monument needs scheduled monument consent. The cathedral is a Church of England building, so the Church's own route applies.

Who signs off Building Regulations on a re-roof in a Chichester city street?

Either the council's building control team or a registered building control approver, a role that has existed since 6 April 2024. Whether an application is needed turns on the Planning Portal limits: under 25 per cent of the building envelope and under 50 per cent of the roof means no application in the usual case. Go beyond either limit, or choose a heavier covering, and approval is required; we look after the notification.

Roofers near Chichester

Tell us about your roof

Describe what is happening and we will call you back to arrange a visit.

  • Photographs of what we find
  • A written quote with one total price
  • Or call 01903 299063

10-year workmanship guarantee, in writing.

Call Get a quote