Volunteers managing England’s 10,000+ rural community halls are being provided with guidance to help them commission the right type of building survey.
The resource was instigated by ACTion with Communities in Cumbria who, when working with halls across rural Cumbria, found there was variable knowledge amongst funders, surveyors and village hall committees about what was needed and required in procuring and carrying out surveys of village halls and similar rural community buildings.

The guide has been authored by Ben Stagg, Director of stagg architects who wrote ACRE’s net zero design guide in 2024.

The guidance takes a hall committee through the benefits of obtaining a survey, explains different types of surveys and how to go about engaging a surveyor. The section for surveyors will be useful for hall committees to share when commissioning their surveyor. There is also a comprehensive chapter on energy surveys.

Surveys are important because they help ensure your hall is kept in a good condition and that alteration and improvement work is appropriate and beneficial. They don’t just describe the existing situation; they can also be used to identify improvement works and assess and evaluate recommendations. To read the rest of this article please click here.